8 Essential Tips Every Parent Must Know To Avoid Hiring A Sitter From Hell

We’ve heard the horror stories of parents hiring the wrong sitters for their family. They range from sitters with an attitude, those who commit petty theft, all the way to those who have criminal backgrounds.

Yes, they are out there and they can be disguised as the prim and proper babysitter waiting to get into our home and wreak havoc to our relatively quiet, but hectic life.

No, we do not need drama and all the hassles that come with it. Family and parenting life is hectic as it is.

The question is, will we make the mistake of accidentally hiring a sitter from hell to care after our precious little one?

The reality is that instances of hiring terrible, horrible sitters really do occur. (Here is a nutcase story and another one here)

The last thing we want is to make the next headline news story as victims, right?

It’s really about having some best practices in place so that we can minimize and avoid making that terrible hiring mistake.

Call me paranoid BUT at stake is the safety of my child and family. Keeping my family safe is top priority for me.

Hopefully, these essential tips that I’ll be sharing can help parents find the most trusted and qualified sitters to watch over their precious little one. These tips have served me, my family, and my friends well.

8. Always Call References

I always request for at least 3 references whom I can call to learn more about the sitter candidate. Parents who are still using the sitter or those who have hired the sitter are best.

I make it a point to call references because it’s a great way to learn more about the sitter, her work ethic, personality, qualifications, and other things that might concern me.

If I have additional questions about the sitter and want third party verification or confirmation, I make it a point to call the references again.

7. Do Additional Research Online

I also do additional research by going on Google, Bing, or Yahoo. Aside from those, I also do searches on the various major social platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, or Twitter.

If the sitter’s social network account can be viewed publicly, I take a good look at her profile. By doing so, I am able to learn more about how she publicly presents herself in her profile.

It’s also important to check if the sitter posts photos of children she babysits. If she does, then that’s a red flag for me.  As a safety precaution, I wouldn’t want photos of my child posted online. My child’s privacy, as well as my family’s privacy is important to me.

6. Have An In-Person Interview

I always have face-to-face interviews with potential candidates. This is the best way to get a better gauge about the person and a great opportunity to ask detailed questions about the sitter.

Regarding interview questions, I have all my questions written down so that I could go over each and every single one carefully.

Find Sitters And Nannies Through People You Trust And Know.

Also, for first time meetings, I setup the meeting outside my home. A good venue for a meeting would be a coffee shop where I wouldn’t be alone with just the sitter. Meeting the sitters outside my home gives me ample time to assess them as to whether I should welcome them into my home or not.

5. Request For Resumes

I usually request from a sitter a resume. Asking for a resume is not over-the-top. It’s a completely valid one. Don’t be surprised if some of them don’t have any resumes.

Hot tip: one who has a resume may be a really good candidate. Why? It’s because I know that I am dealing with someone who takes her job seriously.

I usually request for resumes before I even start having some sort of interview with them. That way, I can be more prepared with questions to ask them.

Also, in most cases, a person may not have a resume especially if the sitter is someone who has worked with family and friends for some time. Since they know that particular person already, I might have to just go by their word-of-mouth recommendation.

However, having detailed information about a sitter on paper comes very handy, especially when it comes to contact information, credentials, as well as references to call.

4. Have A Set Of Minimum Requirements

I make sure that I have a set of minimum requirements or credentials that I am looking for in a sitter. I want to make sure they are qualified to take care of my child.

I try to be very specific when it comes to requirements and credentials. I write down every single thing that I’m looking for in a sitter as this really helps me with my screening process.

For example, I look for sitters with a certain number of years of child care experience. Having First Aid Certification or Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) Certification is certainly a plus.

Does she have a college degree? Does she drive a car? What hourly rate is she willing to work with? These are other factors that I also look into.

3. Get Feedback From Other Parents

When people are providing me recommendations on a sitter, I try to get more insights about the sitter’s performance, character traits, and personality. By doing so, I can have a better idea whether the person is a good fit with my family.

Feedback from other parents who are still hiring the sitter or have hired the sitter really comes very handy so make sure to asked questions about things that are important to you.

By plugging into a person’s existing social network, this service can help parents find sitters and nannies through their personal connections.

Having said that, I usually do not just rely on a review from a parent who says the sitter is awesome. I usually dig deeper than that by asking what makes her awesome. Digging deeper helps me get more insights on a potential sitter’s qualifications, personality, and traits.

2. Always Run Comprehensive Background Checks

This is a must do. It’s really quite a surprise that not a lot of people who hire sitters do comprehensive background checks.

This is one of the most important things that we should do in our search for a trustworthy and reliable sitter. We need to make sure that the person we hire is not a sex offender or a wanted felon.

We also want to make sure that they are who they say they are.

Aside from the background check, I also do a Department of Motor Vehicles records check to find out if the potential candidate has had any charges for felony or misdemeanor, driving under the influence (DUI) case, and other violence related offenses.

Keep in mind that we are looking for someone whom we can trust to care for our child. We really need someone who passes all these background checks just so we have peace of mind.

It’s not a guarantee but it surely helps minimize the risks of hiring really terrible people.

There are various online services that offer background checks. These services are not free. Usually, a single background check may cost from $30 to around $40 but it sure is worth it.

1. Get Word-Of-Mouth Recommendations

Nothing beats word-of-mouth recommendations when it comes to hiring a sitter.

Recommendations from family, close friends, people we work with, or people we are associated with are the BEST as it helps cut down the whole screening process for finding trusted and reliable sitters.

Why so? It’s because there is an element of trust associated with word-of-mouth recommendations from people we know.

I really feel more comfortable hiring people via word-of-mouth recommendations as I know that the sitters have already been vetted and screened by people I trust. It’s not like I’m hiring total strangers.

I just have to do some additional screening and checks, and chances are I’ve got myself a new sitter.

Our Child’s Safety Should Always Be Top Priority

As parents, our child’s safety should always be top priority. Hence, I strongly advise that parents should not cut corners and should always do their due diligence on potential candidates.

I urge parents to never be complacent about any potential safety concerns that they may have, especially when it comes to hiring someone they will be entrusting their most valuable asset … their child.

Finding that perfect sitter can be a long process. Yes, the whole process can be tedious. Yes, it does entail a lot of legwork. Yes, it can be tiring. But if done correctly, it’s all definitely worth it.

Based on feedback that I have received, most people also prefer word-of-mouth recommendations when it comes to hiring sitters. Hence, a lot our readers have asked us:

“What if my family or friends do not know of someone to recommend as a sitter? What if we are new to a place and don’t have the slightest idea where to find sitters?”

Furthermore, people have also asked:

“Where do we go to get comprehensive background checks? How do we go about doing this? Is there a more efficient way of doing background checks?”

There’s actually a simple solution to the above questions …

I was once also in the same predicament as most parents who needed sitters. I did not have family or friends who could personally recommend sitters to help me.

However, I stumbled upon an online sitter service that is as close to having trusted word-of-mouth recommendations.

And guess what?

They also do most of the things in my essential checklist that I provided above: comprehensive background checks, provide feedback from parents who have hired sitters, provide detailed screening information on sitters, provide an online resume plus introduction videos of the sitters, and much more.

It’s also very affordable and does not cost an arm-and-a-leg like most sitter services.

So if you are in need of a sitter at the soonest possible time and want to cut down on all the heavy legwork involved in the search and hire process, then you might like to seriously look into UrbanSitter.

With over 1,000,000 registered users across the country, UrbanSitter is my “go to” service when I’m in need of sitters.

What UrbanSitter does really well is this: They leverage a person’s social network — parents we already know or people whom we might know because of some common affiliation within our neighborhood.

By leveraging the power of Facebook and social media, the service is as close as we can get to word-of-mouth recommendations from parents or families who are or may be connected to us through some community or professional affiliation.

I shared this information with a friend of mine who recently moved to another city with her family. She was so thrilled to find quality sitters within minutes of signing-up.

An Ecosystem Of Safety And Convenience

UrbanSitter takes the safety of families and sitters seriously. Hence, the social aspect of hiring and word-of-mouth recommendations were built into the UrbanSitter ecosystem.

To further enhance safety and trust on the platform, UrbanSitter also provides comprehensive background checks on sitters. I can conveniently order background checks on sitters starting at $9.95.

I also found that popular and trusted sitters within my neighborhood are most likely to have had background checks done on them by other parents. If they already have one, then there is no need for me to order a background check on them.

The platform has some great features which really sets it apart from other sitter services. Features such as repeat hire, feedback ratings, and review indicators can truly fast track my search for trusted and qualified sitters to help with my family’s needs.

It’s really an awesome resource and I simply can’t survive without it.

UrbanSitter also offers FREE basic access (no credit cards required, no strings attached) so I suggest that you take advantage of this to get your sitter search rolling.

A lot of our readers who did the free basic access found UrbanSitter to be “surprisingly” easy to use. Most importantly, they were able to find sitters with the free basic access.

Feel free take advantage of UrbanSitter’s no strings attached free basic membership now while it’s available.

Again, here’s the link: UrbanSitter FREE Test Drive

Hope you found this article helpful.