What: CareLinx serves as a matchmaker between caregivers and the families that need full and part-time help caring for elderly relatives
Expected pay: $15 per hour, on average
Husl$core: $$$$
Commissions & fees: $20 for a background check
Where: Major U.S. cities.
Requirements: Over 18 years old; U.S. citizen or legally authorized to work in the U.S.; clean criminal record; 2 years experience
Review:
CareLinx serves as a matchmaker between caregivers and the families that need full and part-time help caring for elderly relatives. For caregivers, it’s an inexpensive way to handle marketing.
Care givers register for free and connect with families that are looking for care. The only cost to the caregiver is a $20 fee to get background-checked.
CareLinx makes money by providing payroll processing to families that want to hire caregivers. Importantly, too, the site treats caregivers as employees of the client. That means you must earn at least minimum wage, and you both pay into the Social Security and Medicare systems on your behalf.
This is a great deal for the caregivers. Otherwise, you’d be considered an independent contractor, which means you pay both the employer and the employee portions of these taxes. (See our primer on taxes for a more detailed explanation).
The only downside is that average pay is a little low for seasoned help at $15 an hour. However, site says this is a national average, which varies by location and experience. Caregivers set their own rate of pay, so if you have experience and expect more, ask for it.
You can also find eldercare positions through Care.com, Indeed and Glassdoor. If you want babysitting work, we recommend Urban Sitter, Bambino and Trusted.
What their users say: (from TrustPilot)
I have had several jobs with Care Linx. The employees you deal with are very professional, they really care if you are hired.
As a caregiver, I really enjoyed using this site to find good jobs that pay what I want to be paid. I have loads of experience and so I was able to charge more what I am actually worth instead of the going rate. It is a great company to work with.
Your payroll part of your company is perfect. I was always paid on time and never had a discrepancy with my patient and his family. But I don’t get much response from posting availability on your site.
A lot of agencies give the caregiver less than half of what they charge the customer. Our caregiver found CareLinx and suggested that we use them. So, we compromised on her registering with CareLinx. They have good customer service and they stay in touch. In fact, they’re asking me too many times how things are going, but I’ll forgive them for that.