Welcome to THS — great questions, and ones most of us had at the start. Here’s how the 5-applicant system works:
• When a listing reaches 5 applications, it automatically pauses. No one new can apply or message until the owner reviews and either shortlists or declines someone.
• “Reviewing applications” simply means the owner has opened their list of applicants. It doesn’t mean they’ve chosen anyone.
• Yes, a homeowner can start reviewing at any time — even with fewer than 5 applicants. New sitters can still apply while it’s under 5.
• If the owner declines one or more sitters, the listing reopens and new applicants can apply until it reaches 5 again.
• Homeowners do not receive only 5 applications total. They receive 5 at a time, in “batches,” each time the listing reopens.
This is not necessarily the case, unless things have changed in the past 2 months. We discovered during our first 3 listed sits that sitters who have opened the application form prior to the pause can still hit the “submit” button and the host will receive their application. We have received as many as 8 applications in a single round.
Hi Annie and welcome, we all were newbies once. In addition to your questions I would add have a poke around the forum, you can learn an awful lot here from other’s experiences. Be prepared for rejection, you can not win them all but we thoroughly enjoy our pet sitting experiences. Good luck.
Just a quick tip with being brand new. If you’re looking in areas that hit 5 applicants quickly then your chances of success will be low, with having zero THS reviews behind you.
You will stand a much higher chance of success by applying to ones that say “low applications”, or where their dates are within the next few weeks. You’ll be much more likely to get accepted then.
Yes, yes, yes, usually. It’s possible that a host will have more than 5 applications if applications come in fast enough to squeak past the 5 application trigger. That’s not typical.
Hello @WeRPAWsome Thank you for the warm welcome, and for your detailed response, it really helps me a get to know how this platform works. I appreciate you taking the time to respond to all my points!
Ahh that is so interesting, @idocsteve It’s great to hear about the experience of a HO and get a behind the scenes look at how the process works with a tab opened prior to 5 applicants applying. I’m curious to hear, if you have 5 okay to good applicants, are you likely to delete some before inviting your favorite sitter to apply, just to see who else may be waiting in line to apply?
Hi Cathie, thanks for the warm welcome!
I did have a look around the forum to see if anyone had posted on this topic, but I didn’t see any asking this specific question so I decided to make a post. I’ve applied to my first sit that got accepted very quickly after a video call, then applied for a second 4 days ago. I can see the message has been seen, but I didn’t know if it is effective to wait and see, or send a follow up. I’d really like to prioritize it, but don’t want to wait too long as they may not end up picking me, but also don’t want to apply and secure a different one if the one I like is simply waiting til they get the 5. Unfortunately after you apply, the app only shows ‘you have already applied’ not how many others applied or if the HO is reviewing yet. Going by earlier comments, once the HO opens one, it triggers the ‘reviewing’ label though.
Honestly, just keep applying and if another one comes up where it’s make a decision time then send the first one a quick follow up saying “Love the look of your sit & keen to connect. How are you getting on with organising sitters and would you like to chat?” Or similar and nudge them. Some hosts choose the first best one, some wait for 5 applicants and some never choose at all! #allytoplayfor
I’m only a host not a sitter but I was recently reading various listings around the world and what I found rather surprising is that the vast majority have the label “low applications”.
Seems to me that the demand is in favor of the sitters. You just need to choose sits where the hosts are in more need than you are, even if it means a bit of travel and not staying in a place that you’d necessarily want to be. It’s a means to an end.
We don’t consider applicants with no history, we may consider applicants with at least 3 sits. More than a half dozen 5 star reviews is our preference.
Welcome @Annie_1
As a sitter with 27 sits to my name I agree with @Cuttlefish and suggest you keep applying for all sits that interest you. I am transparent with HO’s that I often have a number of applications pending and will accept the first one offered.
You’ll find as already mentioned some HO’s will never reply to any applications! Some sitters simply withdraw their application if a HO doesn’t reply with a certain period but that’s up to you.
Congratulations on being new and already having been chosen for a sit. That is great for you getting started on THS.
What makes the most sense for being effective is to apply to as many appealing sits as possible that fit your schedule. Waiting on a specific sit because you think it will be the greatest is inherently less effective because you’re likely 1 applicant of many. And, as a new sitter with no reviews, being chosen from many is a long shot. After you have accumulated half a dozen or so great reviews, you will be better able to pick and chose.
