How do you find a babysitter in new city?

[dreamer8887]

Hi,

I'm traveling to San Francisco for a conference in January and bringing my (then) 5 month old. I need a sitter to look after her in my hotel room while I present.

A quick Google shows a number of websites I could use to find a sitter - Care.com, UrbanSitter.com, SitterCity.com. Call me cheap, but they all require a monthly fee of $39 to allow you to contact sitters, and as this is a once-off (I have a babysitting network set up in my hometown) I am blanching at paying that.

But I'm also guessing that I might just need to pay if I want to ensure the sitter is first aid certified and comes with good references. Just thought I'd check in here in case I'm missing another way before I go sign up for a month...

Thanks in advance.

[BrooklineBiker]

Some cities have email lists or facebook groups for parents of young children or neighborhoods. You could join the forums, etc. & possibly find recommendations for sitters.

[aetherie]

Care.com basic membership is free, and lets you post a job and wait to be contacted by sitters about it. Maybe it would be worth trying that first?

[gatortator]

call the local YMCA or YWCA.  they often offer the first aid certification in the first place and some branches (not all) maintain a list of qualified babysitters. 

The worst you will hear is "No, we can't give out the names".

[jac941]

The concierge at a good hotel might have a nanny they recommend. In San Francisco there's also http://swisscheesechildcare.com

I live nearby and it has been very difficult for us to find sitters for inconsistent events (date nights, sick days, school closure, etc). Also, childcare is extremely expensive here. If you're balking at a one time $39 fee, are you going to balk at $20 / hr for sitting with a 3 hour minimum? Because that's what it could cost. You could get lucky and find someone for $15-$17 without the minimum, but in my experience people at that rate (college students, teenagers) aren't always available during the day to cover business hours.

Good luck!

[CanuckExpat]

You could use UrbanSitters with a promotional code (That's my referral link, full disclosure).
It gives you a certain amount of credits that you can apply to the first month fee, or first babysitting. Cancel after the first month if you no longer need it.

[scienceplayhouse]

call the local YMCA or YWCA.  they often offer the first aid certification in the first place and some branches (not all) maintain a list of qualified babysitters. 

The worst you will hear is "No, we can't give out the names".

I second this! Check out the community board at the local YMCA, grocery store, coffee shop, etc.

[dreamer8887]

I ended up signing up for a free month at Sittercity.com and then canceling after the job was done.

I offered $25/hour as I thought a nice high rate would mean lots of applicants. I was right about that. Also, in my head, a high hourly rate meant I wouldn't need to pay for parking. But silly me didn't specify that in the ad. So I chose a sitter, confirmed the job (3 hours, total $75) then got a message from the sitter the day before letting me know her parking would be $15. Lesson learned, need to be clearer. I think I would have had plenty of takers for $75 excl. parking but as I didn't specify, and as I don't know the convention (but it doesn't seem crazy to think sitter would pay for parking) I had an unexpected additional charge.

Turns out the concierge nanny service would only have been about $25 more at the end of the day, and that would have been a little less stressful.

[fiscalphile]

Hi from a former babysitter and nanny.

I would recommend looking on the online University job boards. Lots of students (some majoring in child education) look for babysitting jobs that way.

[Poundwise]

Hi from a former babysitter and nanny.

I would recommend looking on the online University job boards. Lots of students (some majoring in child education) look for babysitting jobs that way.

+1. We used to live next door to a university and found a pair of roommates to babysit. This was a good arrangement for the long term because although students tend to flake out a lot because of needing to study for tests, etc., these young women usually arranged between them so that we had coverage. 

High schools also often have job boards, though for sitting so young a baby, I would prefer somebody older and more experienced.