How to Create a Desirable House and Pet Sitting Profile
Welcome to the wonderful world of house and pet sitting. Whether you are a homeowner, a pet owner, or both, we have some tips and tricks to help alleviate the stress and make the entire process easier and more streamlined.
What is house and pet sitting?
House and Pet Sitting is when one or more people care for someone else’s home and pet(s). The details for this particular post will reference the TrustedHousesitters.com (TH) platform. In our TH experience, a sit may consist of a house, cabin, apartment, flat, or farm, along with 0 to many animals of all shapes and sizes. Each profile details the house and the number of animals or plants. You apply for the sits that work for you.
Why house and pet sit?
If you love traveling and pets, TH is a fantastic way to do both and save money simultaneously. By using TH, you pay one yearly fee to use their website to find sits all over the world. We choose to sit because we love animals, travel, and staying in the areas where locals live. House and pet sitting allow us to save money, stay in comfortable and beautiful locations, and experience new places with a fuzzy companion.
Who can house and pet sit?
You must be 21 or older to join TrustedHousesitters. You will need to pass a background check administered by TH.
If you plan on sitting internationally, you will need a passport.
Although pet experience is not required, the more experience you have, the better your chances of being chosen for a sit. Not all sits have pets; a small number of sits require taking care of a house and sometimes plants only.
*Get 25% off your membership with Trusted Housesitters
What makes us experts in the field?
We have each cared for houses and pets for over 40+ years. We both grew up on small farms with various farm and domestic animals. As kids, we helped care for our farms, homes, and pets of all shapes and sizes.
As a couple, we joined TrustedHousesitters in 2014 to travel while still having animals in our lives. Since joining, we have taken care of a working sheep farm consisting of 70+ sheep during birthing season, horses, cats, dogs, a hawk, a pig, chickens, rabbits, goats, and several plants and gardens.
We’ve also been caretakers to a 6 room bed and breakfast, stayed in tiny apartments, a couple of sprawling mansions, a few farms, a thatch roof house without half of its roof, and a yacht (yes, you read that right, a yacht!).
Our ability to quickly adapt to different situations, figure out how to fix things when they go wrong or break, think through issues to find resolutions, and have emergency options have proven us to be trustworthy and reliable caretakers.
Should you be a house and pet sitter?
We love petsitting, but we definitely don’t think it’s for everyone.
Of course, you must love animals to consider this an option. You don’t have to want to travel, but it sure does help. Depending on your location, there may be sits in your local area.
You are not the homeowner’s employee or to be treated as such. You are their equal and are agreeing to a mutually beneficial exchange of taking care of their home and pet(s) in exchange for a place to stay. You are responsible for their home and pet(s), so this is not a time to party it up. If the homeowner provides guidelines, it is your obligation to adhere to their requests.
While in their home you are expected to be respectful and keep their home as clean or cleaner than what they left it.
Keep in mind, not all sits are created equal. Issues can arise on either the sitter’s or the homeowner’s side. A few things to think about when applying for a sit are to be thorough when reading sit descriptions, looking at pictures, asking questions, and detailing your expectations. Google information on locations, temperatures, transportation, etc.
Tips for a Great Sitter Profile
Create a standout tagline.
Your tagline/headline and primary photo will be the first thing a homeowner sees on your profile. You want your tagline to be noteworthy and memorable. It needs to separate you from the other profiles.
Think of what you want the homeowner to know. Do you want to come off as professional, playful, knowledgeable, or something else? Think of positive keywords that stand out to you such as responsible, experienced, organized, reliable, or trustworthy.
Be brief but to the point.
Here are some tagline examples that each give off a different vibe:
- Caring and trustworthy sitters
- Fun solo traveler looking for pets to cuddle and love while I travel
- Non-smoking remote worker eager to love your pets as they were my own
- Trustworthy, responsible, and experienced couple available to care for your pets
- Active retired couple who love animals and will take excellent care of your home
Make your profile sing with honest praise
In your profile, write about yourself, your experience and skills, and why you want to house sit.
Yourself — mention your age, where you live, or if you are a nomad. Write about things you like to do, hobbies, or places you like to visit. We take some awesome pet photos, so we mentioned it in our profile and homeowners have loved getting high quality pics of their babies. A friend of ours draws, so she added that she likes to draw the pets she sits. If you can offer something unique add it to your profile.
Do not go overboard talking about yourself but give enough information for someone reading it to get an understanding of you. I don’t recommend explaining or listing your religious, political, or social beliefs or followings unless you only want to sit for a certain type of home and pet owner.
Your experience and skills — be specific. List the different animals you have taken care of, length of time, and what you did to care for them.
If you have special training or certifications pertaining to care, put it in your profile. This would include CPR certification or the ability to give shots or medicines things like that.
Don’t forget to reference your experience or skills to take care of their home. For instance, if you have a green thumb, pool maintenance experience, know how to use power tools, love to clean, know how to fix things, or paint.
If you have little experience, focus on a relevant time when you did something noteworthy. Talk about your special personality traits that make you good with animals or how responsible you are.
Why do you want to house and pet sit?
Explain why you want to house and pet sit.
This doesn’t have to be a huge story or anything like that. Be honest and forthcoming about your reasons.
Photos
The photos are a really important part of your profile. They are an introduction to a host feeling like s/he may or may not connect with you. Remember, you are trying to be memorable and stand out from your competition.
All photos should be high-resolution, in focus, and bright, not dark. They do not need to be professional photos but should be good quality snaps.
We recommend adding at least 8+ photos that represent you. However, make them all relevant photos. Meaning don’t add pictures to add pictures. Upload the images that will make your profile notable.
The subject of your photos should highlight your interactions with animals and show your personality by including pictures of you with family/friends or doing things you enjoy.
Spotlight great pictures of you with happy-looking animals. These pics will demonstrate your animal experience, so make them count. If you can, include a variety of pics of you with different animals to show the range of your skills.
Include at least a couple of photos highlighting your face. These can be with or without animals, but should focus on your face. The homeowners want to see who will be taking care of their home and pets. Seeing a clear face helps be more relatable, recognizable, and more memorable. These photos should be current and focused without obstructions, such as sunglasses, hats, masks, etc.
We do not recommend including photos from too far away where your face can not be deciphered, blurry photos, pictures that show your face covered up, party pics especially if you look drunk/high, and photos of you looking mad or moody.
References
The TrustedHousesitters website has a specific section where you can add your references.
If you want to add more, you can always offer “Additional references available upon request” in your profile or application letter.
Your references should focus on your pet and home care skills, ease of working with you, professionalism, communication skills, and anything special s/he thought of you.
Ask your reference to detail what jobs you did and for what duration of time you sat for each person.
If you have minimal house or pet sitting experience, ask your reference to write about the skills s/he knows about, such as communication, responsibility, punctuality, drive, determination, ability to learn, etc.
Also, remember that volunteering counts for experience.
Review before posting
Congratulations! You have completed your profile, but don’t hit submit yet. Review everything you have typed and uploaded. Make sure you have corrected any spelling or grammar mistakes. Scan your photos to make sure each is uploaded correctly.
Once you are sure everything looks good — hit submit.
What’s Next?
The employees at TH will submit your information for their background check approval. Usually, the wait for the background check is under a week, but sometimes, it may take longer.
As you wait to be cleared, you can search the site for desirable sits. Practice looking for sits and explore the TH website to learn valuable tips and tricks. Go through the Help section to learn what to do and not do before, during, and after a sit, learn about the vet advice line, and other available features.
Also, consider what you want to write in your application letter.
Applying for Your First Sit
After TH has cleared you and you’ve found a sit of interest it is time to apply for your first sit.
For each sit application, we recommend including in the email a brief introduction about yourself, your experience, what you have to offer to the particular sit, and why you want this sit.
We recommend always concluding with a request for a live interview via a video platform. This is not a TH requirement, but we will only consider sits we have interviewed with via video.
We use the video interviews to get a better idea of what the homeowners are like and to see the pets and home ahead of time. It isn’t a guarantee for a great situation but it helps.
Your First Video Interview
Don’t be nervous. Get yourself prepared.
Find a well lit, quiet area to conduct your video interview.
Reread the homeowner’s posting. Know the names of the homeowners and the pets and a little bit about the home.
Be friendly, courteous, attentive, and listen.
Have questions prepared to ask. Asking questions helps keep the conversation flowing and may set you apart from the other candidates.
These are some of the questions we ask to help us determine if the sit is right for us.
- How are the pets doing now? (Something could have changed since the ad was posted)
- When will you depart and return from your trip?
- Do you need me to come early to tour your home, meet the pets, and review instructions?
- If they want you to come early, be clear about whether they are offering for you to stay at their place or if you need to find other accommodations until they leave.
- Do you need me to stay until after you return?
- What is the transportation to/from your place? Work out if they will pick you up/drop you off or if you need to find your transportation.
- Will you be reachable during your trip?
- How often would you like updates about your home and pets?
- Where is the vet office from your home?
- Is the office reachable by foot, public transportation, or how is it reachable?
- How is the weather that time of year?
- Are there cameras inside your home? How will I know those cameras have been turned off? We don’t ask about outside cameras because we don’t have issues with any outdoor cameras being on.
In our experience, we are offered the sit while on the video chat or hear back from the homeowners within a day or two. If you are chosen to sit, you will receive a request with an accept or decline button. It is OK to change your mind about a sit at this point or before, and you may decline it. Do not accept a sit if you are unsure you can complete it properly. It is very much frowned upon and discouraged to cancel or back out of a sit after you accept it.
I know it seems like a lot to do to get your profile in order, find a sit, and the interview process, but I’m here to tell you it is all worth it. In the 10 years we’ve been with TrustedHousesitters, we have saved tens of thousands of dollars in accommodations, restaurant expenses, and transportation. We’ve visited 10 countries and stayed in over 30 cities worldwide. We’ve loved every minute with each animal and hope you do too.
Best of luck!
Let us know if you have any questions or need any help.
Stay tuned for more tips on: How to Find a Great Sit, How to Create a Fantastic Homeowner’s Profile, and How to Ace Your Online Interview.
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Copyright 2024, Heather Holmes — All rights reserved.
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