House sitting can be an amazing experience. House sitting offers the opportunity to live in interesting, beautiful places all around the world — all while spending almost nothing. Unsurprisingly, the competition for house sitting positions can be fierce. If you are interested in becoming a house sitter, you’ll need to know what steps to follow to land a plum position. Here are the six things to always do.
1. Provide quality references and a recent police check. The big key to snagging a house sitting opportunity is demonstrating that you are capable, competent, and trustworthy. The primary component to this is having good references. Your references should know you well and have a high opinion of you. Ideally, your references will be people who you have house sat before. Otherwise, former employers are probably the best choice, along with a Police check.
2. Become educated in how to take care of pets. Most house sitting positions involve caring for not just a home, but pets as well. The best house sitters do some training in animal care, and is someone who truly loves animals, and has at least some experience caring for them. Ideally, you will have owned a cat and/or dog at some point in your life. When applying for a house sitting opening, you must demonstrate that you genuinely care about animals. Be sure to describe your experience with pet care thoroughly.
3. Put in effort in your online listing. Good house sitting opportunities will garner a lot of interest. To have a good chance at landing the job, you’ll need to tailor your application to the job listing. Read through the homeowner’s requirements carefully, and write your application so that it responds to what the owner has described (for example, specifically mentioning the name of their pet is a good idea). This way you’ll stand out from the crowd, and the owner will understand that you are detail-oriented and competent.
4. Have a smiley professional headshot. Putting in effort in your online listing in your profile photo and description will work wonders for you. Your profile photo shows as a thumbnail on house sitting apps and websites and shows you have nothing to hide behind and are willing to be identified and increases their level of trust in you.
5. If you are asked for a Meet & Greet, discuss the Welcome Guide. Pet Owners normally print out a welcome guide for house sitters and discuss it at the Meet & Greet prior to the stay taking place. It’s available for Sitters to print out too if the Owner isn’t proactive.
Communication is key, and you need to make sure that you and the owner are on the exact same page in all important matters. You need to know exactly what is expected from you, and what rules the homeowners might have. Inquire about the property, the local area, and the personality, health, and daily routines of the pets, as well as any and all other questions that come to mind. *Tip – use the pet’s names and the Owner’s name.
If you want to be a house sitter, you need to do everything you can to maximize your chances of landing quality listings – especially since there is high competition for jobs. Follow the tips described above, however, and you should be able to get some of the house sitting positions you are most interested in.
Downloading the PetCloud App will enable you to list your house sitting services for free, receive job alerts and view the pet jobs board.
