Urban Sitter

March 28, 2018
|In Work, Work Child Care
|By Kathy Kristof

What: Urban Sitter connects background-checked baby sitters with parents who are willing to pay to see these sitter profiles

Expected pay: $11 – $16 per hour (1 child)

Husl$core: $$$$

Where: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts. Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia.

Requirements: Be at least 18 years of age; legally able to work in the U.S.; have a clean criminal record

Review:

Urban Sitter, like Sitter City and Care.com, offers a website where you can post a profile and advertise your child care services to potential clients. Babysitters and nannies pay nothing. Parents, however, pay at least $100 annually to use the site.

Theoretically, the site doesn’t have specific requirements, but sitters say they’re picky about those who post profiles. The site requires background checks and clear photographs of all nannies. Though reviews of this site are overwhelmingly positive, a number of sitters have complained about getting booted from the site for what they believe were minor infractions. The site does have the right to boot sitters for any reason whatsoever. And, given that parents pay for the service because they imagine they’ll get better-quality babysitters, Urban Sitter has every incentive to be cautious. 

That said, there are several sites that will allow you to advertise your child care services. So if Urban Sittter isn’t your cup of tea, try Care.com, Sitter City or Nanny Lane. 

What their users say: (From Glassdoor and Indeed)

I love working for Urbansitter. Very competitive, Great Families and good pay. I have been working as a caregiver for over 10 years and absolutely love what I do.

You are basically self-employed. Really easy to create your own schedule. The local managers are really nice and helpful! They also put on local events for sitters to network and find new opportunities.

It was a nice job because I was technically my own boss. I was able to create hours that accommodated my schedule and occasionally was able to negotiate pay. The hardest part of the job is it’s just you and the kids. No co- workers , no adult interaction it was not a very social job (which is something I really enjoy). The kids were by far the best part of the job. Kids are so full of excitement , innocence , and curiosity. Even when they were misbehaving I still loved them.

I love being able to login and select which jobs I want and when. I have a regular job Mon through Fri so I work as a babysitter on the weekends for extra cash.

UrbanSitter has such a great community. Joining on FB really allows you to connect with fellow sitters and those at headquarters are very helpful even with opportunities to help you network and meet families that are set up at local schools. I’ve met so many people through UrbanSitter who will be a part of my life forever.

I did not immediately return a parent’s key so my profile was hidden with the guarantee by UrbanSitter’s Rebecca, my proifile would be unhidden after item was returned. I returned the keys the same day the parent reported the absence to UrbanSitter with my sincere apologies to the parent and UrbanSitter, but they continued to hide my profile.  I recently made UrbanSitter my full time source of income and was gaining more families on UrbanSitter, so not only am I hurt I cannot work with new families, I basically had my feet knocked from right under me. I urge people NOT to utilize the service. 

I think it’s a cool way for parents to find sitters. But as a sitter it’s stressful to try to get jobs! Especially starting off new. I’ve been a member for maybe like 5 months and haven’t landed a job once! I did a background check, I am a trustline certified provider, CPR certified, my profile has a video how they suggest and my calendar and everything is up to par! I constantly have applied for jobs that I see and have yet to get 1 job! I started to think that these parent profiles are fake! Like really not one person?? I even answer all the questions they ask when you apply for a job. I’m over it! I went and took the time to get my background check and get fingerprinted to become trustline certified for nothing! Because I know that half of these sitters don’t even have that. Done. I gave 2 stars because of the potential to be great.

Try UrbanSitter

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