Is Sittercity safe? Does Sittercity have sitters that you can trust and depend on? Read on and find out.
Connecting to a sitter online is not just a matter of letting people know. First and foremost, you need to be very careful with what you say online. You just can’t go online and announce to the whole world that you need a sitter. You’ll end up with a lot of shady applicants.
While it is very convenient to connect to sitters via sites like Craigslist and other online classifieds, if you are not careful, you can get connected to scammers and worst of all, to criminals. These are the kind of people you want to stay away from.
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Some folks can’t help but try their luck online. They use their social media accounts to try to connect to sitters. Even though that’s a very dangerous way of connecting to sitters, they still go about doing it thinking they’re going to be spared.
When it comes to childcare, are you willing to take chances? What you need to do is to find a credible childcare service provider online. That’s where Sittercity comes in.
There are more than 7 million parents across the United States who trust Sittercity for their child care needs.
Sittercity is an online childcare service provider that’s been in business since 2001. There are more than 7 million parents across the United States who trust Sittercity for their child care needs.
The site’s mission is to connect parents in need of sitters with trusted, reliable, and qualified sitters. Basic access to parents is actually free.
As a member of Sittercity, you can take a good look at the profiles of the babysitters posted on Sittercity. The company has a lot of useful features and tools to help screen for sitters. You can do all of these within the comforts of your home.
You will also be given access to a database of experienced and screened sitters. Hence, this makes it safer for you and your family as compared to looking for a sitter in an online classified jobs market.
Highly Committed To Family Safety
Sittercity recommends a four-step process for screening and finding the best sitter for your family. This screening process includes the use of the site’s internal feedback system, conducting personal interviews, checking references, and conducting thorough background checks.
By following this four-step screening process, you can put your mind at rest and be able to make better hiring decisions.
Background checks are available for parents or sitters to purchase and process. The background check processing is completed by Sterling Talent Solutions. Sterling is considered one of the best in the world when it comes to checking and verifying the background of anyone.
Sitters are screened through the Family Watchdog database, both with the information provided at registration and continuously thereafter.
Sitter identities are authenticated at registration by Experian, who compares user information against publicly available data. This helps Sittercity determine that the person who created the profile is a real person.
You would think the high level background and database checks would be enough. Well, Sittercity realizes you can never be too careful. They take safety and security so seriously that they have a third party review process. The profiles of sitters are reviewed again for identity verification and quality review.
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One of the great things that I like with Sittercity is the ability to do background and identification checks right within the site.
Background checks are available for parents or sitters to purchase and process. The background check processing is completed by Sterling Talent Solutions. Sterling is considered one of the best in the world when it comes to checking and verifying the background of anyone.
However, Sittercity doesn’t stop there.
They’ve also partnered with an organization called Family Watchdog, which tracks down registered sex offenders within your area, for added security in your screening process. I think that is also really a great feature that parents should be aware of.
Sittercity’s comprehensive background check includes an identity check, a national criminal search, traffic violations, and a check through the sex offender and violent crime registry.
As a heads up, a background check using Sterling costs $15 per background check per person. Sittercity’s comprehensive background check includes an identity check, a national criminal search, traffic violations, and a check through the sex offender and violent crime registry.
However, most of the time, you will find that a sitter already has a background check in their profile. If such is the case, then you wouldn’t have to do one as the background check was already done by other parents or subscribers, or by the sitter themselves.
According to Sittercity, it is pretty common for sitters to pay for their own background check in order to complete their profile and make it more convenient for parents to hire them. By having a complete background check in their Sittercity profile, a babysitter usually has a better chance of being contacted by parents since they are making it convenient and cheaper for parents to hire them.
By the way, even if sitters request for their own background check on Sterling, there is absolutely no possibility that sitters can influence or tamper with the findings in the background check.
While identity and background checks are extremely important, being able to read reviews about a sitter from other parents is priceless.
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Aside from being able to do background checks conveniently as a Sittercity member, you can also read actual reviews on the sitters left by other moms and members of the site. While identity and background checks are extremely important, being able to read reviews about a sitter from other parents is priceless.
Sittercity also allows you to contact the sitters’ references directly so that you can talk to them to learn more about the sitter that you are interested in hiring.
In addition to all of these, sitter profiles on the site also come with photos, experience, training, safety skills, availability calendars, reviews and more. You can interview sitters before making a final decision. In fact, it is highly recommended that you do so. You are always in control of the whole process.
Like any other online sitter service, there is no guarantee that the system is fool proof but as long as you use common sense and do your own research on applicants, then you should be safe.
Like any other online sitter service, there is no guarantee that the system is fool proof but as long as you use common sense and do your own research on applicants, then you should be safe. If one sitter has a five star rating and good references and the other has a two star rating and nothing to back up their application, then the choice is obvious.
A Community Of Parents And Sitters To Connect With
You can definitely make the right connection online as long as you take advantage of all the services Sittercity offers you. The background checks can get you useful information that’s very critical to your decision-making.
Suffice to say, Sittercity makes it safe for you because of all the features it offers. You can get insightful details about the applicants from their profiles and background checks. Related read: Sittercity vs Care.com, a side-by-side comparison
More importantly, you can also get direct feedback from other parents who have hired sitters you are interested in as the platform allows parents to rate and provide feedback on sitters.
In addition to those benefits, the selection process of Sittercity also makes it safe for you to connect to a sitter online. It’s a simple process but so long as you follow it, you’ll easily be connected to a sitter online.
Commitment To Safety
Sittercity is committed to make your online search for a sitter safe. As long as you make use of all their safety features and tools, you will never have to worry about connecting to a dubious sitter.
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A nerd at heart (haha), I have been following and analyzing the world of online sitters for a couple of years now and have seen a lot of innovations and changes in this market. In between taking care of my loving (and demanding 😜) family and writing, I also do a lot of “traveling” on the Travel Channel and Discovery Channel. Read More
I feel a lot safer with Sittercity than the other services. The babysitter’s identity is verified before her account goes live on Sittercity. Who knows if the other services actually do that?
I think the other services also verify their babysitters’ identity. But the thing I like about Sittercity is that it has always been consistent. The quality of their sitters and service has never been compromised. It has always been top-notch and that makes me feel really safe. I know of other sitter services that have ended up in the news in a very bad light.