Hiring a babysitter is not as simple as it seems. It requires a process for you to follow. Let me show you how to hire a babysitter so that you can find the most suitable person for the job.
Finding babysitters is hard enough, hiring one is even harder. That’s the reason why most parents end up hiring the first person who comes along.
They don’t bother to get to know the babysitter. They just end up hiring her on the spot. Unfortunately, it’s not a safe practice.
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You have to do it the right way. If you want to know how to hire a babysitter the right way, read on.
Table Of Contents
Never Settle For Less When You Need To Hire A Babysitter
Before jumping right into how to hire a babysitter, I want to stress that you should never have to settle for less. Unfortunately, I know some parents who settle for less. They hire the first person who comes along. Even worse, they hire the kid next door.
When it comes to hiring a babysitter, no parent should ever have to settle for less. Parents and babysitters can now connect online. Not through social media platforms or public websites such as Craigslist but through web-based childcare service providers.
Using a web-based childcare service provider means you don’t have to leave your home to hire a babysitter. All you need is your computer and internet connection. Related Read: Sittercity Free Membership
Considering the massive databases of babysitters provided by web-based childcare service providers, you’ll have a lot of options to choose from. That means you’ll never have to settle for less.
How To Hire A Babysitter
Here’s how to hire a babysitter so that you’ll end up with someone who’s best suited for the job.
1. Write everything down. Before you do anything else, get a pen and paper and write everything down. It’s a good way to organize your thoughts. Best of all, you can list down all the qualities that you’re looking for in a babysitter.
2. Choose a web-based childcare service provider. Nowadays, it’s best to hire a babysitter from a web-based childcare service provider. Aside from the fact that it’s more convenient, you get lots of options. Web-based childcare service providers offer a wide range of babysitters and nannies. So, if you’re specifically looking for an after-school babysitter, you won’t have a hard time finding one. It’s just a matter of choosing the right web-based service provider so that you can have access to a database of reliable babysitters.
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3. Post the job or search for babysitters. One of the reasons why I recommend using a web-based childcare service provider is that you can either post a job or search for babysitters. Web-based childcare service providers allow you to do both. Busy parents can always post a job and wait for responses from babysitters. On the other hand, parents who have more time to spare can search for babysitters by browsing their profiles.
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4. Start connecting to the babysitters. Web-based childcare service providers make it easy for parents to connect to babysitters. They provide a messaging service so that parents can easily communicate with the babysitters. Once you have gotten some responses from your job post or have come across a couple of babysitter profiles that seem fit for the job, you can send a message right away.
5. Create a shortlist. After connecting to babysitters, you’re bound to get a long list of candidates for the job. It might seem strange at first especially if you’re used to babysitter shortage. That is something that will never happen with a web-based childcare service provider. That is the reason why you’re bound to end up with a long list of options. When you do end up with a long list of options, it’s best you create a shortlist of contenders.
6. Start conducting phone interviews. You now have a shortlist of possible hires. Maybe out of the ten contenders, you’ve shortlisted about 5? Well, that’s up to you. What’s important is that you get to know them more. Now is the time for you to conduct phone interviews to get to know them more.
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7. Conduct face-to-face interviews. Once you have spoken to them on the phone and you feel that it’s safe to meet up, then you can proceed to conduct face-to-face interviews. You’re finally going to see your possible hires up close. At this point, you can even take your kids along to meet the babysitters. That way, your kids can help you decide as well.
8. Read reviews of the babysitters. Let’s face it. We put our best foot forward during interviews. Babysitters aren’t any different from the rest of us, right? Even if you’re impressed with the interviews, you should take some time to read reviews of other parents. This is the reason why I always recommend web-based childcare service providers. Parents are encouraged to share their feedback on the babysitters on such platforms. The reviews are easily available for other parents to read. Let’s take for example Sittercity. If you look at the bios of their babysitters, you can easily see the reviews from other parents. That helps a lot to get to know the babysitter.
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9. Narrow down your options. After meeting with your possible hires, you’d have to narrow down your options again. What I do at this point is narrow down my options to two babysitters. That way, I always have a spare. It really wouldn’t hurt to have one.
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10. Run background checks. Running background checks is the most important part for me. Even if I have met with the babysitters and read their reviews, I still make sure to run background checks. Since at this point, I’m down with just two babysitters to choose from, I make sure to run background checks on both of them. Again, web-based childcare service providers make it very easy for parents to run background checks on babysitters. It can get pretty expensive on some web-based childcare service providers but I find that Sittercity offers the most reasonable price for running background checks.
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11. Decide. At this point, you’re all set to decide. After going through the process, you’re bound to make a smart decision.
Do A Dry Run
If you have the time, make sure to do a dry run with the chosen babysitter. Have her come over to your house to spend some time with your kids. That way, you can see how she is with your kids and vice versa.
You can also take this time to brief her. Set expectations with her. Get to know her even more. If, all of a sudden, you sense something is amiss at this point, don’t hesitate to change your mind. I’m not saying that it’s going to happen but if you feel it, follow your instincts.
That’s the reason why you should always have a spare when hiring a babysitter. When you have lots of options to choose from, you’ll surely end up with a spare. As I’ve said before, you’ll always have lots of options if you use a web-based childcare service provider such as Sittercity.
Do you follow some steps when hiring a babysitter? What are those steps? Feel free to share them with us. We’d love to hear from you.
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It used to be the case that I would babysit for families. These days, I’m the one hiring sitters to watch over my little girl. LOL! How time flies. My mission now is to share some of my insights so that other moms get to benefit from my experience with babysitting. Read More
