Step 1: Experience in Your Care.com Profile
Outline your past experiences, skills, and qualifications. You should be honest when completing your profile to increase your chances of being hired by the type of family you are looking for.
Step 2: Build Your Reputation
Take these steps to help build your reputation.
- Facebook Connect – Build your reputation, be yourself, and help validate your identity by connecting your Care.com profile to your Facebook account.
Step 3: Apply to Jobs
It helps to know who you’re communicating with while looking for jobs. The tips below can help protect your privacy and safety.
- Secure Messaging System – Send all of your initial messages through Care.com instead of using your personal email. That way, you only share your contact information if and when you feel comfortable.
- Online & Third-Party Checks – It is important to perform your own independent search to ensure you are being hired by someone you would be comfortable working for. Search the web for their name to see if there are any news articles about them. It is also possible to obtain public information in other ways, such as via your local authority. You should also try to locate them on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and other social networks.
Step 4: Be Aware
You’re looking for a job, not for trouble. Learn how to keep yourself safe from common scams.
- Report to Care.com – We want to know if you think a job post or message is spam, a scam, or suggestive. Contact our Member Care team immediately. We take reports from our members very seriously and work hard to respond quickly.
- In-Person Interview – It’s important to always meet with the family or individual before you start work. Make sure your interview is scheduled in a public place and that you ask to see an ID so you can confirm who you’re meeting with. Never accept advance payment from a family or individual without having first met them and gone through the interview process.
- Online & Avoid Scams – If an offer sounds too good to be true, it usually is. Never accept payment by cheque for an amount which is greater that what you agreed upon and never transfer or wire money back to someone who pays you by cheque. This is a common Internet job scam, which occasionally targets sites offering babysitters, nannies, and other care providers.
Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions or concerns, or with reports of any suspicious activity within the Care.com community. You can find out more about Internet job scams at Fraud.org.