Help me understand this

[Anonymous]

When parents create a job post on care.com how do they choose the hourly rate? I have applied to many positions stating that they were offering my rate, but then I will get an interview and go to their homes and discuss rates and their offer will be MUCH lower. Are they just trying to bring in the good candidates thinking we will change our minds once we meet their kids??? I mean seriously, do I have "I will work for nothing" tattooed on my forehead. I'm getting so frustrated. I've never had this problem before when looking for a job. Does care.com tell them to try and screw us over? I'm the poster who posted about getting offered $4/hr while the kid slept. I can't live on that! I'm not from the DC area and the rates in my area are lower, but many of these families are offering below minimum wage. My last job was $15/hr and the one before that was $12/hr.

[Anonymous]

I am sorry.

I say you are just meeting some really shady families because what they are doing is like a bait and switch trick to me.

I think they want you to come to meet them, esp. their absolutely adorable child and fall in love with him/her. They then think you will be so enamored by this perfect little angelic cherub, that you will be willing to compromise your salary just to be in his/her presence all day.

These delusional folks need to step back into reality.
I wish Care.com had a filter for these stupid people, but unfortunately the website only is interested in making a pretty penny so they could care less about anything else.

Every time I see that smiling "Sheila" the CEO of Care.com on T.V., I cringe as I think of all the caregivers she is screwing over on a daily basis. What a fraud.

[Anonymous]

OP here and thanks for the comment. I guess I just don't understand how they can find people to work for that little. How can anyone trust someone with their kids who are willing to work for $4/hr? I'm definitely willing to negotiate with families, but not that much. I found a family I REALLY liked and decided to go down to $10/hr for them because I liked the neighborhood they lived in and it was only for one child who is at one of my favorite ages. Well I get there for the interview and it went really great, but then at the end when I was just double checking the $10/hr we had agreed upon the mother tried to get me down to $8/hr. I understand trying to get the best deal, but these are their kids they're negotiating over!

[Anonymous]

Sometimes I don't think parents know how to change the option, not all that post different rates than they are offering.

I had a family contact me and their job said $5-10. I politely declined stating the pay was too low and they replied they didn't know how to change it and the rate they paid. I ended up getting the job and rate that was correct