Hi @heika1998. And @ACLRJM and @NadiaTHS.
I think you’re all on the same page. You’re all on the right platform. LOL. It’s just it’s easy to misconstrue text.
Nadia mentioned “hire” a couple times but she’s noted she could have used another word. I almost used “interview” in another topic, just because it felt natural for me. But other people take that word more harshly. It’s tough, especially with everyone coming to the English language from different experiences.
The official THS word instead of “hire” is “confirm”. E.g.:
But to be fair, “confirm” is not super-intuitive to a newbie.
Let’s all be gentle and please use a gracious lens when critiquing someone else’s writing. Forum posts can’t be expected to be perfect. 
@heika1998: Please let us all know if you have any further questions!
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Hello Heikal1998 and Nadia,
I’m sorry if I have offended either of you. I may have overreacted from seeing so many sitters cancelling these days. That and reading that because we are not “paid” for our services we are not as professional as someone that is being paid. In the long run we all want what is best for the pets.
I wish you the best of luck finding sits that meet your criteria and hope you have the wonderful experience you’re pursuing.
Cheers!
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No worries you did not offend me, I just wanted to clarify that I wasn’t implying anything $$ related in my explanation 
as I have been on the platform since 2015 and never thought, ever, about being paid for this, or never would suggest it to anyone.
I was in @heika1998’s place once and wasn’t too sure how to plan and arrange my sits in the future, especially when HO weren’t responding. It’s only with time, trial and error, and multiple sits under our belt, that my partner and I now have a strategy that helps us secure sits and not waste any HO’s time and ours. That’s what I wanted to share with Heika in this threads.
I do agree with you, it is disheartening to see how many HO get cancellations at the last minute. It’s important to note that this also happens to sitters. Maybe it happens more nowadays (only customer service would know the real number I assume) or maybe it is proportional to the member increase THS has seen in the past few years? But it certainly comes down to more factors than just a specific group of sitters using THS to make a business or get leads to sit for a payment, as this forum sometimes shows.
8 -10 yrs ago, THS was a different community than it is today, not better not worst, just smaller and more family like. Any tech startup growing will have aches and pains and we are certainly seeing this as “older” sitters, as we can compare to what the experience was like back then. We can also hear more of HO’s comparison stories as to what it was like “back then”. But it all comes down to your unique profile: if you have good reviews, a good profile then you shouldn’t be too worried about what these paid sitters make you look like! Sure the community might suffer, the company’s reputation might take a hit, but it’s our role to reinforce that yes, there are great sitters here and they can trust us.
I did use a word that is associated to the workforce, but “confirm” is just not that clear to the entire point I was trying to make as HO can confirm multipleeee things on top of “finally selecting you among all sitters selected for a round of calls” as the final step that “guarantees” you will be sitting for them.
Cheers to you too!
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Hi @heika1998
please don’t worry about it, it was simply a discussion that was unrelated to the core subject of your first question. My advice (and probably a lot of other sitters) is the same. Please keep applying to as many sits as you wish, until you are confirmed officially in the system by a Home owner. Then, block off the dates you agreed to sit for, and look for sits on alternative dates.
My entire point was simply for you not to count on unresponsive Home Owners that weren’t replying to you quickly. They might never reply (maybe won’t go on holidays and forget to take down their listing), might reply way too late, or might not tell you they don’t want to hire you. Apply to as many as you want, until the perfect sit comes up and you are confirmed.
good luck to you for finding the best sits!
Thank you very much and have a super sunny Sunday.
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