Responding to a babysitting job

With Sitter, parents can send a job request out to all of their babysitters at once. The first to accept gets the job! As a parent, scheduling a babysitter when they need one can be a huge hassle. If they have 3 sitters, they will text one, then wait to hear from them.  They may not hear back for several hours – the sitter may be in class or on vacation or at soccer practice. They don’t know why the sitter isn’t responding. They know that the sitter has their own life and they don’t want to text the next one until they hear back from the first one. It’s a real pain. Sometimes it’s such a pain and so socially awkward that the parent just decides to stay home.

That’s why Sitter was created.

A parent creates a booking by selecting the date, the time, and some other details like location and number of kids. When they hit send, a message is sent to all of their sitters at once. The first to accept gets the job which is where you come in!

You’ll get a booking request in the app and a text message that says:

Kristen needs a sitter for 2 kids Saturday, June 10, from 6:00pm – 10:00pm at 123 Main Street, Boulder. Can you do it? If yes, reply Y123. If no, reply N123.

If you can do it, reply Y123 and you’ll secure the job! The family will be notified that you accepted and be thrilled.  You can also open the app and tap “Accept”. You’ll get a message that says:

Score! You got the job.

If you can’t do it, reply N123. The family will be notified that you declined. If you decline in the app, you can include a reason for declining like:

Sorry! I’m busy that night. Have a great time!

Be fast! If you don’t respond quickly enough, the job might get taken by another sitter. If so, you’ll get a message that says:

Sorry! The job’s been taken.

But, be fast if you need to decline it as well. Declining quickly means that they have more time to find someone else.  ALWAYS respond to messages whether you can take it or not. It’s just the right thing to do. The parent may have something really, really important to do and parents rely on babysitters to be able to do those things. If a parent doesn’t hear back, they don’t know what to think. It’s perfectly fine to decline! They would rather you decline a job than not respond at all.