Sittercity is the largest online nanny agency/babysitting service and provides an array of services to help you find childcare. First off, let me say that Sittercity is one of the premiere babysitting services you will find. The are well established and have a great reputation. Their service is second to none and have a very large pools of nannies and babysitters to choose from.
Who Is Sittercity For?
Sittercity is a great choice for any parent who is looking for a babysitter or nanny in their area and wants to find a pre-qualified candidate with ease. They will provide you with a list of possible candidates that you will have access to review and then potentially hire. The great feature about Sittercity is that you are able to find the right caregiver in one of two ways. One, you can search yourself and narrow down the list with over 100 matching criteria. Or two, post a “job” and literally sit back and let the help find you. How much easier can that be?
Obviously you want to make sure that you find the best nanny or babysitter for your child. The reason that a nanny agency or babysitting service such as Sittercity is helpful is that they effectively serve as a matchmaking service between you and your ideal babysitter. They have over a million caregivers in their network and have people available in every city in the U.S.
Click here for a 20% Sittercity discount. You must click this link and enter promo code INT20.
How Does It Work And Is Sittercity Safe?
Sittercity uses a 4 step process for choosing a nanny or babysitter (there is actually a step-by-step guide on their website to walk you through the process). Here is how it works:
1. Use Their Built In Review System
Sittercity has an intuitive and active network that you can browse in order to get feedback from other parents about individual babysitters and nannies that they have themselves used. If a particular babysitter was unreliable, not on time, or simply not a great fit then you will know about it beforehand thanks to other people’s experiences. Or you can find out the characteristics of certain caregivers….maybe they are great with babies or specialize in 10-12 year olds. It is a very helpful way to narrow down your search.
2. Conduct An Interview
Sittercity will actually provide you with a list of appropriate and necessary questions to ask your potential caregiver. This is an important step to finding the right match for you and your child. This service does make it a bit easier and they are good about guiding you through the process.
3. Check The Candidates References
Again, Sittercity makes this process easy. Each nanny or babysitter in their network has at least one reference listed so you can double check your potential caregiver. If you don’t know what to ask a reference don’t worry, Sittercity gives you a list of questions here too similar to the interview process.
4. Perform a Background Check
This is the final step once you have chosen your ideal babysitter or nanny. This is a step that will give you total peace of mind in that you can get a background check on your applicant through a partner service that Sittercity is affiliated with. The cost is $9.99 for the background check. I should note that I would love to see this be an included service but I’m sure people would take advantage of that so it is understandable that they charge a small fee. And really, ten bucks is a small price to pay when it comes to your child. This process is very fast though, only taking a few minutes.
Also, many times the candidate caregivers will have a lot of profile information available to you such as:
- Bio with a list of their individual specialty skills
- Caregiver photographs
- Parent reviews from other parents who have used their services
- Employer references from past or current employees
- Prior background check results
This is a really good video to give you a feel for what Sittercity is all about:
Need a babysitter? Find the most qualified sitters at Sittercity.com.
Sittercity Reviews
So let’s take a look at some Sittercity Reviews from real parents who have used their service:
“I am completely pleased with Sittercity.com. We have found 3 wonderful babysitters using your site…”
- Brenda, Minnesota
(Excerpt taken from Sittercity.com)
“…Sittercity does all the hard work for me and allows me to just search profiles of potential sitters from an easy to use database!…”
- Erin, Hingham MA
“Within three days of posting on Sittercity.com, we had over 30 responses and within two weeks, had hired three wonderful babysitters for periodic babysitting.”
- Karyn, MA
Our Conclusion On Sittercity
In conclusion, we wholeheartedly endorse Sittercity and find it to be one of the most safe and convenient ways to find a nanny or babysitter. There are a few things that are good to know before joining Sittercity so let’s take a look here at both the good and the bad.
The Good:
- Very safe and convenient way to find qualified nannies and babysitters…saves you a ton of time and way safer than Craigslist
- 4 step screening process that ensures that you find the perfect match for you and your child…you get total peace of mind
- Over a million childcare workers in their network to choose from…they have many people for hire in every city
- Match babysitters and nannies to your criteria or post a job and let them come to you…over 100 criteria to choose from
- Read reviews from other parents about individual babysitters…get honest feedback from parents who have hired the same babysitter you are interested in using
- Able to check references and perform background checks…this goes back to total peace of mind
The Bad:
- The cost is $140 to join…it’s a little steep but for everything you get and the security involved it’s really a great deal. Click the banner below and you will get an additional $20 discount
- Seems overwhelming to start…when you first start searching it can seem like a lot to choose from but once you specify your criteria it becomes a snap and is very convenient
- Background checks are not free, they cost $9.99…like I said before I would love to see this as a free included service but I understand why it’s not. In a lot of cases you can see the person’s previous background check anyway. Just do it…be safe and perform a background check, you can’t be too careful when it comes to your child.
Click here to get a 20% discount from Sittercity. Enter Promo Code INT20.

