Care.com Overview & Review
Care.com was founded in 2006 by entrepreneur, Sheila Lirio Marcelo, who was motivated by her own experiences searching for quality child care providers for her children.
What We Like About the Service
Care.com is a very worthy competitor to Sittercity.com. With a bit later start in the business, Care is quickly closing the gap in in the online babysitter registry market in terms of geographical reach and service quality.
Care has a significant focus on security and safety, led by their unlimited free background check feature. Additionally, before any new care provider is added to the directory, a criminal and sex offender verification scan is performed and a team of stay at home Moms reviews the caregiver’s profile.
Care has a solid search function that allows you to filter by a wide variety of criteria, although a bit fewer than Sittercity.
Care is trying out some innovative features such as Care Exchange, Care On-Call, Care Co-ops and College Caregivers. All of these programs are relatively new, so participation is a bit sparse at this time. They are an indication, however, of Care’s creativity and continual innovation.
What We Don’t Like About The Service
It’s currently not possible to find Care’s subscription prices without first starting the sign up process and providing some personal information. While Care offers a free trial, we still think pricing should be clearly presented without requiring sign up.
Care has loads of great resources but it can be a challenge to find them. And once you find them, it can be a challenge to find your way back to them again. We think Care could benefit from a revamping of their site structure to create a more intuitive and user-friendly navigation and experience.
Our Rating
We rate Care.com as the #2 service, a very close runner up to Sittercity. Care is a quality service and has staked out a very strong safety/security position. They are also quickly building their caregiver volume and geographical reach. We think that Care will need to improve their website user experience so that care seekers can more efficiently find what they’re looking for and manage their account.
You’ll find pricing (including current promotions) and much more information in the “Care.com at a Glance” chart below.
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CARE.COM AT A GLANCE
| Site Link: | www.Care.com |
| Established: | 2006 |
| Region Served: | United States |
| Care Types: |
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| Care Givers: | Hundreds of thousands of care giver profiles. Minimum age is 17. |
| Free Trial | Yes. Unlimited length, but with limited access |
| Pricing: | For care givers, registration and profile are free. For care seekers, there are three membership plans:
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| Services: | Care.com is an online service that connects people seeking qualified caregivers with a national network of trusted providers. Care seekers can find qualified sitters in their local area by two methods: 1. Posting a job listing their requirements and then reviewing candidate applications, or 2. Using the sophisticated search functionality to search for candidates and then contact them directly. |
| Search Options: | First step is to search by care giver type and zip code. You are then able to narrow down those results with filters including: General Information, Experience, and Availability |
| Screening Process: |
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| Extra Features: |
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| Corporate Clients: |
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| Current Promotion(s): | CURRENT Care.com Promotion Codes |
