Hiring a Nanny
From Mommyplace.com WiKI Page
Finding the right person to take care of your children can be a very difficult process. It’s one of the most difficult decisions you will ever make. But done right you will find yourself with a new, valued member of your family.
Your first option is to hire a Nanny placement agency. If this is your first time hiring a Nanny, this might be an excellent option for you. I used a Nanny agency to find our first Nanny and then used Craigslist.com to find our 2nd and current Nanny.
A Nanny Agency does most of the work and they also provide parents guidance in how to find the right match and how to extend an offer. Nanny Agencies generally require a non refundable deposit to get started. In Denver the deposit is $200 at most agencies.
If you hire a Nanny from the Nanny agency you will either pay a flat fee OR a percentage of the Nanny’s first year salary. Most agencies in Denver have the flat fee and it’s about $2000. Be careful of Nanny agencies that require 10% of the Nanny’s first year salary especially if you will be looking to your Agency for guidance on what to offer one of their Nannies.
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[edit] Here are some tips if you are going to go the Nanny Agency route.
1) Be honest on your Nanny application. If you are a Type A, germ-a-phobe who can’t live in an unstructured environment, let the Agency know so they can look for a Nanny who will be right for you.
2) Interview as many Nannies as you need to in order to feel comfortable you are selecting the right one. Don’t worry if the Agency seems to be frustrated that you want to interview a ton of Nannies. This is what you are paying them for.
3) Call a Nanny’s references yourself. The Agencies will do it and generally provide summaries of their conversations with the previous families but you need to talk to the Moms and/or Dads who have employed this nanny yourself.
4) ONLY hire a Nanny who has exceptional references. We’ve hired 2 Nannies in the past 2 years and both had previous reference who raved about them. Both have been fantastic Nannies.
5) Do not hire a Nanny if you cannot talk to at least one of their references and make sure that reference is from a position in the near past.
6) Be very clear in the interview with what is expected of the Nanny.
7) Consider hiring more than one Nanny agency if you can afford more than one non refundable deposit fee. That way you have multiple people helping you find the best available Nanny in your city.
8) If you feel you are not getting the right type of candidates from the Agency, let them know right away. There might have been a misunderstanding with what you are looking for.
[edit] Your second option is to use sites such as: Craigslist.com.
I used Craigslist to hire our 2nd and current Nanny and it worked extremely well. Tips for using Craigslist and other web resources:
1) Be specific in your post (if you are going to place one). If you are not looking for a Nanny who needs to bring their children to work, say so.
2) Realize that there is a huge variance of Nannies on Craigslist. Some are extremely experienced and some are extremely green.
3) Recognize that you will have to sift through a lot of responses. This takes a lot of time. If you do not have the time, go the Nanny agency route.
4) Demand a resume. A lot of candidates on Craigslist don’t have resumes which is a great sign that they are not an experienced Nanny. The experienced Nannies have resumes.
5) Do not include personal information in your post. Child predators use a multitude of websites to find their prey. Do not list your address, your child’s name, school, or phone number. Use the “anonymous” feature on Craigslist to get replies to your post.
[edit] Interviewing Tips
1) My rule of thumb is to ask anything with the exception of religion, political affiliation, and sexual orientation. In corporate environments it’s illegal to ask if someone is married or has children but I ask this in Nanny interviews. This is information that you need to know because it could impact your children. I personally prefer married Nannies because that way I do not need to worry about boyfriends I do not know dropping by without my knowledge. If a Nanny has children you need to know if they are hoping to bring the kids to work with them or if they have certain obligations (picking them up from school) or what the Nanny’s plan is if her children are ill.
2) Ask the candidate what their interests outside of work are. This will help you get a better sense of what type of person they are.
3) Ask about their families. I’ve found that how a candidate talks about their families is a great way to find out about what kind of person the Nanny is.
4) Ask the candidate what a typical day would look like if she were your child’s Nanny. This is my #1 question. I look for the Nannies who’s responses suggest they will take a scheduled approach to my son’s day and also who’s responses suggest they have a large toolbox of activities that will keep my son entertained and also develop him mentally, physically, and emotionally. This question will definitely give you a sense of how experienced the Nanny is and will separate seasoned Nannies from Babysitters.
5) Ask how they have discipline their former kids in the past.
6) Ask why they left each job. The #1 best answers are either that the Mom decided to stay home, the family moved, or the children became school age. Probe any answers other than those.
7) Use your judgment. Our current Nanny was dismissed from her last job because one of the Moms (it was a Nanny Share) wanted someone who would work additional hours without any notice and without additional compensation. I was wary that she was dismissed but also had heard enough about some families that abuse the relationship with their Nannies. Our current Nanny was fantastic in the interview, her dismissal was the only red flag, and we loved how she interacted with our son. We told her that we were slightly uncomfortable that she had been let go by another family even though we could understand the difficult situation she was in. So, she gave us a list of references which included the other Mom in the Nanny share. All references raved about her. We hired her, she’s been with us over a year and we adore her.
8) Consider a phone interview before you invite a candidate to your house. You can learn a lot in the phone interview and I prefer to invite only the candidates I get a good feel from over the phone to our house.
9) Make sure you have the Nanny interact with your child and observe carefully. This is our #2 criteria. We have rejected countless Nannies because we did not like the way they interacted with our son or we did not like the way he responded to them. Our current Nanny had our son laughing within 10 seconds of holding him. One of the Nannies we rejected pulled away from our Infant son everytime he tried to touch her face. Again, you can tell a lot by interaction.
10) Once you narrow it down, consider having your top candidates do a 1-2-hour “on the job” interview where you ask them to spend 1-2 hours with your child while you are there. If you are replacing a Nanny (amicably) consider having the candidate spend this 1-2 hours with your current Nanny and child and getting the opinion of your current Nanny. We did this when we replaced our 1st Nanny and we truly valued our 1st Nanny’s perspective after she met with all 3 of our leading candidates. We ended up hiring her 1st choice.
11) Pay attention to the candidate’s physical experience. Don’t expect that they will show up in business attire…this is not a corporate job. But the great nannies will look nice and clean and appropriate. Also pay attention to signs that they smoke. We had a candidate from a Nanny Agency who had told the Agency she was not a smoker but she smelled like a smoker who had put a ton of perfume on to cover it up.
12) Trust your gut. Do not ever go against your gut even if you cannot logically explain it. For both of the Nannies that we’ve hired, I just knew the first time they walked into our door that they were it. We went through all the diligence on both of them even though I had “my feeling” which you must do but trust your gut.
[edit] Tips for Making and Offer
1) Find out the range of Nanny salaries in your city.
2) Find out what the candidate made in their former position.
3) Find out what the Nanny is looking for.
4) Find out if the Nanny is looking for a straight monetary offer or also needs benefits.
5) If you are using an Agency, ask the Agency to provide their input on what the candidate is worth (given their experience).
6) Don’t insult the candidate with the first offer. That’s not the right way to start a relationship.
7) Be specific with what the salary is based on: number of days per week, number of hours per days, and general starting and ending time each day.
8) Specify what will be provided if the Nanny works additional hours.
9) Make the offer contingent on a clean background check. If you used a Nanny agency, the background check will be included in your placement fee. If you used Craigslist of another web resource, you will need to perform the background check on your own. There are several website that can help you figure out how to do this. My personal favorite is ChildCareBackground.com
10) Detail in the offer the gross and net salary. Parents are responsible for 50% of a Nanny’s taxes (all taxes). Do research on this so that you are aware of exactly how much you are looking at when you hire a Nanny. 4NannyTaxes.com is a good resource. Also detail how your portion of the taxes will be paid. Talk to a company such as 4Nannytaxes or your CPA to figure this out.
[edit] Tips for Creating A Successful Relationship with Your Nanny
1) Create a contract between you and the Nanny. This contract should detail the job requirements, compensation package, duration of the contract, and agreements for terminating the relationship. The contract should also include behaviors that could result in immediate termination without fair notice.
2) Treat them like a member of the family.
3) Keep the lines of communication open
4) Do NOT take advantage of them. Pay them for every additional 30 minutes they work.
5) Recognize they have a life outside of work. Be home on time!
6) Be clear with expectations.
7) Provide feedback and praise (if it’s deserved) often. Cards, notes, Starbucks gift cards are all great ways to make your Nanny feel valued.
8) Remember their birthday.
9) Do NOT make them take your additional vacation days unpaid. This is the one thing I hear about that shocks me most. If you are going to take a long weekend and it’s not part of the agreed upon Nanny vacation plan, PAY THEM.
10) Provide a holiday/end of year bonus if you can afford one. Tipping/bonus websites state that Nannies should receive this. Amounts should vary based on your financial capabilities and the Nanny’s performance. Some websites state that one week’s pay is good for outstanding performance. If your Nanny is compensated on the higher end of the scale for your city, you might consider dialing this back a little bit.
11) Consider hiring a company that specializes in handling the taxes portion of your Nanny’s salary. There are several companies out there that do this and they even will cut your Nanny’s check each month. Breedlove-Online.com is another company that can help.
