Get Those References

House Sitting Academy - Setup to Stand Out Kit - References

HOUSE SITTING REFERENCES MAKE YOURSELF STAND OUT!References really do help you stand out and speak volumes when you are housesitting. Especially when starting out, they can be the complete make or breakelement.You can truly never have too many of them!This is evidenced by some house sitting platforms even grading their housesitters according to how many they have.But thinking about the home owners position, it is really not hard to see whyreferences are so important in house sitting... home owners open up their doorsfor essentially a ‘stranger’ to come in and look after their most prizedpossessions, their pets and home (usually in that order too!).They want to know as best as possible who you are, that you are responsibleand reliable, and above all else trustworthy - and references help this processmassively for both them and you.In fact the number one concern for nearly all home owners is - can they trustyou to look after their pets and run their household with as much love and careas they take.House Sitting Academy - Setup to Stand Out Kit - References

Home owners, like any traveler, like to have peace of mind when they take theirleave so they can focus on their holiday, business, medical issue, family time, orwhatever reason they have gone away for.The last thing they want is to be constantly worried about things back home. Afterall, peace of mind was why they took on house sitters in the first place!And while you can state as much as you like in your profile how much you care,and how trustworthy you are, and even give examples to support your claims,there is still nothing more edifying than a third party independentrecommendation or reference about you.The good news is you can get references to support your house sitting profilefrom more than just home owners you have sat for. There is much scope toobtain personal and related references that are also very acceptable to homeowners.SO WHO CAN YOU GET A REFERENCE FROM?If you have not professionally sat for anyone before, or even if you have, thefollowing is a list of people you could get an appropriate personal or house sittingreference from.We have also made some suggestions about what you could get your chosenreferees to write about you, that would make your reference just that little bitmore centred around house sitting.These are things that a home owner would love to read about you!Friends you may have house sat for, or minded their pets:• Mention how often you have looked after their home and pets• How long was the stay?• What pets did you look after?• What were your duties in the house and for the pets?• Why do they keep using you for the responsibility?House Sitting Academy - Setup to Stand Out Kit - References

Friends and Neighbours if YOU own pets:• Get them to write how well you look after your own petsFriends and neighbours that have been to your house:• Get them to write how well you keep your own homeYour landlord/s:• How long did you/have you stayed at the rental property?• How well have you kept the property?• What were you responsible for around the house?• Gardens, lawn, pool?• Have you always had glowing reports from them?Your employer and co-workers:• What skills do you display at work that translates to house sitting?• See STEP 2 - PROFILE LESSON under ‘Current and previous employment’ to assist hereAny pet trainers you did a course with:• Was it your pet or someone else’s you took to training?• What did you learn?• How did you go with the training overall?Any pet owners where you have spent time with their animals:• What types of animals have you become familiar with?• How well have you mixed with the animals?• Any unusual animals, like farm animals, reptiles etc?House Sitting Academy - Setup to Stand Out Kit - References

Any other teachers or mentors:• How quickly do you learn new skills?• Any teachers of courses you have taken in home maintenance?• Any teachers you have taken in gardening type courses?• Any teachers of other courses that maybe relevant to house sittingWHAT SKILLS CAN THEY MENTION ABOUT YOU?Under the section ‘General House Sitting Downloads’ in the ‘Setup to Stand Out’Kit we looked at the ‘Top 10 House Sitter Skills’. Here we are going to extend thatlist of skills and combine them with your references to make you shine even moreWhen requesting your reference ask your referee to mention some of thesequalities in the reference they write for you, to again make it more specific andrelevant to house sitting (but only if you have these qualities of course!).• A love of animals• Responsible• Capable of handling day to day tasks & emergencies• Lateral and creative thinker• Ability to think on your feet• Flexible and adaptable• Good leader, have presence & command respect• Tolerating of others differences• Fastidious - eg cleanliness, hygiene, doing chores• Attention to detail• Organised• Respectful of others possessions & treat them as your own• Respectful of others privacy & security mindedHouse Sitting Academy - Setup to Stand Out Kit - References

THE METHOD OF REQUESTING REFERENCESHouse sitting sites vary in terms of how you obtain references and uploadthem to your house sitting profile.On some sites you go through their actual site and make the request (we will callthis the Direct Upload Method). On other sites you can just upload referencesyourself (Upload yourself method).The downside of platforms that use the direct upload method on their site is thatif you subsequently create a profile on another platform, you will not have accessto those references for your new profile.Therefore, if you have references already on such a platform, or you intend touse such a platform, we strongly suggest you also obtain a copy of the referenceon a Word document from your referee.This will enable you to post the same reference on other platforms, or on yourown blog, website or page.On platforms with the direct upload method, you send the reference request tosomeone through the edit mode in your profile, which then goes to the referee inthe form of an email.Obviously for this to work, you need to have already registered with the platform.Registering will automatically set up the beginning stages of a profile page foryou, and the reference request feature is part of that.That means you can send that request to anyone, including anyone we havementioned above that you could get a reference from.When your referee does your reference and sends it back, it will automaticallyappear on your profile page.For platforms with the upload yourself method, just make the request to yourreferees and once you have the Word document or PDF then follow the sitesinstructions to upload it to your profile.House Sitting Academy - Setup to Stand Out Kit - References

TWO OTHER IMPORTANT NOTES We suggest you get onto requesting and collating your references as soon as possible in the Set Up Phase of your house sitting journey. It can take some time to make the request and have them returned to you so you can then be creating your profile while you wait, thus speeding up the overall process of being ready to sit. As the house sitting space becomes more competitive, home owners are definitely turning to ‘house sitting’ references to make their final decisions. While personal references are admirable, many home owners are now looking specifically for house sitting experience and references. If you do not have house sitting references then we highly recommend you go house sitting in your own city, region or country to at least make a start in getting some experience and references under your belt. There are particularly great opportunities in many larger cities for short term or weekend sits that rarely get taken, as people do not want to travel to them for such a short space of time. If they are nearby you (or they are cheap enough to get to), then go for them - they are perfect sits to cut your teeth on as the home owners are super grateful to even get a sitter in that situation. Overseas house sits can be daunting when first starting out in house sitting. Not only are you trying to get a handle on house sitting itself, but you may have to deal with new languages, cultures, food, currencies etc. If it feels right for you, or you have not traveled extensively before, take the pressure off yourself and take the opportunity to get some local sitting experience and references under your belt before you embark overseas. Build up your profile locally first and then you will find you will be far more successful in applying for international sits. Besides it’s always a nice way to discover your own backyard!House Sitting Academy - Setup to Stand Out Kit - References

SOCIAL MEDIAOn a final note about references, many home owners are now turning to socialmedia profiles to really check out their potential sitters and get a feel for them.That can be good and bad!Many profiles, particularly Facebook are very social and if you have an openpublic profile you might just want to be mindful of posting photos of raging nightsout, or giving the impression that you are not reliable and trustworthy!Linked-In might be the better option to cite in your house sitting profile.As you probably already know, Linked-In is a professional network. But it caneasily be used to show case your house sitting experiences if you so desire, aswell host your professional credentials.One of the features of Linked-In is to be able to host your ‘recommendations’from other Linked-In members. These are pretty much another name forreferences and you can request these recommendations from any one you areconnected to on Linked-In.House Sitting Academy - Setup to Stand Out Kit - References