We’ve recently been testing the functionality of pausing applications when an owner receives five sitter applications. We believe that this change will improve your experience on the platform, as well as improve communications and help speed up the application process, and help more members become successful.
Rest assured though that if any of the five applications aren’t quite right, you can send them a quick message to say ‘thanks’, and decline them via your inbox. Then, unpause your dates to receive more new applications.
FAQ:
Why 5 applications?
Our data shows that up to 5 applications is the right number to maximise chances of success for both owners and sitters. We may evaluate this in the future if the data suggests otherwise.
Owners will be able to decline their sitters and unpause their applications at any point.
As an owner, will I be notified if my applications have been paused and how to unpause them?
Yes - owners will receive an email and a push notification (if they have the app installed and push notifications allowed).
They will also see this on the dashboard and will be informed when entering the inbox. Here, owners will be asked to either confirm their sitter, or to decline the applications that don’t match their requirements and to unpause their applications.
How many applications can I have at a time? How can I unpause my applications?
You can have up to 5 open sitter applications. After this, your applications will be paused until you either confirm your sitter, or decline your current applications.
To do this, head to your inbox and either confirm your chosen sitter or decline your current applications. Once you have declined your applications, you can easily unpause your applications via the inbox.
Can I unpause my applications without declining the first 5 sitters?
If you wish to unpause your dates and receive more sitter applications, you will first need to decline your current sitter applications. This is to help speed up the application process and avoid any uncertainty for sitters. However, nothing will prevent owners from messaging any of the first 5 sitters they previously declined and inviting them back, if they wish so.
Will this impact sitters applying for international sits?
Only a very small percentage of sits receive 5 applications within 24 hours, and as there are now more global sit opportunities than ever before, we believe that this will not affect a sitter’s chances at applying for an international sit. We will continue to monitor this closely, together with your feedback.
How big of a change is this?
This change only impacts a small number of owners and from recent tests, no members reported any issues with this process and we saw a positive impact on applications and success. This is still a test and will run for 6-8 weeks. We will update everyone on the findings and next steps as and when they become available.