anyone use care.com

Melanie2003

we need to figure out an afternoon sitter situation for ava for the summer and school once kindergarten starts. with a sitter at home, we are considering moving sam's daycare to one locally so this person could get her and keep both girls at home in the afternoon -and ideally, take ava to one afternoon activity a week too.

i registered for care.com - free membership - to see what it's about and will pay for the enhanced memberships/background checks, etc. as i get closer to really starting the search

just looking for validation that this site is a-ok, and for any tips anyone has about making these arrangements and writing up a description. a friend told me to include anything i can think of because it's easy to take away responsibilities but not easy to add them after they are hired. but i'm not sure what to include - i don't want any housekeeping, and don't expect them to cook - but they might need to turn the oven on and toss in a dish that i prepped and kept in the fridge or they may need to nuke something for the girls. i just would not expect them to cook-cook.

lisa5ny

I used to do the hiring for a private firm that provided childcare services and have interviewed a number of people from care.com. As far as I can tell, there is NO screening process for the childcare providers to be listed on the website, but I could be wrong. So, I would just conduct a major in-person interview before hiring anyone. With that said, I have hired a number of wonderful people off that site.

Your friend is right...be as specific as possible in the job description. Also, If driving is required, see if you can run thier license somehow and get a driving background check. I'm not sure if this is a service they provide so you may have to do it on your own.

 

ssage

I am registered for that site but have not used them.  However, a friend of mine has and she said she has had no issues with the girls she has gotten.  She also, I am sure, has done an indepth interview process...she went through an au pair process that was horrendous

navybride06

beenverified.com  is a site you can use to get backgrounds of people.

murrr23

I have used care.com before and found a great babysitter. I found it easier to post a job and have people contact me instead of hunting through the profiles of local people. Some people don't always respond. It's a good starting base to see who's out there and available for what you need. I know they sometimes have a discounted membership so look for coupon codes when your ready.

Melanie2003

Thanks for the feedback!

Saints2804

Hi "The Nest" readers!

Lisa brought up a great point that we wanted to take a few moments to address..Care.com provides unlimited Background checks to our Premium Members without any extra fee. Also, all of our caregiver profiles on the site are "mom-approved" by our Mom Force! Care.com's Mom Force is a team of work-at-home moms trained to review caregiver profiles for suspicious and inappropriate content. If a profile isn't Mom approved, it doesn't go on the site. We also allow access to recorded references, or you can request to call yourself if you prefer. Care.com also takes steps to monitor messaging. You decide when to share your contact information with a caregiver. All messaging happens through the Care.com site and we monitor all messages for spam, scams, and inappropriate content.

While we take these measures to protect our members, we also recommend that you check out our safety matters page:  http://www.care.com/safety-matters-p1273.html for more tips.

Thanks!

Brettlyn, Care.com Member Care Representative