Securing Your First Sit

Giving advice on how to get your first sit as a housesitter is like telling someone how to get their first date on Tinder. Because other people are involved, it’s impossible to know what things they look for or avoid, and just what they are thinking throughout their petsitter selection process.

However, there are a few things you can do to start off on the right foot. These include:

Good Photos

This isn’t just a well-lit selfie or your favorite travel photo. Remember that you are promoting yourself as a petsitting service, so your photos should be primarily of you with pets. As a couple, we struggle to get photos of us together with pets, so often our photos feature one of us plus the pet. If you are a solo sitter, it might be worthwhile to get a cheap bluetooth camera remote and a tripod or just prop your phone up and take a few snaps of you with the pets you are looking after (or even just some animals you know). Seeing how much you enjoy being around animals and how comfortable you are with them will really convey to potential home hosts that you understand what they are looking for and you are up to the task.

Good Profile

Whether you choose to use a site like Trusted Housesitters or Nomador, or you advertise your services on Facebook or NextDoor, you’ll want to have a solid paragraph of information that introduces you to potential home hosts and touches on the following points

• Who you are- This should be a brief sentence or two. They don’t need to know your life history.
• Why you want to pet sit- Even if you want to pet sit SOLELY to travel, or because you are saving for a house, you should also mention your love of pets or desire to be around animals. (This should be true, as well. If you don’t REALLY want to be around animals, this is not going to be a good fit.)
• Your experience- It doesn’t need to be a full resume, just a few highlights that show you know how to care for animals. Things like “I’m really good around animals.” or “I’ve had pets my whole life.” may be a bit too vague to really grab the attention of a prospective home host.
• Other skills or traits that make you stand out- If you have worked professionally in an animal care context, this is a good time to mention it. Likewise, if you have experience with farm work, gardening, pool maintenance, etc.– speak up!

Here’s an example of what a quick intro from us might look like:

Hi! We’re Jacki & Aaron, 30-something couple from the US and UK, currently traveling around Australia and New Zealand. Jacki is an editor and works remotely. Aaron is a librarian and is currently on sabbatical.

We both started pet and house sitting before we ever met, with Jacki doing three month sits every summer for a couple of teachers and Aaron using Workaway all over Europe. Jacki also gained experience with more exotic animals during her time working as a zoo educator in California and Aaron became a cat whisperer while working in a cattery in New Zealand.

Petsitting has allowed us to maintain a connection with animals while still pursuing our dream of traveling the world. The years of backpacking and city hopping are behind us and we’d much rather curl up with a good book and a furry friend while immersing ourselves in the culture of a new place.

In addition to animal care, Aaron used Workaway to get involved with construction projects and home and garden maintenance, while Jacki is the gardener of the two, happy to care for your indoor and outdoor plants, as well as a small farm or veggie garden. We can also help out with pool maintenance, mail forwarding, vacation rental turnover, contractor liaising, and other tasks while you are away.

Good References

As mentioned in Getting Started as a Petsitter, having reviews and references from previous house or pet sitting gigs will be crucial to you securing your first sit. However, if you haven’t had a sit before, how can you get that first review?

A good way to start is by offering to help out a family member or friend for an evening or a weekend away. Because they already know you, a level of trust has been established that will be harder to create with a stranger on the internet. You can also volunteer with a local animal shelter, offer to walk a neighbor’s dog during your lunch breaks, or take an animal care or animal first aid class at your local adult education or community center. These activities, while perhaps not directly related to your main goal of housesitting as a means of travel, can help you network with people and form relationships that can lead to solid references. They can also teach you valuable skills that will make your foray into housesitting much easier.

Many sites allow you to add character references while waiting to get your first review. While these may not be enough for some pet owners, this, combined with a solid video chat or in-person meet and greet could secure you that all-important first sit.

Side note: If you use many different platforms for sitting, consider collating your reviews into one easy-to-view document, social media link, or the like. This way you can showcase all of your experience across platforms and increase your authority and trustworthiness.

Open Availability

While you may dream of looking after some cool cats in Cancun during Spring Break, you are more likely to have success sooner if you expand your availability. Especially when you are just starting out, local sits are the way to go. They allow you to stop by the pet owner’s place ahead of time for a meet and greet, you usually won’t have any overhead costs like flights or additional accommodation, and you can rack up a lot of experience in a short amount of time. Being local also opens you up to repeat sits, which can be really great if your plan to travel the world caring for animals is a few months off.

It can be tempting to set up your profile and start applying for every sit with cool animals or gorgeous architecture, but it’s important to take on sits that you can commit to and succeed at. Be sure you understand all the responsibilities involved in the sit, the cost of travel, the needs of the pets, and expectations of the homeowner before accepting a sit, whether it’s your first one or your fiftieth. Doing well on a sit will get you those all-important reviews and it will boost your experience, confidence, and enjoyment of the entire process.