Tips for creating an effective house sitter profile

Your house sitter profile is a way to showcase your personality, house sitting experience, and skills related to the caring of homes, pets, and gardens/plants. It is a fabulous first impression.

If a homeowner is actively searching for house sitters to contact, your profile will be the first thing they see from you. 

If you are the one initiating contact, your profile won’t be the first impression, but it can still be a make-or-break component of gaining the homeowner’s confidence. Therefore, it’s important to take care in how you write about yourself.

This article provides tips for crafting a well-written and descriptive house sitter profile, so you can put your best foot forward with homeowners and get the housesitting jobs you want.

Be honest about who you are and what you’re looking for. 

By presenting your authentic self and being open about your housesitting preferences, you increase the likelihood of finding homeowners and house sits that you’re a good fit for, which will lead to a positive experience for both parties. Naturally, an honest profile will also then decrease the likelihood of moving forward with house sits that you won’t enjoy. 

Being authentic may technically limit your options, but in a good way. The clearer and more precise you are about what you want, the more you will enjoy the house sits that you commit to, and the higher chance of gaining the jobs you apply for.

If you’re new to house sitting, include relevant experience and skills. 

Being new to house sitting doesn’t mean you won’t be great at it to start. The most important qualities a house sitter can have include trustworthiness, excellent communication, attentiveness, flexibility, and a willingness to solve problems independently.

These qualities can be developed in your personal and professional life, so be sure to include relevant non-housesitting experience that demonstrates your ability to take care of someone’s home and pets. 

You can also mention if you have any skills related to home maintenance, as this will significantly boost your value in the eyes of homeowners (e.g. skills in maintaining electrical, heating, plumbing, or mechanical systems). As you gain house sitting experience, remember to update your profile accordingly.

Look at other house sitter profiles for inspiration. 

Creating a profile is a very open-ended process. When there are so many things you could write, it’s easy to feel lost when deciding what points to include. If this is the case for you, it’s helpful to browse other sitters’ profiles, especially ones made by individuals who are highly experienced and have many positive reviews. By doing this, you can get inspiration on what topics to incorporate and how to determine the overall flow of your profile.

Upload high-quality, relevant photos. 

Words can only convey so much about your personality, so a well-rounded profile will include several images of yourself. Ensure all the pictures are high quality images, with at least a couple of them showing your smiling face clearly directed toward the camera.

If possible, include pictures of yourself doing common house sitting activities, like spending time with dogs and cats, or working in a garden. 

If you don’t have any photos that would work well in a housesitting profile, grab a friend (or a tripod with a timed camera) and have a photo shoot! An abundance of high-quality, relevant photos bolsters the homeowner’s sense of you as a person. As you do house sits, it’s helpful to add photos of yourself with the animals you take care of. Note that it’s good general practice to ask permission from the homeowners before posting pictures of their pets in your profile.

Carefully proofread your profile. 

While house sitting is enjoyable and typically low stress, taking care of someone’s home is still a tremendous responsibility. Therefore, it’s in your interest to treat your profile like a resume, and house sits like jobs you’re applying for. 

Profiles can be much more open-ended and personable compared to a resume, but they should still be well-written and definitely devoid of any spelling or grammar errors. Homeowners are looking to entrust their residences to someone, so don’t give them any reasons to doubt your attention to detail. 

When proofreading your profile, it’s helpful to read it out loud to determine how well it flows. Having someone else read over and critique your profile can be beneficial as well.

Express your personality. 

House sitting is an immediate and accessible pursuit; it’s driven by house sitters and homeowners directly communicating with each other to come to an agreement. There is no red tape, no bureaucracy, no governing board of directors. 

The housesitting world is a peer-to-peer environment that allows for great freedom. Take advantage of this freedom by expressing who you are, what you enjoy doing in daily life, and why you love house sitting.

Demonstrating a sense of openness in your profile is reassuring to homeowners, and it’s also affirming to your own genuine sense of self.

A great profile can make all the difference.

Finally, when writing your sitter profile, remember to consider the perspective of the homeowner. What will instill a sense of confidence in them? What would you want to see if you were entrusting your home to someone? 

One of the most valuable skills you can have as a house sitter is being able to understand a homeowner's needs and concerns, and an effective profile will display this.

Interested in becoming a house sitter with House Sitters America? Have a look at our current house sitting opportunities and register today.