Add Babysitters to Top of Back-to-School Supply List

Sittercity.com Offers Parents an Easy, Convenient, Secure Solution

(Chicago, Ill.) - Spiral notebooks, number two pencils, markers, erasers...and babysitters? While parents have stocked their kids' backpacks with all the necessary school supplies, most have yet to secure one of the most important supplies: an after-school babysitter. But, with college students also heading back to campus, many parents are finding that their usual pool of caregivers is drying up.

"Approximately 80 percent of Sittercity.com caregivers are college students," said Genevieve Thiers, chief executive officer of Sittercity.com, the Web's leading parent-sitter online matchmaking site that offers parents access to more than 100,000 babysitters. "We see the most activity on the site during back-to-school time, because sitters are returning to college and looking for families to work for during the school year while leaving behind parents who need new sitters to care for their children after school."

Although conventional wisdom follows that families struggle to find childcare when school's out, Thiers contends that fall can be more difficult because there aren't scheduled activities like camps and sports to fill up a child's time.

"Life seems to get busy as soon as school starts, so it's nice to have sitters in place to simplify at least the childcare part," said Laurel Lyle, Boston area mother and Sittercity.com member. "Sittercity.com makes it easy to find new sitters for the school year. There is always a great selection of sitters whose schedules are compatible with my needs."

Hiring a new sitter doesn't have to be as difficult as finding this year's "must have" backpack and shoes. Sittercity.com makes the babysitter recruitment and hiring process easy for both sitters and parents by providing a central meeting place. Parents can search online profiles and sitters can peruse job postings.

"Our goal is to make finding childcare easy, convenient, and secure," said Thiers. "Having access to about 100,00 caregivers with references at your fingertips is a great first step."

In addition to providing parents with access to potential sitters, Sittercity.com offers a library of valuable tips and resources that help simplify caregiver selection. Parents can find advice on narrowing the search, what to look for in a sitter, interview questions, checking references and information on safety training resources.

Sitter Seeking Tips
For parents seeking a new caregiver this fall, Thiers suggests using the following routine when hiring and screening:

• Take Five -- be sure to screen at least five candidates over the phone. This will give parents a good sense of a sitter�s personality type and compatibility.
• Test Their Talents -- Schedule a "Mother's Helper Period" where the parent can meet, and interview the top three sitters. Have each spend an hour or two with the children while the parent is still at home. It's a great opportunity for the children to be a part of the selection process. After all, they will be spending the most time with the candidate that is selected.
• Refer to References -- Take the time to call each of the candidate's references. No one can give a better indication of the sitter's work than those for whom he or she has worked.
• Back Up the Babysitter -- Keep your second and third sitter choices as alternatives when your main sitter is not available. Having three potential sitters on the phone list will help ensure that parents are never stuck without a sitter.

Sitter, Supper and a Show Sweepstakes
In honor of the back-to-school season and all those parents looking for new sitters, Sittercity.com is giving parents who are members of the site two months of free membership for every new parent referred to Sittercity.com. In addition, both the current and new parent members will be entered into the "Sitter, Supper and a Show" sweepstakes that will award one lucky parent with two movie tickets, an Open Table dinner gift certificate, and five hours worth of free babysitting with a sitter from Sittercity.com. The September sweepstakes runs Sept. 1 - 30.

Parents interested in viewing more information on Sittercity.com and its services or on childcare advice and resources can visit www.sittercity.com.

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