Sitters with limited information on profile

Owner Questions, Advice & Chat
1

Hello, I have a posted sit, down to 4 days before we leave & we have not confirmed a sitter.
We finally got 1 person who applied last night. Planning to talk to them this morning. When I look at their profile, they are verified for email, phone, ID, background check for the USA. Trying to figure out if I am being to picky here.

I have had other sits, invited other sitters with little or no reviews but all of those provided some other reference. Either a personal reference post or links to their linkedin or airbnb. I like even the reference to Airbnb, those reviews at least show me they can stay in someone’s home, leave it clean & have good interactions. Linkedin, shows employment/resume, coworkers that may provide reference to this person.

This person who has applied, has 3 pictures of just them. They used to own a dog but it has since passed away. They didn’t even use an older picture of them with their dog to show they are pet lovers. They also mention they used to sit for a neighbor who has since moved away. So my concern, no pictures with any animals, no references or links to other social media. I don’t mind giving someone a chance & I am really stressed that we leave this Sunday & we don’t have anything lined up. I am feeling desperate but very cautious as this is my home and my 3 dogs are my babies.

Am I out of line to ask for some other type of reference? What else can I do/say in the call we plan on having in a couple of hours?

Thanks-

3

I’d agree with this apart from @travel2sunshine asking to be walked through the prospective sitter’s home….

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5

Oh dear, I recently had to do a video call when caring for my elderly mother in her old, shabby and very cluttered farmhouse instead of my modern and spotlessly-clean central London house. Luckily the HO still gave me the sit!

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6

You’ve also got to convince the sitters. We take on a lot of responsibility

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8

Well yes, of course. But this question was about a particular circumstance of having a sitter apply without much info and how to handle that specific issue.

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9

Thanks for the feedback. The video call went really well & I since it was a zoom, I had an email address that had a last name & that helped me find them on Linkedin. We both felt good & comfortable to the point I thought we might have a confirmed sit. Unfortunately, she needs to fly home & can’t take the sit. So we are back to looking… 3 days and counting… I don’t think my sit will be filled from this site unfortunately, time to start looking at Rover & friends to help out.

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