How/Where did you find your nanny or sitter?

[AJP]

I was going to post a job on a local college job board, but did some digging at care.com since I could search there by town. Since the college is in a small town, it was easier to just search there. I am looking for someone part time for the summer and hoping to keep them on one or two days in the fall. A great candidate would stay with us a while for date nights etc.
Ive never had a sitter outside of my mom & mil and I need some independance from them! I'd like my freedom from justifying where I'm going and why I'm out and not doing house stuff when they help out. I've had no luck finding personal rec's so I posted a job on care.com.
Have you use a similar service? Were you pleased with the candidates? Anything I should be wary of? I'll probably be spending half my time at home and half out while they are here. I'm not working but overwhelmed and possibly facing selling our home and moving/building and I'm paralyzed with fear about doing that with 3 kids and a DH who works a lot.
I didn't like the anonymity of CL and care does background checks. Can I trust these checks? Am I better off going through an agency? These tend to charge lots of fees and placement costs etc. I guess I just want to know that they've been screened. I do plan on checking references.

[gatorsmom]

We've gotten 2 nannies from placement agencies and 2 from care.com. The placement agencies provide the added benefit (in some cases) of knowing the candidate better because of how they have performed with different families and different ages of kids. Also, they provide feedback from surveys completed by the famiilies how their nanny performed (at least our agency did). They are also a good way to go if you need a nanny reallly quickly since the agency can send over a trustworthy temporary until you find your "forever" nanny. However, the agencies I researched as well as the one we went with all charged A LOT of money for placing a nanny. Honestly, I don't think the services were better than care.com.

We got 2 nannies through care.com. I liked them both very much and spoke to others who would have been great (but our hours didn't match up) but the one we have now is outstanding. I like how care.com allows you to keep up a dialog without providing too much personal info. I also really liked the background check service. I find the best and truest info can be found out about someone by checking references so I always try to speak a minimum of 4 and then I really dig for info whether I go through an agency or care.com. Although the nanny agencies do that, I find that sometimes they provide info that is outdated. At least with care.com you are getting the most current info.

In the small town that we've moved to, there are no nanny placement agencies. But even if there were, I'd still go with care.com over an agency. hth!

[iaam]

We have had two FT nannies in the last four years (both fantastic). We found them by advertising on cragslist - we put a very detailed ad and then I did very thorough screening interviews before inviting a few for in-person meetings. We followed that up with reference and background checks (with their permission) before making a final offer.

[daisymommy]

Now that I'm on bed rest, we have 2 babysitters. I found them both on Sittercity.com and was able to find a 40% off coupon online for the years subscription. I've been happy with the online service and the candidates in my area.


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[AJP]

Would you mind telling me what source you used for background check? And what info would I need? Is it just the standard name, ss # address?

[Minnifer]

Now that I'm on bed rest, we have 2 babysitters. I found them both on Sittercity.com and was able to find a 40% off coupon online for the years subscription. I've been happy with the online service and the candidates in my area.

Does Sittercity.com do background checks? I was trying to figure out the differences between that and care.com recently (but gave up b/c I don't have time b/c I don't have any help w/the kids, LOL!!).

[AJP]

I hear you! Not having time is why I gave up the search in the fall. I have been browsing till past midnight the past few days.

[MommyofAmaya]

I used Sittercity and found a great sitter. I used both Sittercity and Care.com to find a summer nanny. I had the best luck with Care.com and had 38 applicants, interviewed 9 and had a hard time deciding between 3 great ones. Both services provide background check, but if I remember correctly, only Sittercity included the driving record.

[meggie t]

I use care.com. That is where two of my current sitters were found. I have found great sitters and awful sitters (and by awful I mean practically your worst nightmare). Background checks are great but they don't cover just plain stupidity, so go with your gut when interviewing. I know that seems to be obvious but it bears repeating.

Oh, and I paid for care.com so that I could do the searching and contact people instead of posting a job and hundreds of people contacting me. But this is for weekly P/T sitting, not a F/T nanny job.

Good luck!

[AJP]

Thanks. I paid at care. I've been searching and have a few to contact and have already been contacted by about 4. Two of those look good on paper so we'll chat and see if I want to meet them. I'm not at the point of needing anyone to drive for us. Thanks for the advice. I'll post again with an update and questions on interviews I'm sure!