subject: How to get Caretakers Jobs [print this page] A caretakers job involves looking after a building or buildings and making sure nothing goes wrong with plumbing, electricity, roof leaks and so on. You're not expected to fix these things yourself, but to either inform your employer or call in the firms who can fix them.Security is one of the main jobs a caretaker has to take care of, but only through their presence on site, not in becoming personally involved should serious security breaches occur. A caretaker acts more as a deterrent through their presence than anything else, just as you do in your own home.In both of these respects, looking after buildings and security through your presence, caretaking is exactly the same as house sitting, but many people who are considering caretakers jobs or who are already caretakers seem to ignore the extra benefits that house sitting can bring them.Firstly house sitting jobs are really only caretaking jobs with free accommodation where all living costs except food and drink are paid for by the owner.Secondly you will be amazed how once you know where to look you'll find more house sitting job offers than you would believe possible.Thirdly you can do house sitting unpaid without any experience in order to get a free roof over your head, in which case you will have hundreds of jobs to choose from, or you can become paid if you set yourself up properly as a professional house sitter, which is not difficult to do.The great thing about changing your thinking from commercial caretakers jobs to 'live in' caretakers jobs, i.e. house sitting, is that there is no difference in the work requirement from that of running your own home, you get a free house to live in and everything you usually pay for is paid for by the home owner. Sometimes you will even be able to take food out of your living costs equation if the home owner supplies it.At first you may not be getting paid, but this is compensated by your reduction in living overheads. If you need to be paid for house sitting you could either join a house sitting agency, where you would be at the agency's beck and call, or once you have completed several successful house sits as an unpaid house sitter you will have enough good references in your portfolio to be able to begin charging for your services.Things you can often get from house sitting that you may not get from caretaking are cheap phone calls and utilities, cheap home broadband, cheap home entertainment sometimes including large plasma screen televisions and cheap home audio because some home owners have superb sound systems. None of these things can be cheaper than free, which is what they will be to you as a house sitter!You will also save fuel costs if the house sitting jobs you take on are close to local shops and services.Admittedly you may be asked to look after a few pets, although with some house sitting jobs there aren't any pets to worry about, but these may only be cats that basically look after themselves once you've given them their food and water or dogs and if you're a dog lover then this is no problem as they can be a pleasure to take care of in exchange for getting free accommodation in return.It's a mistake to think there are less benefits in becoming a house sitter than a caretaker because house sitting wins out every time in every way as I've set out above and as a professional house sitter you'll find far more of your life's problems answered than they will be if you become a caretaker.
