The days of asking friends for information about baby sitters may soon be over for many parents, replaced with a modern baby sitters club that allows families and sitters to be matched with a click of a button.
Seton Student Sitter, a website created by recent Seton Hall graduate Maura Kolkmeyer, pairs local families in need of a baby sitter with college students interested in baby sitting jobs.
"I got the idea mostly from families that I babysat for," Kolkmeyer said. "They kept asking me every single week if I knew of any baby sitters in the area. I started texting all my friends and putting up Facebook ads. I thought to myself there has to be a better way."
Kolkmeyer said a student submits a profile for free online and so does the family looking for a sitter. Families can either look through partial profiles or purchase access to full ones.
According to Kolmeyer, by purchasing full profiles for $5, the family can view the potential sitter's contact information as well as background information, such as prior baby sitting experience and qualifications. If the family does not want to search through the profiles on the website, they can submit their profile and Kolkmeyer can match them with potential sitters.
Kolkmeyer said students can complete a free online profile and their information will be forwarded to families whose profile is similar to theirs.
Launched on Feb. 12, the website is already averaging about 200 page views a day, according to Kolkmeyer.
Kolkmeyer, a baby sitter herself for more than 10 years, said she attributes the success of her website to her background as a student at Seton Hall.
"I was a Seton Hall student so I know where Seton Hall students are and I know what they look at," she said. "I know how to get in touch with them."
Senior psychology major Jill Carton said she previously found it difficult to find a baby sitting job.
"With (the Seton Student Sitter) website, I like how there is no expiration date on our profiles," Carton said. "We can update them whenever our availability changes, which is really great. When I put an ad on Maplewoodonline, I put my availability but I still had families email me asking for days where I am not available."
Sophomore Elizabeth O'Shea said she found multiple jobs as a result of the sitter website.
"I have started baby sitting every other Saturday for one family and it has been great, not only for me, but for the family," O'Shea said. "The mother told me that she and the other mothers in her neighborhood have wanted to get in contact with Seton Hall students about baby sitting, but have never known how to do so until now."
Kelly Villanueva, a resident of Maplewood, said she used various baby sitting websites in the past and found that Seton Student Sitter was "easy to use."
"I set up a profile that day and received the (baby sitter's) profiles about 20 minutes after I paid," Villanueva said. "I emailed the sitter that night. She responded within a few hours to my questions and we set up a date to babysit my children."
Although the website is called Seton Student Sitter it is not connected, endorsed or supported by Seton Hall, according to Kolkmeyer.
Students interested in creating a profile can visit www.setonstudentsitters.com.
Brianna Knox can be reachedat brianna.knox@student.shu.edu.
