2 July 2012, Mrs Steyn, owner and director of leading childcare placement agency, Sitters4U, announced the official launch of its new self-service placement site; ChildCareSA.com. Designed to cut out a clients need to deal with an agency, the model effectively cuts out the middle man, giving clients direct contact details to its professionally vetted staff.

Sitters4U was started in 2007 with the intent of raising safety standards within the professional private childcare industry. Prior to their inception, local agencies didn’t request staff to have a SETA approved first aid certificate, a vehicle, a driver’s license or an education. Many felt that even experience was not a necessity to quantify a candidate as ‘professional’. Sitters4U changed this by subscribing to and exceeding internationally accepted standards.

Today most agencies have followed in their footsteps, raising the bar across the board and providing parents with much needed peace of mind.

The next big challenge has of course been to provide this service in an affordable manner. The often exorbitant placement fees are a luxury many parents simply cannot afford. To this end, Sitters4U has spent the last two years developing automated tools that act as the agent. Finally clients can purchase the direct contact details of candidates and the system allows both parties to establish interest before this exchange takes place.

By providing access to professional experienced qualified candidates without the hefty agency price tag, the easy to use system may eventually reach far beyond its current scope and could be applied to any specialised placement service or even used by agencies to streamline their internal processes.

“We have put the tools of the recruiter into the hands of the parents, automating the process while minimising the miscommunications and frustrations often associated with private placement. Parents can now have peace of mind of using an agency service, while reducing administration and the agency fees usually involved in the process, by up to 80%,” said Mrs Steyn.