8 Tips to Guarantee You Land The Perfect Pet-Sitting Job

Nick Wharton Author Bio Picture

You’ve found the perfect pet-sitting listing on TrustedHouseSitters.com and you’ve contacted the owner. After reading your profile, the owner has replied to you and wants to do a Skype interview. This is very good news and likely, if the call goes well, you’ll be heading out to your next pet sit.

But the telephone interview with home owners is often more than just a formality, and your answers and your personality will be what ultimately land or lose the job for you. Don’t let this stress you out! If you follow these 8 tips, you’ll put yourself in a very good position to win over the home owners and land your dream pet sitting job.

These are not sleazy tactics.

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These are honest answers and methods that will make the home owner feel safe and secure leaving their pets in your hands. We’ve had many Skype interviews and after landing the jobs almost every time, we’ve spoken with the owners about what they expect from those calls and why they decided to hire us. From their answers and our successes, we’ve compiled this very effective list. 

Commit 100%

Immediately let the home owner know that your word is your bond. If they’ve had many pet sitters in the past, it’s almost guaranteed that they’ve had a few of them cancel at the last minute. This is a homeowner’s worst nightmare and it is your responsibility to commit to them 100% and make sure that they understand that if you agree to the job, you’ll be booking your tickets and coming no matter what. 

For home / pet owners with a history of unreliable sitters, this is the most important thing you can say during the call.

tips for pet sitting
Once you’ve committed to the job, book your flight.

Ask Questions About the Pets

You may be surprised at how many pet owners we’ve spoken to who recall countless Skype interviews where the sitter never once asks about the pet! This is a complete no-no and while you will be staying in the owner’s home, the most important part of your job is caring for and spending time with their beloved animal.

Questions you have should be about the animal’s personality, what they like / dislike, what medications they’re on, how old they are, if they’re good with other animals / people, etc. You should know the pet very well before arriving at the home.

Even if the owner has sent you a long email or document explaining every aspect of the animal and the jobs required of you, you should have at least 5 – 10 questions to ask during this call. You must make it known that you are taking the job seriously and that you care 100% about the pets.

house sitting tips
House Sitting gives you the opportunity to take care of adorable pets.

Don’t Lie

If you are uncomfortable with something the owner has said, or you aren’t qualified to care for their pet etc., it’s important that you tell them. Also, if you’re not a clean person, don’t act like you scrub the walls and floorboards on a daily basis. If you’ve never owned a horse, don’t pretend that you grew up on a farm.

This all may sound very obvious, but you’d be surprised at what people have said in order to land that beach front house in the Caribbean. Honesty is your number 1 asset as a sitter and the owners will likely hire / deny you based on how honest you are.

Emphasise Your Qualifications

While you shouldn’t exaggerate or lie about your abilities, you should emphasise areas where you do have experience. If you’ve administered medications, walked multiple dogs, been to veterinary clinics, cleaned pools, done landscaping or if you are able to do repairs yourself, tell the owners all about it. They will be happy to know that there is a capable person looking after their pet and home.

Also, if you have first aid or any special animal care certifications, you should let them know immediately, and if you’ve ever treated a dog which had health issues, this is the perfect opportunity to set yourself ahead of the other applicants.

pet sitting tips
If you can do any minor repairs and general maintenance around the house, that’s a bonus

Disclose Your Limitations

Let the owners know right away if there are things that you’re not comfortable with. If you’ve never administered a needle (and don’t want to!), tell them. If you can’t drive and they require you to drive to different locations for walks, vet visits, etc. then you have to be honest with them and resign from the application process.

Don’t let the prospect of pet sitting in an exotic country cloud your logic. The home owner should be well-informed of all sitters’ limitations, so that he or she can make an educated decision about who to hire.

Tell Them How Clean You Are

The last thing someone wants is a messy home when they return from a long vacation. Tell the pet owner how clean you are (but don’t lie or exaggerate). Explain to them how often you clean and how tidy your house is. This is not only important for the upkeep of their home, but pets can contract diseases like kennel cough if a house is left dusty and messy.

Being a clean person is a very good thing to add to your pet sitting resume and you should make sure that you keep the owner’s house spotless while they are away.

Inform of Previous Experience & Re-hires

The best thing a pet owner can hear is that you’ve pet sat before and been asked to return by the homeowners whom you sat for. This is the ultimate testimonial and having this kind of experience in the past will likely solidify your job. Tell the owner what previous homeowners have thought of you and why they decided to call you back for another sit.

Tell Them Why You Pet Sit

One of the first questions that many owners ask is: “Why do you pet sit?” The answer to this question should never be: “So I can get free accommodation around the world”. This is definitely not what the owner wants to hear. While we often exclaim on this blog that we get free accommodation, it’s mostly to shock people into considering this lifestyle.

But in reality, we pet sit because we love animals and our travelling lifestyle doesn’t allow us to have them. For us, stopping for a few weeks or months and having a furry companion is the ultimate joy of pet sitting. That’s an honest statement and it’s always our answer when home owners ask us this inevitable question.

Think about why you pet sit and have an answer ready, just make sure that you don’t use the words “free accommodation”. It goes without saying that you’ll enjoy their beach home in the Bahamas, tell them why you enjoy Pet sitting, not house sitting.

house sitting
Spare Dog in Grenada.

You’re Hired!

While all 8 of these tips should be taken into consideration when doing the Skype interview, the most important points to take away from this article are to be honest and care about the pets. The owner deserves to have the perfect person for the job, just as you deserve to have the perfect job.

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If you don’t fit the bill, back down and try applying for a different posting. Pet sitting is a wonderful network and we all need to help the community to grow by properly matching home and pet owners to the best possible sitters.

To join the world of house/pet sitting, you can sign up here!

Want to hire us? Check out our profile here:

finding a house sitter
Look at those trustworthy faces, with lots of great references!

To learn more about pet/house sitting, click here.

Are you a house/pet sitter? What would you add to this list? How did you get the job – share your secrets with us! 🙂 

Like it? Pin it! 🙂

8 Tips to Guarantee You Land The Perfect Pet-Sitting Job

Nick Wharton Author Bio Picture

Written by

Nick Wharton

Nick is the co-founder, editor and author of Goats On The Road. He contributes to numerous other media sites regularly and shares his expert knowledge of travel, online entrepreneurship and blogging with the world whenever he can. He has been travelling and working abroad since 2008 and has more than 10 years of experience in online business, finance, travel and entrepreneurship.

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26 thoughts on “8 Tips to Guarantee You Land The Perfect Pet-Sitting Job”

  1. I was looking for pet sitting jobs and I have found one. Trusted HouseSitters.com is really great source for unemployed people like me.

  2. Very useful tips 🙂 I would like to do some pet sitting while traveling (still saving for it) because I can’t have pets at home for different reasons. I think it’s a great way of helping each other.
    That little doggie looks so friendly, I bet you have an amazing time together.
    Cheers,
    Rocio

  3. Hi Rocio,

    Same goes for us, we can’t have pets due to our travelling lifestyle, so it’s great to be able to enjoy the company of an animal for a while on the road 🙂 Same for you, you can tell the homeowners/pet owners your reasons for not being able to have a pet at home, it’s something that sets you apart from the other applicants – just be yourself 🙂

    Cheers and thank you for commenting.

  4. Pet sitting is a great way to live like a local in a new city/country, a great way to be able to enjoy the company of a pet while travelling and, of course, you are able to have free accommodation in exchange for your sitting services. It’s a win-win for everyone 🙂

    Cheers!

  5. This is very useful tips. I am thinking about of doing pet sitting while traveling. I think it’s a great way of helping to each other.

  6. certainly the most unique blog ive read in a long time. Although who isnt qualified to look after a pet, unless they had a pet rhino, or you were an 8 year old .

    But overall very nice unique blog and not seen one like it before, thanks for this read !

  7. Thanks for the comment. Although I think that many people may not be qualified to look after a pet! There are many irresponsible people out there who may not even care about the animal, and think of housesitting as just a free place to stay. For the most part though, I think people are responsible and caring 🙂

  8. Thanks a lot for this post. My girlfriend has been wanting to start pet-sitting every weekend for some side income. She does it sporadically for family friends and really enjoys it. I’m going to show this to her. Thanks again!

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  10. Sounds good! We didn’t get paid for our pet sitting jobs, except for a tip. It was in exchange for accommodation, but if you don’t get accommodation, then you could probably get paid. Good luck 🙂

  11. Thanks for all these info! 🙂
    I totally agree with you, all pet owners want a trustworthy and honest person to take care of their pets. Honesty is everyone’s #1 weapon. It’s good to know that your tips aren’t just some tricks to get hired, if I’ll ever need a pet sitter some day, I’ll be relieved knowing he/she has read this post of yours and truly applied it. And of course, that is, if he/she is completely capable and compatible with my pets.

  12. I completely agree with you Mary . Trust is the biggest thing in each and every relation. Thus, it is also required in the relation of owner and pet sitter.

    Pet sitter is one of the very interesting job and one gets the chance to earn the money. Moreover, it helps the pet owners to do their work more appropriately.

    However, its one of the most informative blog I have recently come across. 🙂

  13. Thanks for the comment Hans 🙂 We think pet-sitting / house sitting is a great way to form friendships, live in a new country, enjoy the company of a furry friend, and of course, life rent-free.

    Cheers!

  14. Thanks for your great article. i didn’t know that money can be earned by making pet-sitting. Anyway thank you for the information. And i found that this blog very resourceful and interesting.

  15. Definitely! It’s so important for home owners to do their research before agreeing to a pet sitter. We’ve had great experiences and love having a furry friend for a while

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