How to Get Your First House Sitting Job

Getting house sitting jobs to save on travel costs is becoming more and more popular with vacationers. Accommodation can be up to 50% of the cost of a trip. Imagine planning your next trip not having to pay for that expense. Sounds pretty great, doesn't it? House sitting sites are loaded with opportunities to stay for free in places all over the world! Do you want to learn how to get your first house sitting job? We have a few tips to help you land your first assignment.

Getting started applying for housesitting jobs can be a bit intimidating. Especially when you don't have any prior house sitting experience. Which house sitting site to join? What makes a great profile? How do you instill confidence in your house sitting abilities without any experience or homeowner reviews?

Landing your first assignment can be easier than you think. We have been members of Trusted Housesitters for 3 years. We had applied for house sits over those years with no success until now. What made the difference and helped us land our first house sitting assignment?

By making a few simple adjustments to our profile and our search efforts we landed an assignment fast.

How to Get Your First House Sitting Job? Here are 6 tips to get you started:

• Polish your profile with video and appropriate photos:  There is no better way for a homeowner to get a feeling for who you are than video. It doesn't have to be a cinema quality production. It is easy to create and edit a short, clear video outlining who you are and your special skills or experience. That's all you need. Photos are a must. But specific photos: Pictures with you and your pet or a friend’s pet, shots of you gardening or repairing something in the house. The best photos don’t look staged. Keep it natural and genuine looking.
• Make sure your "about" is targeted on important details: why you want to house sit, your love of animals, properties you have owned or been responsible for, job responsibilities or skills that would make you a good house sitter (bonded, property management, contractor).
• Get professional references: Having professional references is important to make the shortlist for a house sit. A homeowner is more likely to hire a sitter with references instead of one without. What do you do if you don't have experience? We used our Airbnb profile. We had earned great references from our hosts that directly related to being respectful guests.  References from landlords, employers or volunteer efforts are also great to prove you are responsible and trustworthy. Apply for an assignment in your hometown. This is a great way to get started and earn a reference. You can meet the homeowners face to face before the assignment. This is very appealing to homeowners because they can get to know potential house sitter better than interviewing by phone or email.
• Be available to communicate face to face: Skype is perfect and easy for long distance face to face chat. We chatted on Skype 3 times with our homeowners. It was so much more personal and better to convey feelings and opinions.  Of course, if you can meet in person that is even better when possible.
• Speak up about your special expertise and experience: We have had lots of experience raising and caring for dogs. List your special pet or homeowner experience; giving meds to pets, behavior problem experience. Include home ownership experience; handy with tools, experienced in home repair, specialized knowledge, and passions you have.
• Get the police check: Some applicants do have police checks and some don’t. Having one is just another way to prove you are trustworthy.

How to find house sitting jobs? When choosing a site to apply for jobs on don’t put all your eggs in one basket. There are lots of house sitting sites, some offer international house sitting jobs and some are for specific parts of the world. There are also sights with paid house sitting jobs! Become a member with 2 or 3 and cast a wide net. This will give you more selection of destinations and access to more assignments. We signed up with House Carers and got our first assignment 1 month after joining their site.

The more sites you belong to the more opportunities you’ll have to find a sit somewhere in the world you’d like to visit. Be flexible with destinations and when you can travel and more opportunities will open up. Start by looking at assignments first and get inspiration on where to travel.  It's a great big world out there with a lot of homes that need caring for. I hope these tips answered some of your questions on how to get your first house sitting job.

Here are a few resources to help set up your profile:

• 20 Popular House Sitting Questions Answered
• Trusted Housesitters House sitter FAQ's
• House Carers Guide To House Sitting Success
• How To Create A YouTube Video

If you have more questions about house sitting, I wrote a detailed post with answers to 20 of the most popular questions we are asked on the subject. You can check it out here. For a more detailed guide to house sitting please feel free to sign up for our free e-course.