If you've used care.com

[circa1978]

How many months of membership did you need to find someone? We're looking for after school care/light house keeping in the fall, so it seems like the three month one would work but then why on earth do people need the 12 month option? Like do their babysitters flake with that amount of regularity?

[anlo]

The 3 month option has always been more than enough time for us. We've used it the past two years for summer child care.

[hocus2]

3 months should be fine, but if you're looking now it is probably too early for fall.

Are you looking for a college or HS student or someone who is more of a professional sitters/nanny? Students you should be able to find 6 weeks out. Around here some of the good sitters come up in July.

[Captain Serious]

Beware. I used care.com in 2011 because I was worried that I couldn't keep track of all the necessary background checks to run, given where a person lived/worked.

Just a week or so ago, I recurved notice that they discovered that they weren't running all the necessary background checks for users in my state because there was no single, comprehensive report for residents of our state. FIVE years later.

ETA:. I feel I should also add that we never found anyone through care.com. The three people we interviewed (selection was slim because were looking for bilingual nannies) were not at all what we were looking for. We ended up using an employment agency.

[sandytoes]

I found someone in the first month. That was 3 years ago and we still use her every week. I had a great experience.

[circa1978]

May 25, 2016 14:40:41 GMT -5 hocus2 said:

3 months should be fine, but if you're looking now it is probably too early for fall.

Are you looking for a college or HS student or someone who is more of a professional sitters/nanny? Students you should be able to find 6 weeks out. Around here some of the good sitters come up in July.

I'd be OK with a student - we are actually quite close to a college campus - but the need won't be going away in the next few years, so I'd prefer a professional sitter.

We've never left him with anyone other than family, outside a professional daycare, so I'd like to have a few months where this person babysits maybe once a week. 

[hocus2]

May 25, 2016 15:04:15 GMT -5 circa1978 said:

May 25, 2016 14:40:41 GMT -5 hocus2 said:

3 months should be fine, but if you're looking now it is probably too early for fall.

Are you looking for a college or HS student or someone who is more of a professional sitters/nanny? Students you should be able to find 6 weeks out. Around here some of the good sitters come up in July.

I'd be OK with a student - we are actually quite close to a college campus - but the need won't be going away in the next few years, so I'd prefer a professional sitter.

We've never left him with anyone other than family, outside a professional daycare, so I'd like to have a few months where this person babysits maybe once a week. 

This might be nice but somewhat unfeasible unless you're thinking about weekends. People who are sitters often need to work their max hours. They may not have a day free for months in advance. A few trial runs should be fine to be honest. I use sitters regularly and I find my kids warm up to them in a few hours.

[karmasabiotch]

I've had it almost 3 months and haven't found anyone to do back up care or just as an occasional babysitter. Nobody seems able to set up a time for a phone or in person interview. I don't understand why.

[countthestars]

May 25, 2016 15:06:55 GMT -5 hocus2 said:

May 25, 2016 15:04:15 GMT -5 circa1978 said:

I'd be OK with a student - we are actually quite close to a college campus - but the need won't be going away in the next few years, so I'd prefer a professional sitter.

We've never left him with anyone other than family, outside a professional daycare, so I'd like to have a few months where this person babysits maybe once a week. 

This might be nice but somewhat unfeasible unless you're thinking about weekends. People who are sitters often need to work their max hours. They may not have a day free for months in advance. A few trial runs should be fine to be honest. I use sitters regularly and I find my kids warm up to them in a few hours.

I actually know quite a few people who watch kids 1 or 2 weekdays like OP is looking for.

[hocus2]

May 25, 2016 15:08:22 GMT -5 karmasabiotch said:

I've had it almost 3 months and haven't found anyone to do back up care or just as an occasional babysitter. Nobody seems able to set up a time for a phone or in person interview. I don't understand why.

  Are you in a more rural area? I've heard this can happen when their just aren't a lot of people on the system. It maybe that others sites (e.g. sittercity.com ) are more popular in your area.

[hocus2]

May 25, 2016 15:13:30 GMT -5 countthestars said:

May 25, 2016 15:06:55 GMT -5 hocus2 said:

This might be nice but somewhat unfeasible unless you're thinking about weekends. People who are sitters often need to work their max hours. They may not have a day free for months in advance. A few trial runs should be fine to be honest. I use sitters regularly and I find my kids warm up to them in a few hours.

I actually know quite a few people who watch kids 1 or 2 weekdays like OP is looking for.

  They way I understood it was that she was looking for 5 days a week starting in Fall but wanted 1 day over the summer. I think it might be hard to find that. If you want to work five days a week you probably are doing that now.

[cabbagecabbage]

May 25, 2016 15:13:30 GMT -5 countthestars said:

May 25, 2016 15:06:55 GMT -5 hocus2 said:

This might be nice but somewhat unfeasible unless you're thinking about weekends. People who are sitters often need to work their max hours. They may not have a day free for months in advance. A few trial runs should be fine to be honest. I use sitters regularly and I find my kids warm up to them in a few hours.

I actually know quite a few people who watch kids 1 or 2 weekdays like OP is looking for.

As a nanny, I'll say there are plenty of both types of sitter but rarely is someone both. I'm all about pt and I have my own children. I get one type of family. I chat with plenty of nannies who won't stay for less than 40 hours. They just can't afford to. But I got my last great job on Care.com. it's all about the perfect combo and I use it as one of my tools when job searching.

[twilightmv]

Lurker, but three months was plenty. I got TONS of resumes for a nanny position I posted.

[circa1978]

May 25, 2016 15:06:55 GMT -5 hocus2 said:

May 25, 2016 15:04:15 GMT -5 circa1978 said:

I'd be OK with a student - we are actually quite close to a college campus - but the need won't be going away in the next few years, so I'd prefer a professional sitter.

We've never left him with anyone other than family, outside a professional daycare, so I'd like to have a few months where this person babysits maybe once a week. 

This might be nice but somewhat unfeasible unless you're thinking about weekends. People who are sitters often need to work their max hours. They may not have a day free for months in advance. A few trial runs should be fine to be honest. I use sitters regularly and I find my kids warm up to them in a few hours.

I hadn't thought about the full 40 hours part, since the site advertises after school care, but that makes perfect sense. Sounds like three months might do it. I'll start there. 

[karmasabiotch]

May 25, 2016 15:20:46 GMT -5 hocus2 said:

May 25, 2016 15:08:22 GMT -5 karmasabiotch said:

I've had it almost 3 months and haven't found anyone to do back up care or just as an occasional babysitter. Nobody seems able to set up a time for a phone or in person interview. I don't understand why.

  Are you in a more rural area? I've heard this can happen when their just aren't a lot of people on the system. It maybe that others sites (e.g. sittercity.com ) are more popular in your area.

Metro Detroit Area. Not rural at all. I think maybe it's because I just want someone once in a while and most people seem to want a committed schedule.