How to interview nannies

Sorry Uwila was quoting nett because Krabbiepatty was talking about nett. Totally understand that nannies must be too expensive for lots of families it must be hard when you have kids.

And from what you have said we must be in different parts of London when i moved here (West London) 18 months ago i was shocked at how much nannies earned. I actually earn the lowest salary of all my nanny friends. A friend of mine just got a live-in job around the corner from me, same hours only 1 child (i have 3) and she earns £400 nett a week.

Saying that i wouldn't change my job for the world i love it. Sorry f i got on my high horse earlier .

Nannyj, why are you quoting "nett" if you make a gross salary. I'm confused.

Ah, yes, debt. I'm afraid you are preaching to the choiron that subject. I would say that the problem here is not so much how much parents are willing to pay for decent childcare, but rather the problem is the ferocious cost of living in this country.

Anyway, if you can comand this level of salary, then that is great (for you). But, I want to offer advice to other parents that they can get decent and affordable (well semi-affordable) nannies for less than those rates. Although the best way to reduce your cost is if you can offer a live-in position.

Uwila, i do get paid a gross salary and wouldn't expect it any other way. And yes i do agree that the family i work for are well off (but not millionaires). I was just trying to say that from experience of being a live out nanny in the past, i earned £350 nett and i couldn't survive financially!!! I am single and had a flatmate who was also a nanny and i struggled to the point where i was in serious financial trouble. To live and pay rent and bills, run a car and not live too far from my job as i started at 7am i would not do live out again for less than £450 nett a week!

But i know nannies who have partners or are married and they would be able take less money i guess. I just don't understand why you would, i would never take a job on money alone but it is important to me, certainly helps to get me through my 60+ hours a week.

I suppose what I feel is that the rate we pay enables a nanny to manage in London, with rent and so forth without actually being loaded. I resent the amount of tax (mine, hers) that I pay and we are far from wealthy and do struggle with childcare costs. I do feel the government ought to sort it out rather than me scrimping on someone else's pay though.

Wow, that'll cost the employer £2160/month (£2600 pa) and that's after they pay taxes on their own salary. So a parent has to earn what.. somewhere around £40,000 just to pay you. Only nannies who work for wealthy families make that kind of money. It isn't mainstream. There are definitely good nannies who work for more reasonable rates. But, I suppose you won't find them listed at the ageencies with 10+ years of experience.

I think that if you want to enjoy the perks of being an employee(like 4 weeks paid holiday), then you have to accept gross pay just like the rest of us. I never understand why nannies think they deserve some special treatment afforded by no other profession.

Krabbiepatty-I agree with you re:salary. I'm a live-in nanny in London and earn £320 nett a week. Plus get free car, broadband, sky+. Also a nice big bonus once a year . I know if i went looking for a job now i could start at £350 nett at least. I don't know of any live-out nannies who take home less than £425 per week nett.

As i'm sure you all know nannies discuss salaries within the first 5 minutes of meeting each other. Just the nature of our job i think! I certainly couldn't afford to live on £325 nett a week live-out in London.

Financially unlucky I mean - my nanny is completely bloody brilliant and I fully expect the family to implode when I give up work (and she leaves) in 3 weeks time.

Agree that the experienced nannies I know are between 8 and 10 NET an hour, live out rates. I am in not very swanky Shepherd's Bush. But if you are prepared to search long and hard, not use an agency, consider girls whose first language isn't English, take a bit of a chance - try someone who is a childcare professional but hasn't nannied before for example - then you might get lucky.

I have to say that my current cleaner is £9 an hour - ridiculous I know but she does do a 3 hour clean in 2 hours IYSWIM. I have never found anyone in the £5-6 an hour mark who is up to my (really not very exacting) standards. When I was interviewing nannies I found the same rather depressing scenario - the better ones, the ones you warmed to, the ones with the better refs yada yada just cost more.

But then maybe I am one of the unlucky ones!

In my experience in inner London £8 net per hour is the going rate - either via agencies or via websites or Simply Childcare. Any nanny with half a brain will soon realise that if she agrees £8 per hour gross she is getting paid considerably less than everyone else. £8 net works out more like £10 per hour gross.

Uwila you may be able to get away with your "gross" pay thing with live in nannies but its not going to wash with any nanny who's been in the country for more than a few months and has a London rent plus living expenses to pay.

£500 gross per week does seem quite a lot until you take account of the fact that its a 50 hour week. Most jobs are 37 hours per week which at £10 per hour would be less than £19.5k p.a - a reasonable wage but hardly megabucks in London.

As for questions - well it seems to be pretty much covered - I was astonished when I last interviewed nannies to find how few could answer the question "what would you give my children for breakfast".

I have always interviewed with a whole list of questions but to be honest the things that have really decided me have been how they behaved with the kids and what their references said about them.

After bad bad bad experiences from agencies I would tend to go with the advertising in The Lady etc Also to go with the line that your are employing someone to look after your children, be in your house etc so take as much time as you can to choose somebody properly. Absolutely check and double check all references - one that we had was actually from the sister in law of evil nanny so of course she failed to say she was a thorough weirdo and irresponsible etc ..

Yes phone reference completely vital (and treat with suspicion - ask enough questions to satisfy yourself that is not just the nanny's mate). Glowing paper reference no good, you want to quiz the previous employers. The employer of the kind of nanny you want says stuff like:
"I can't think of a bad quality x has.."
"My children loe x; she will always be a family friend..."
etc etc

I had one au pair who had a fantastically glowing reference from a previous employer. I rang her up and she said "Don't touch her with a bargepole!"

I was factual about my evil nanny, I just listed the dates she had worked for me and her duties.

Oooo, listen to Tanzie on her advice of verbal references. If you can not contact and talk to a reference then disregard it. Never hire anyone you can't get a verbal reference on.

You might also consider hiring a nanny from outside the uk (though this is difficult when not offereing a live-in position) or a nanny who has a child that she needss to bring with her. As you already have 2 babies, you probably need the nanny's own child to be a bit older (say 3+). But if she bring her child to work, it should bring your costs down a bit, as her child should be considered as an addition party to share.

The best nanny we ever had brought with her a photo album of her most recent charges and various beautiful birthday cakes she had made. She also had on her a bag of Easter eggs as she was about to visit them (gets tear in eye contemplating fabulous nanny fo yesteryear...)

Yes, I think agencies take you for a ride. That's how they make money. I've never used one, but I hear loads of stories about what a bad service they provided and cost an arm and a leg.

Over 500 squid a week gross? I am in the wrong bloody job. Shame I don't like children.

Take up references on the phone as people are always more honest on the phone. I was brutally frank on the phone about my evil nanny (get yer violin out, Uwila!) and equally have had people be very frank on the phone with me.

Have the children there at interview. Our first nanny scooped DD1 out of her bouncy seat to cuddle almost as soon as she walked through the door, and it was clear from the start that she really loved children.

I'm not in central London. But, still inside M25. However, my experience is with live-in. I might be underetimating. But definitely know peopl who pay a lot less than what agencies suggest.

Check out the nursery staff and see what sort of salary they are expecting. Working in a nursery is not as nice as being a nanny. So if you go to some workers there, you will probably find that they are more than happy to leave for a bit more money. So, you'd have to pay about £7 or £8 gross between the two of you... 50 hours a week takes that to £350 - £400. Okay, a bit more than my original suggestion. Perhaps that was a bit low.

Pay gross because you don't want to be responsible for her taxes. You need to extract them from her check, but don't offer to pay them yourself. There is a huge cost difference here.

Not according to any agency have ever come across. Last time we interviewed, they were quite sniffy about how many of their candidates wouldn't look at £375 net and were expecting £400 plus. Maybe private adverts tap a different nanny crowd?

Most important - definitely check references. Don't assume anything. Ask the other mums lots and lots of questions.

Ask exactly what they do with a child of your age group every day.

Are they self-motivating or will you have to find classes/activities?

What food do they eat? Do they understand good nutrition? Will they be feeding your LO McDonalds every day?

Ask how many times they have been off sick in the last year.

Ask if they have any holidays planned.

What would they do in an emergency? Do they have a first aid certificate? Eg - your child hit their head, they seem ok, but what would you do? What signs would you look out for? Do you know the emergency number to dial?

Do they know other nannies for playdates?

Get a feel if this job is a means to an end (eg for travel) or if they genuinely love children.

If they are live in check their living habits - clean/tidy - boyfriends - eating habits / cigarettes/alcohol.

Do they have a drivers licence? No uk residents are difficult to insure - would they change their licence for a British one?

Per week?!?!?! You most certainly are paying top rate.