Step 2: Create Engaging Profile
Your profile is essentially your house sitting CV so treat it with respect. Be informative and show character but keep it engaging and ensure you put across your credentials as eloquently as possible. Try the home owner’s shoes on for size, imagine you are interviewing yourself. What would you look for in a successful house sitter profile?
Include recent photographs of you engaging in hobbies or playing with pets and source some relevant references. If you’re completely new to house sitting ask your current landlord or employer to give you a character reference. I would avoid asking people to reference your ability to care for a home unless they have first-hand experience of your suitability.
Step 3: Apply for Assignments
This is the fun part! Sign up for the daily email alerts and have an inbox full of potential holiday destinations waiting for you each morning. Decide on the locations and dates for which you will search, read each advert thoroughly and understand the responsibilities involved. Do some pre-emptive research into the locale to make sure you would be comfortable living there, and then send a message of application.
You can construct an application template but be sure to include relevant references to the home owner’s advert when applying. This will translate the fact that you have read and understood their needs and genuinely believe you can fulfil the duties they require.
Be polite and engaging, offer to chat with the home owner over the telephone or Skype and invite them to forward any questions they may have. An honest and transparent approach is always the most successful.
Step 4: Review Offered House Sitting Assignments!
It can be very overwhelming when you receive your first positive response so don’t lose all rational brain function and agree to an assignment before you are sure that you are comfortable with every aspect of it.
Take the time to do some additional research and don’t forget to consider logistics such as the cost of flights and visas if house sitting abroad.
Once you experience the joys of house sitting you’ll soon catch the bug and want to sample local life in more unique parts of the world!