Nannies cancelling interviews

[Novstar]

I was going to interview a prospective nanny tonight. Got an email in the morning to say "Sadly I can't attend tonight, can we reschedule?"

So, would you reschedule? I am surprised she didn't offer any explanation or apology and I'm wondering how reliable she is going to be. She's antipodean so she hasn't got a language problem.

Last time a nanny cancelled, I rescheduled, they turned up 30 min late, then asked to work full time cash in hand but only write "15 hours" in the contract so she could continue to claim her housing benefit.

Given no reason given for cancelling, can't see why you would want to reschedule. If a reason was given then it may be different but without a reason it just looks sloppy to me.

No, not with no reason I wouldn't reschedule. Unless you really, really like her and think she's perfect in every other way.

But it's not sounding like that.

Agree with nick that if they'd said 'I'm sick' or 'I have to work late unexpectedly tonight' or 'my best friend's kitten died and she's really upset' I might consider it but just saying what she did? Nope, not professional.

Agree a reason would have been better but things do crop up and if seemed perfect on paper then yes I would try to see her

Might be worth emailing back to reschedule - but only if she can explain why she had to cancel. But only if, like Blondes says, she looks great on paper.

It does seem a bit rude not to put a reason.

Thanks for your views. I think the use of the word "sadly" is very odd. She could have typed "sorry" instead and it would have come across differently.

She's not the perfect candidate either, but "sadly" the way things are going, I may not have the luxury to remove her from my list completely.

why not perfect? ie what dont you like about her?

agree sadly does sound weird

VERY entrigued what her reason is tho maybe its something silly personal like started af

No I wouldn't either. You'd want your nanny to have good communication skills and be reliable and she's demonstrated that she has neither of those.

I wouldn't be that worried about it. Stuff does come up for people and she may tell you in person what it was. Not sure I would personally prefer a long winded explanation rather than - apologies, can we reschedule? The morning is acceptable enough notice - I would reconsider giving her another chance if she did it like an hour before though.

stuff does come up but I think there should of been more effort on the part of the nanny there to explain things.If I was cancelling an interview and wanting to reschedule I would be going out of my way to apologise and make it known I am not usually one to cancel things at the last min etc

Since I cancelled a dinner out for this interview (I decided it was more important to sort out the recruitment), it was disappointing. I would feel different if she had said sorry. The message I get from her action is that she doesn't really want this job. At least that's how I see it in my world, and I want my nanny to live in the same world as I do.

Blondes - she will be doing another job cash in hand while working for me, which I think is slightly dubious!

i had a nanny call to reschedule 30 mins before the interview once - no reason given. we did reschedule and at the interview she was so good that we wanted to offer the job straight away but told her that our only hesitation was because she had cancelled with no notice and we needed reliability. she told us it was because her washing machine had flooded - it wasn't a brilliant excuse but we employed her and she then worked for us for 9 years and was an excellent and very reliable nanny. some years on she told us that the real reason she had cancelled was because she had had a major row with her boyfriend and didn't want to come to an interview in floods of tears - i wasn't sure whether this was actually better or worse as it meant she had lied to us - but she had proved herself to be such a valuable part of our lives that it wasn't really an issue.

novstar - avoid this nanny at ALL costs - she is happy to be doing tax invasion and could bring you down as well

mrs wobble, i understand why your nanny lied, it was a small white lie and harmless iyswim

How could she bring me down, if I am a separate employer from her other one? It's the nanny who has to sign the declaration about this being her only job. Can't see why I would be embroiled in the tax affairs of a separate (illegal) employment, though the idea galls me. The reality is that lots of nannies work cash in hand.

tbh i dont know, but i would be wary of employing a nanny who is happy to work illegally