Finding a Babysitter (probably through Care.com)

[Deebs]

We have struck out on the two names I've been given for babysitters - both started school in January, leaving us high and dry. We've always had sitters that we've found through the hospital and are comfortable with a child with food allergies. Now, DH's hospital is an hour away, so that connection won't really work. I'm thinking I need to use care.com. I need to find someone for date night, but also to stay with the kids in October while H speaks at a conference in Vegas, and I go to watch him. Who has tips, hints, and advice? What should I ask? I'm nervous about using someone I know nothing about. Help!


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[SoonerTexan]

Are you part of a church community where you can ask people? I connect my 18 year old sister up with people from church all the time


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[Deebs]

We haven't joined a church yet.


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[scrub-jay]

Finding a Babysitter (probably through Care.com)

I wish I were closer!! There's a great interactive video about recognizing food allergies that I ask my sitters to watch (I'll find it). The best ones we've had are people who have their own anaphylactic food allergies and just get it. Have a training with them, print out pictures of the reactions and teach them the epi, etc.

[L.Jane]

I was on Care.com as both a nanny and a employer. You have to be very specific and if you get someone with in the next month by October you should feel comfortable leaving them with that person. Do you have a college or even a jr college close by? When we were in CA I posted on the UCSD job portal and even made them write cover letters! It helped weed out a bunch of candidates. When I interviewed I actually googled interviewing questions to help me make a list of questions. The biggest thing was just feeling comfortable with the person. The girl I ended up using, E jumped into her arms and had no interest coming back to me. The girl I had interviewed the day before, he didn't seem to have any interest in. Make sure when you interview you see how they interact with the kids. Don't interview with out them there at some point of the interview.

[ides]

I looked at care.com but the prices pissed me off. $20/hr. Yeah, right, I ain't that desperate!

[TulipsAndSunscreen]

We found our sweet, beloved nanny on care.com. She's been with us almost 4 years and she's a member of our family. Check, check, check references. We've used the service for a few interim nannies (our nanny takes classes part time) and I've had a few that have been meh mostly because I didn't check their references carefully enough (they were fine, just meh).

My biggest tip, be SPECIFIC and look at the responses. If you ask a question in your post, the respondents should answer it. I immediately ruled out a lot of people with the "tell me about what a normal day with a 6 month would look like" because they'd write "hey I'm interested in your position" and that was it.

BTW, I respond to every person that responds to me. I created a "thanks but no thanks" form response so I could copy and paste but I did respond to everyone. I think a lot of people don't and it sucks for them.

[MrsC]

We found two great babysitters through care.com. We'll probably have to search again because our current one is graduating next month I agree with what everyone else says, especially how they interact with the child. I had one girl interview who clearly had no interest in the job and barely said hi to C. You wonder why she bothered showing up. That was the only bad one we had though.
There were a lot of nursing, early childhood education and teaching students on there.

[MarissaNicole]

We found both our sitters on care. Try and narrow down your options. When you meet them in person you'll know. I LOVED the profile on the first one woman I interviewed but she didn't ask ANY questions about my kids so that totally turned me off.

I did the background check and checked references on the two I hired.

My only caution is to be careful as far as mental health. They don't screen for that. As a prosecutor I've seen young girls who are great young women but due to mental health issues that are hard to detect they do stupid stuff like leave a kid in the car while they go tanning.

I pay CRAP compared to what they ask for but have still found two lovely ladies.

Good luck!




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[TulipsAndSunscreen]

MN brings up a good point about pay. I'm usually upfront about the pay situation before I even meet them. Despite the fact that I pay above market rate for the flexibility, there have been at least two who refused to make less than $20/hour which is insane for our area. Not sure where they got those numbers but it's true.

[MarissaNicole]

MN brings up a good point about pay. I'm usually upfront about the pay situation before I even meet them. Despite the fact that I pay above market rate for the flexibility, there have been at least two who refused to make less than $20/hour which is insane for our area. Not sure where they got those numbers but it's true.

I tried to post what I'd pay in my ad but Care edits it out. So I've always disclosed our budget before interviews (many people were no longer interested but I understand that.)

[SuzySunshine]

D how far are you from where L used to live? Maybe she has one/some that you could get names of?

I have gotten my sitters here from Care.com and those have turned into referrals to others. I was very specific in the ad about what I wanted and specifically asked for nursing or OT/PT students. I, of course, got some that didn't fit my bill and then I just never interviewed them. I reviewed the applications, set up interviews at coffee shops and then if I was still happy I'd call their references.

[TulipsAndSunscreen]

I tried to post what I'd pay in my ad but Care edits it out. So I've always disclosed our budget before interviews (many people were no longer interested but I understand that.)

Yes, I do that once I start messaging with someone.

I actually make DH do the initial phone screens. It takes 10 minutes and I hate, HATE meeting new people on the phone. He can do it after the kids are in bed so that works for us. Then, I have them come over and meet the kids and our current nanny - they're usually more relaxed around her than they are around me. Then, I join them for 30ish minutes so I can meet them, get to know them, etc. M (nanny) has a great intuition having been a nanny for a decade so I 100% trust her opinion. Basically, she's my sister-wife.