I’m going to be honest with you: I’m freaking out. The high school senior who lives across the street is graduating in a couple of months and heading off to join the Air Force. I’m not freaking out about that…I’m freaking out because we are losing our babysitter!
What is so great about her is that she’s right across the street – if something happens, her parents are there to help. Or, if we enjoy wine with dinner on our night out, we don’t have to worry about driving her home. Also? She’s lovely and she’s like part of our family.
But the problem is that we are losing our babysitter. And that’s when a friend told me about Sittercity.
Sittercity helps parents find local babysitters and nannies in their area…with qualifications that they are looking for. Is it safe? It seems to be. The The Department of Defense has contracted with Sittercity to fund free memberships for all military families, and Sittercity is in partnership with The Red Cross.
Sittercity also offers features like detailed profiles, background checks, references and reviews to help make the process safe and easy. Parents post a job letting sitters/nannies (that have to sign up to see the job postings) what they are looking for. Sitters apply for the job, and then there’s a four-part screening process.
The four-part screening process: You first get to see a list of applicants who are interested…there’s a quote on the home page that states, “Within 24 hours after posting a job, parents usually get an average of 17 replies.”
After you review those, you can check references and reviews, interview applicants you are interested in, view sitter background checks and finally, hire the best candidate for your family.
You can try the service out for free for one week. If you like the service, you can pay monthly ($35/month) or annually ($70/year).
What do you think? Would you or have you tried Sittercity? I’d love to hear your opinions on the service!
Photo Source: Sittercity
