Care.com Childcare Reviews

Care.com is new to the UK but has been operating as an online home care search facility in America since 2006.  Care.com took over the UK website Tendea.co.uk.  In addition to babysitting services, Care.com also caters for  nannies, special needs care providers, tutors, carers for the elderly, pet sitters, dog walkers and housekeepers.  This is one of the widest ranges of services of  any of the websites in this category.  As with all the websites here people can register and browse for free.  You do not need to set up a profile at this stage but you do need to add your name, address and other personal details. Once signed up for free you have instant access to mum-reviewed sitter profiles, you can post job listings for free, request reference checks and get advice on interviewing and hiring.

If you want to use the site fully you can pay for as little as 2 weeks, which is a good way of testing whether this is the site for you.  The longer the period of your subscription, the better the value.  Once a paid subscriber you can reply to job applications, contact carers through their profiles, view carer contact information so that you can contact them off-site, and request reference checks.  Like most of the sites offering this service, the features are relatively simple once you sign up so you are basically just signing up for a list of available jobs and placements.  Care.com offers a user-friendly interface and a smoothly running website.  The best way to find a babysitter is to create a job listing.  This way, potential candidates will contact you and you can sort through them.  There is no search facility to look for specific types of childcare such as babysitters, but once you have signed up for childcare, the site will automatically match candidates offering general childcare in you local area.  These profiles will be displayed on your account page and also e-mailed to you occasionally. 

The profiles are of excellent quality.  The photographs are large at 12cm square which really helps to improve confidence in the candidate.  There are many  useful points of information, headed under the three tabs About, Fun Facts and Experience.  Under the About tab some of the things you can see are what type of care they offer (e.g. babysitting), their hourly rate, location, how far they will travel, and if they have their own transport.  Here there are also lots of details on their qualifications and CRB checks etc which is useful for comparison.  If the candidate has not completed a CRB check, there is a link to tell you so and learn more about what this means.  There is further information about the candidate's hobbies and interests and under the Experience tab there is a detailed breakdown of their credentials.  The headings are age groups, additional information such as caring for twins, sick children, then services they provide such as crafts, cooking etc, and finally additional qualifications.  How well a candidate takes advantage of their profile questionnaire gives you a good indication of their commitment and approach to the job.  There is also a large calendar showing dates and times they are available and a more personal biography section.  This site should be appealing to both candidates and people searching for babysitters.

Click on the button below to check out Care.com UK for yourself...