Is it me,or the competition is really tight for nannies in London?nannies&even parents please help

Brilliant - very pleased for you. Go for it and let us know how you get on.

I think that this thread is beginning to run its course. As aahn (sp?) said, the fact remains that whatever the agencies are telling you, they have not been able to find you a job so far and you have not been able to find one yourself. So, either you are asking too much money (if you are, I don't think that it can be by very much, otherwise you are looking at cleaner rates, which are about £7 gross in Inner London, as far as I am aware) or it is something about you - perhaps even just a minor things that you could easily change or put someone's mind at rest about.

Whatever it is - and the two effects are, of course, interlinked - I think that you need to take some advice from people who actually know you or at least have met you in person - however well-meaning we MNers may be , we can't judge how you come across to people.

So: I would give your previous employers a call and have a chat - nothing heavy, but explain that you have been looking unsuccessfully and you are beginning to think that perhaps you are not selling yourself properly and, knowing you, what would they recommend you say about yourself.
Next, ask the agencies: what do they think the problem is? What has been the honest feedback from the families you have interviewed with? If you interviewed with someone you felt you really got on with and assuming this wasn't more than a few weeks ago so that they still remember you e-mail them and ask, very politely, for feedback.

That's it from me - once again, good luck and do let us know how you get on.

it took me a long time to understand this houskeeper experience thing. from what i found running a home is just a normal thing we 'easterneuropians' can do because that's how we grow up and don't find it a special skill the way the british do. what i am trying to say is i can understand why nnl applies for a houskeeper job and i am pretty sure she is more than capable of doing well in a houskeeper nanny job.

NNL from those links it looks as though you are very muddled. Nanny Housekeeper is really a job for a highly experienced mature woman who may have brought up her own children and can run a house more or less to hotel standards.

I've got someone who does this for me one day a week and she charges £10 an hour. She is in her 50s, has about 20 years' experience including a stint running the domestic side of a local stately home, and has brought up three children.

I really wouldn't put you in this category at all. If this is the kind of thing you've been applying for, expecting this kind of salary, then I am afraid you are doomed to disappointment.

We've found it quite hard to find a nanny for a 3-day-a-week nannyshare. We didn't need him/her to drive but we wanted someone who was willing to look after 4 children (1 of whom is at school full-time, another is at pre-school in the mornings).

I think our problem was that we were only offering a p/t position and plenty of others in this part of London were offering f/t with fewer children.

Our new nanny has just started and is in the process of registering with Ofsted, getting a CRB etc. but we've checked her references and she has CRB equivalents from working in Scotland and Australia/NZ.

I'm posting to say that there are families out there who are looking for you, they just may not have found you yet!

But nnl look at Bellamy's registration requirements. They're a subsiduary of Eden who will register you with 2 years exp but you'll have a hard time getting a job with just that and there's travel required so they will pay more. ponders calling Bellamy to check the job out

Newborn baby experience also adds about £1 net to your wage for a job with a newborn. I kid you not.

I like agencies now. They get me nice jobs but they didn't previously.

Is now a good time to point why agencecies should not be trusted? NNL, I do now wonder if you might be pricing yourself out of the market as a result of being misled by deceitful agencies. I know I know, deceitful agencies is redundant.

NNL, agencies can tell you whatever they like but the fact remains that none of them have found you a job! One of the reasons may well be that they are pricing you too highly. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter how wonderful you are or how much a family might like to employ you, if they can't afford you then they won't employ you.

I liken it to my current search for an admin assistant at work. From the applications, I can see that the two best applicants are currently earning more than the salary range the company can afford. It doesn't matter how much I want them, there is no money to pay them. I can either hope they will accept less money or compromise on another candidate - the latter being more likely. For MH-type positions, the range which a family can afford is likely to be even more firmly fixed then for a nanny.

My best friend, google, informs me that London MHs are getting £200-250net as standard when live in and the live out ones tend not to be full time in which case a slightly higher hourly salary (around £6-8 per hour seems to be normal) makes sense. Lots of 2 or 3 day jobs or afternoons only.

Top Notch are quoting £200-300 depending on live in or out for full time and it would seem none of my favourite agencies place mother's helps!

No-ones saying you're lying rather than wages seem to be a) inflated in London, b) on a par with a nanny wage, c) more than entry level (which MH jobs often are) for several professions which involve significant study and/or high risk and might I add d) plumped up by agencies who are often on a percentage commission.

do those professions only work an average of 40hrs a week though?

compared to average nannies who do 50/60/65 a week?

but yes i do think nurses etc get shit money for what they do

I don't actually see how a mother's help can justify earning more than a paramedic really, tbh.

£20896 firefighter
£19683 paramedic
£21534 police

All above basic starting salaries

I think the London thing has got a bit out of hand, actually. Other worldly, like you say.

I should say for the purposes of fairness that obviously teachers, doctors and nurses have more distance to travel in terms of salary and nannies have a lower ceiling. But then again, teachers, doctors and nurses have more complicated jobs in much more complex organisations, and have made more time and financial investment in high level training, etc.

London wages do seem like another world at times... I'm only 22miles ish from central London.
Live out, experienced nannies in my area are on around £90-£120 gross per day.

thank god for that boffy (prods, did you want the turkey email as you liked the garlic one lol?)

i assume mothers helps would be on min wage tbh so 5.83gross ah hour,which is 58 ish a day,so just under 300 a week gross

Stop crying, everyone.

Round here mother's helps get around £100-£200 a week. There is absolutely no way anyone I know would pay someone £350 net for a mother's help job. It works out at £23600 gross.

As a guide live-out nannies with NNEB/DCE Level 3 experience 10 years+ experience around here are earning between £300-£350 depending on hours and the number and age of children being cared for.

With respect I think you are at best a bit misguided in your salary expectations. FWIW teachers start on £21102 after doing a degree and one year's postgraduate study, a junior doctor starts on £22190 after six years' study, and a nurse or midwife starts on £20710.

I thought a mother's help was an entry level live-out minimum wage sort of job. Let's see, £7 per hour, 10 hours a day, 5 days a week is... £350... I hope we are talking gross. £18,200 per year seems like a pretty good deal for a young person just starting out. Someone remind me what teachers make... and what about nurses...