Victoria G.

I have used Care.com for almost 5 years to find babysitters in 5 different cities in 4 different states (we move A LOT for my husband's job). I have also used Care.com to find a sitter while on vacation. Care.com is OK for help in finding a reasonably priced sitter IF and ONLY IF you know what you are doing - ie if you were ever in Human Resources and know how to seriously vet your candidates. From an "employer" perspective there are a multitude of candidates who simply don't portray themselves in a light that would make me even consider them much less hire them. I am a former recruiter and while Care.com is a great platform for people to upload and network with each other in a casual way - a simple introduction spot - it is certainly not an in-depth or professional site.

I'm sure that they post information on how to improve your profile/hits but obviously the point doesn't get across to many of the candidates because people with questionable pictures (this isn't a dating site, MOMS look at these pics) and non-existent verbal skills (if my child needs help with homework I'm not hiring someone who misspells every other word on their profile) seem to think that they should be hired. Essentially Care.com comes across as a staffing agency - they like to put themselves out there as a "trusted" source of candidates however the reality is that they are merely a connecting website - if you are hiring you might as well be using Craigslist personals unless you are ready and willing to do immense research on the people you are contacting.

Care.com is also very hit or miss by location - I have been in places where there are tons of acceptable candidates and places where I felt lucky to find even one. In big vacation spots it is very helpful and many of the candidates, knowing that there are lots of visitors, create profiles that are easily cross checked (ie, refer to other services they work with that you can independently verify prior to interview).

Essentially if you have a ton of time to google the heck out of someone and about a month to do multiple interviews you can probably find someone good through Care.com for part time care. If you are looking for a professional full time nanny you should skip Care.com and use a service.

As for the ratings here that discuss posting a profile and never getting jobs it is definitely obvious that there are far more people seeking extra work as a caregiver than people looking for caregivers. Sometimes I post jobs and sometimes I simply look for specific candidates - when I do post a job I am shocked to get fewer than 20 replies within 48hrs. I think there are many reasons why moms don't use Care.com frequently. 1. The profiles range from great to dismal and when going to a site that purports to be professional this is disconcerting to parents. 2. I think money can be an issue - the ranges published are wide and unclear - huge difference between $10/hr and $15/hr - and I don't think Care.com is accurate in it's assessment of the average hourly wage for a caregiver in many of their locations, leading many caregivers to over state their desired wage (because they think that's what they should be paid in a certain area), which in turn leads many parents to simply forego using Care.com because there are people with bad profiles, no experience, and weird pictures asking for $20/hr for 2 children. 3. I think the membership cost is also higher than it should be considering the results you get. Facebook is free and I could probably get the same, if not more, reliable information and references from there - unfortunately that's just not the way FB tends to be used.

I will also say that the Military section is a complete joke and not at all helpfu - l'm actually not even sure why it's there? Sittercity offers their services to military families for free - which I might add - gets them lots of referrals.

In the past I have entered and saved points and redeemed for NIKE gift cards - awesome deal and I have several pairs of great running shorts thanks to Coke. HOWEVER, the new website now has levels of Status that you have to achieve (bronze, silver, gold) in order to get the different tiers of rewards. I wouldn't mind this except that the ONLY way to get status points involves whoring out your social media accounts as free Coke marketing. I choose to be extremely minimal on social media for a reason and Coke isn't going to be the thing that changes that. Watching videos, taking surveys etc isn't a bad idea and I would participate in those but the caveat is that to get your points you have to also tweet or post of FB that you did it - that's waaaaaay too intrusive and controlling and the rewards offered aren't worth it. Basically if you aren't willing to sell out and give Coke free marketing you should skip this rewards program - not worth it anymore.