babysitter/nanny

tutor

caregiver

childcare provider

daycare teacher

Jovie

Unlike a lot of people, my experience with management was fine. I liked my boss and manager, I also loved majority, if not all, the families I worked with. The kids for the most part were well behaved, we bonded, and all the families I worked with, I loved.

My major complaints: extremely low pay (I was getting $10). I heard of a rare case where a woman was making $16 and was shocked because I was told by management that they only offer a salary of 10-12. there are no benefits, so although this would make a fine summertime job, It is not something you can live off of. I also heard that CNAT charges, not only a rate of 17--32 an hour, but that they require an EXTREMELY pricey fee (sometimes can reach up to $1,500). That's ridiculous. Although I'm grateful that I have the opportunity to make any money at all, it would be nice to be compensated higher, especially since the agency was making that much money out of us.

On top of low pay, there are times you have to drive sometimes up to 60 miles (to and back). And you don't have much of a say: you could request that you'd only like to work within your area, they'd respond by saying, "Although we can try, we can't promise anything." I was sent to far locations quite a few times.

The problem is, you have no say in being able to work with a certain family. If you are set up with a family and you refuse, your penalized. 3 times and your fired. But by far the biggest problem with this company is its scheduling system:

They have a system were you have a calendar and you get to fill out your availability. If you placed yourself available for, lets say, a Monday, you would need to stay clear that whole day and prepare for an on call phone at any minute. For example: Plenty of times I put myself available for a day. And when that day came around, the agency had not found me a family to fill that day. So I would often make plans, such as grocery shopping, or hanging out with my sisters, only to get a call mid day and say "Get ready, we've got work for you."  I really don't like surprise calls; I'm a planner and like to have my schedule set.

Sometimes they'd send you a notice at 4 in the morning. So when you wake up, not expecting work because you checked your app the night before, you find out that you have a family to be in in an hour. This is frustrating because by then, you know nothing about the family and it feels like a blind date. It's also frustrating, because many times I was assigned to a family that lived 50 minutes away, and I had only woken up an hour before the assignment time. I had no time to get ready for the assignment and had to run late on the family. If you turn down the offer, like I said, your penalized. I have been fortunate enough to have had great families who were understanding, but majority of my coworkers have horror stories. I am in the minority.

I'm grateful for the many positive experiences that I had with this company, however, I can't recommend anyone intrested in child care to take this job because: It is not difficult to find babysitting gigs by yourself. You do not need an agency. It is VERY easy and you have far more control over your schedule, who your work with, and will most likely get paid double. Just do it yourself.

Work ultimately differed day to day. The only thing that remained the same was that for every babysitting assignment I was required to wear my Jovie t-shirt and my Jovie ID. I had to make sure my availability was constantly up to date. If any potential babysitting assignments were available, they were assigned to me or I could choose available assignments currently listed based on my availability. Once I had an assignment, I had to confirm that I would take the assignment within an hour of receiving the assignment to confirm I knew about the assignment and intended to do the job. Once I had confirmed the assignment, I needed to contact the listed parent of the child(ren) I would be babysitting in the assignment to introduce myself so they would know who to expect, learn more about who I would be babysitting, what the house rules were, what the parent(s) expected me to do, any specific instructions I needed to follow, and answer any questions the parent(s) had for me so that they would feel comfortable and confident having me take care of their child(ren) for the assignment. I usually called the day before the assignment, but sometimes I called immediately after confirming the assignment. Once the day of the assignment arrived, I would arrive to the location between 10 to 15 minutes early (sometimes the parents requested I arrive even half an hour early, so I would for those specific assignments) to meet the parents and the children, go over the instructions again, and learn the layout of the house and where everything I needed was. From there, I took care of the child(ren) and not only looked after them, but fed them, played with them, cleaned them when necessary, and more. There were specific rules I had to follow if the assignment was a BUCA (paid for by the parent(s) work) assignment rather than just a regular Jovie assignment. If it was a BUCA assignment, I was not allowed to let the children near any still bodies of an inch or more of water, I was not allowed to provide the children with any form of medicine, I was not allowed to let the children or bring the children off the property (like to the park), or allow anyone not the parent come into the house. If it was a regular babysitting assignment, sometimes I would even be required to pick up some of the kids from school and bring them to the house or bring children to appointments pre-scheduled by the parents. Each assignment was different, but some of the families I would end up being assigned to over and over so some assignments were similar to one another. No matter what the assignment, I always had to give the parents a verbal and written report of everything that occurred while I was babysitting for them, and no matter how the babysitting went, we were instructed to keep the reports positive as well as informative. 

I was static to work for this company because they expressed how we make our own schedule because I have a second job I felt like this was perfect for me.
Sadly, I wasn’t given full information when I first started. It was my first week and I was fully booked with sitter jobs except for Monday. Last minute on a Sunday evening I was given a sitter assignment early that next Monday morning. I immediately messaged my advisor to let her know I couldn’t take that Monday because since I was never assigned anything that day I booked my day to pick up family from the airport and wasn’t expecting to receive a job Sunday night. I was given my first strike that night. I hadn’t even started my job yet. 
I have worked in child care for years, every place I worked at it was absolutely mandatory to be CPR certified. Although this company claims their employees to be, I was never once asked to give them any certification. Thankfully I have taken many courses in the past, just none are up to date. So I wouldn’t be surprised if half of their employees have an actual CPR certificate.
Lastly, I would like to add they let me go because I wasn’t comfortable watching kids with covid or the flu. I do not have insurance, so I have to be cautious. I do not find it fair for them to let me go because I stated I wasn’t comfortable with watching a family who’s kids had covid. They do not care for our health or the next family I would see after that. I do not take virus’s lightly, I am fully aware kids get sick but I find it highly disrespectful to be let go because I care for my health and others. I even stated that I am not comfortable working with sick children (only including virus) when I first had my interview because I live with someone who has a very weak immune system. When I reminded them of this I was gaslighted and was told I never stated such a thing even though the person I spoke to did not speak with me in my interview. I felt like I was never taken seriously at this job. 
The company itself has a wonderful system and is perfect for families looking for last minute sitters. I just believe I wasn’t respected from day one.  Going from having my first work strike due to lack of communication from them before I even got to start my first sitter job. To being let go because I was assigned a family with a virus and stated I did not feel comfortable sitting for them. I’m overall disappointed in the way they handle and treat their employees. I’m not trying to attack the company by no means, I just think it is important to state my experience. I hope the company can reflect on these events and make some changes for their future employees. Such as; mandatory CPR certifications, hearing out their employees instead of immediately telling them they are wrong, better pay, and respect for their employees when it comes to their health. 

It was a great experience at the office and with the families.  I had the American Heart Association First Aid/CPR training and continuous education that was very valuable to me personally and for the job itself.  They always payed me on time with direct deposit.  The followup system to record the hours and daily work was easy to work with.  I used it for planing ahead my availability and make last minute changes too.  I got as much hours as I could, materials to create activities, training and great support from the office personnel.  The office meetings were informative and interesting to participate as they review the success, how to deal with challenges and situations.  I was available around the clock, for assignments from 4 to 12 hours, overnights and extended periods if needed.  The experience with the families with special needs children was very educational and rewarding as I had the chance to see the children's progress.  The families were able to enjoy activities away from home with their other children and parents night out.  We played, made stories, arts & crafts, visit the park, learned and enjoyed being together.  I looked forward to visit again with great many of the families that called me back as their preferred sitter.  It was really heartwarming to see their reaction to our time together and witnessed the children's progress when I had the chance to go back.  I enjoyed their stories to the family and told at school about the good time they had with my visits.  During challenging situations I had support and collaboration from my supervisor who shared her wisdom and help.  Some families had pets and I worked with them without problem, sadly I'm allergic to cats.  Working as a team with other sitters we gave support to the health professionals working during the hurricane Harvey emergency.  Some of the hospital personnel had to stay working for a few days and we cared for their children.  Another team work I enjoyed was at a church nursery where we had different ages from babies to preteens during special worship activities.  I highly recommend College Nannies & Tutors to any and all who'd like to share their life experience to help other families, start a new job or wants to supplement their income.

When I started in spring 2012, it was pretty decent. The manager at the time was a very nice and energetic woman, who really CARED about you and the position you were looking for. In April 2012 I had a position with a 5 year old with behavioral issues, and after a month I was able to transition her back to school full-time. But there was no "thank you" from the mother, but a "well, she's back now so we won't need you." but luckily the manager was nice enough to get me another job in May, but then again, that ended as well because the mother decided she only needed a nanny a few days a week, and I couldn't survive off that income. The manager left in June, and then a new one came into place, and it all went even more downhill from there. I worked on-call positions from June on, as I recevied a new job at an afterschool program in June which offered benefits. This agency does not. 

The new manager was proactive in getting me on-call jobs ONLY after I came in the office to meet her. But even then she was favoring certain nannies, and giving some jobs out to the ones she preferred. Then I nannied for one woman with an infant and a 2 year old and she wrote the manager telling her all these mistakes I made! Yet I followed her directions to a tee. I even wrote down the directions she gave me so that I would remember. But did College Nannies and Tutors take my side? No, they didn't. They took the mother's side, even after a rebuttal letter which I highly doubt they even read. 

Not only this, but the on-call job pay is only $10.50 per hour, and you can make MUCH more if you work at say, Seattle Nanny Network or Annie's Nannies. 

Good thing about the job is, however, that they will hire those without years of nanny experience, so it is good for young College students, and for the most part the on-call work is frequent. They send you an email and you can email back and let them know you can take it. And the website is user friendly. But if i were you, I would skip this agency and find another one. Because it was a horrible place to work. And since I quit his place I have moved on to a much better teaching job, and now going back to school to finish my certification, but I will NEVER go back to the agency.

I wanted to share my experience of working for Jovie in Barrington, IL. I had previously worked as a Paraprofessional for a public school and was looking for a job that was more rewarding and offered flexibility. I was hired in June 2024 and it has been an awesome year! I have worked as a substitute for full time placed nannies, a caregiver at corporate retreats and conventions, a caregiver at private weddings, a caregiver for our national Back Up Care program and am currently placed as a nanny for a family that needs coverage 25 hours per week.  I also tutor for their sister company one evening each week. The management has also provided me with unlimited opportunities to work additional hours. The management team has been extremely helpful in helping me create a schedule that works for me. I was also pleased that the entry level pay rate was competitive with daycares and surrounding school districts for non-certified staff and that they offer healthcare and retirement benefits for employees! Jovie also offers great orientation training and continuing education opportunities. Jovie has so many options for working. You can easily fill your schedule even if you can only work nights or weekends. Jovie uses an app for scheduling and it makes it easy to share and update your availability. It is also nice to not have to hassle with getting paid (or not paid) since all of the billing and taxes are taken care of by the company. I also love that all of the families are pre-screened or registered through their employers so I am confident I am always working in a safe environment. I am a former stay at home mom and this was the perfect opportunity for me to stay mentally and physically active and bring in additional income. I would highly recommend this company and specifically the Barrington/Wheaton locations.

First of all, let me say that I’ve never written a positive review for a job before. Most places I’ve worked have been miserable, but this I like. The people who hired me were very friendly and flexible with getting me in for an orientation. The Role Model Manager even came in on a day when the office wasn’t open to help me! How kind! I really made me feel like a valuable asset to the company. 

Yes, sometimes you have to drive far. I have driving anxiety, but driving to assignments has helped me come out of it a little bit, so even that con becomes a pro! Most of the kids I works with are very cute and sweet! Their parents are nice, and it’s nice because they usually always have food for me! Also, when the kids are asleep for naps or bed, you have some time to study if the House is tidy!

If you love traveling and seeing new things, this job is awesome for that! I don’t like staying in the same place all the time because I get antsy but this awesome! A new scene every day so it never gets old! And if you do don’t have a good experience with a family, just talk to the company and they handle it. Easy!

As for compensation, I get paid nicely. I see some people talking about low wages, but I have 8 years of child care experience at 20 (they did count my baby sitting years and 6 months I spent at a day care center) so I get paid well over minimum wage. I get paid more than I do at my full time job as a paraprofessional working at a middle school with MORE kids.

For the low hours, I haven’t experienced this. Since I have another job, I have less flexibility availability during the weekdays, but once that availability was freed, I was slammed with assignments! I’m staying busy, but maybe it’s just my region. 

But the best part is the creative freedom I have! I feel like the lead teacher for once, no degree required. I can color with the kids, draw with them, play with them, and do all the things I love doing without the pressures of lead teachers and supervisors breathing down my neck. It’s awesome!

Don’t waste your gas and miles on grub hub and Uber. Take a chance! You might like it! I finally have hope for moving out of parents house! I love this company and look forward to staying with it for as long as I can.

I have been with Jovie for essentially 5 years now. I have recommended multiple of my friends to the company and gotten them at least 5 new hires. Unfortunately the company is not the best opportunity if you are looking for fair pay/treatment and respect. I have used the company for full time babysitting and occasional sitting based off my availability- to give some background I have had multiple health issues lately that causes me to throw up/pass out this has caused me to have to cancel assignments. I completely understand how that is inconvenient to the company and the families that rely on me, however I explained this to management and always apologize greatly when that occurred. Management has not been returning my texts/ messages in the group me messages for multiple weeks now when I have been looking for more hours as my health issues have been more limited and my availability is increasing. I finally got a call from management that they decided to put me on invisible on the app for the past couple of weeks which explains why I was not getting assignments. There was absolutely no warning or conversation to me that this was happening. I have been relying on the future income from the company with my increased availability and they left me completely in the dust about it. A warning along the lines of “if you cancel one more time ___ would happen” would of been greatly appreciated. At the least they could of let me know as soon as they put me on invisible. There was no coming back from this as they essentially gave no indication that I could ever go off invisible and removed me from the app as soon as the phone call ended. I feel extremely disrespected that this is the ending I receive from a company I have been with for so long. I always thought management to be extremely understanding on personal issues but they let me go because of me cancelling a couple times for health issues.

During a typical day of work, I would pick up my two kids that I nannied for from school. We would either go to the library or back to their house. Once we got to their house, we would eat snacks. Normally, the 8 year old had to start his homework which I would assist him with. I would clean up the house a bit, entertain the children, and do various childcare activities. 

I learned the behaviorisms of children, their needs vs their wants, how to interact with the children in the most constructive way possible, and how to teach them new things. 

Management at College Nannies and Tutors is very friendly and patient. They are consistent with their ideals of the company and make sure that the employees feel appreciated. My one complaint would be that it was hard to get into contact with them at times due to understaffing. 

As a nanny, I don't come into contact with my co-workers very often. From my few experiences with my co-workers, they were all exceedingly pleasant and friendly. They all seemed enthusiastic about their jobs and ready to work. 

The hardest part of my job was during the times where the children were going through behavior problems. One of my children I watched had a temper problem that would influence the daily life of her classmates at her daycare. I would try and help her understand how she couldn't continue her bad behavior and the consequences that would happen if she did. Also, leaving a family that you have grown attached to is hard.

The most enjoyable part of my job is the interaction with the children and feeling like you make a difference in their lives. It's nice to feel appreciated by not only your employer but also the family you are working for. I have received a lot of good feedback from my managers and my families that I have worked for and I feel very influential in their lives.

In general, this job wants you to be available every moment of the day at all times. You are on call so you have to accept what that means. At times, it was a bit much considering you basically can't or shouldn't leave your house until after 12 (the time you can change your availability and have the rest of the day off), but was reasonable. 

Text messages all day and night. Dozens and dozens and dozens of text messages as early and late as 2 am, including days you are not available. 

If you don't respond a few too many times, then expect passive aggressiveness and gentle threats from management. If you don't accept a case during your first month, you are not eligible for the raise they promised during the interview. Which doesn't make sense to me, because if I'm not qualified for a case why am I being forced to accept it? 

Want to denied a case? They're really pushy and "ask" you to take the case. I say "ask" because they use interrogative words, but then "go ahead and open the app and accept the case" at the end of the call. I knew I wasn't going to last long after that phone call because it felt more like an attack and beration than anything else. 

They will ask you to take cases involving 7 kids in a home, only have two sitters on the case, and no you are not getting paid more for dealing with more kids. You get paid the same as if you were taking care of one kid. Which is interesting considering clients are charged for having multiple kids, but alright. 

Gas reimbursement is a joke. Don't do it your car. Also, no, denying a job because it's way too far isn't acceptable.... despite the fact they barely reimburse you for gas among other wear and tear. 

The pay is a joke. Parents are charged more for multiple kids, but nannies are paid the same regardless of how many kids there are.

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