how to find a nanny?

[CCH181]

I've been searching for months and have yet to find the perfect nanny! Help! Where do I go next? I've been on nannyjob.co.uk and childcare.co.uk as well as gumtree.co.uk. I've seen dozens of CVs, but only a few that have actually been of any interest. I'd like to advoid the agencies if possible (trying to avoid the fee as I've already paid a big fee for my maternity nurse!!). Any suggestions on websites or other places to try? We're in SW London. Thanks!

[underneaththeash]

@rebeccajoel - you can't advertise on here!
reported again.

[Still1nLove]

Sounds like a plug for the agency

[underneaththeash]

This thread is initially from 2011, so I doubt the OP has any need for an nanny any more. But that agency you're "recommending" charge £299 PER MONTH ongoing for a nanny. That is extortionate.

[lovellykids]

Hi reaching out we got twins mother in law go back oversea
so how do we find a nanny
costing
monday/ friday (sometimes i day on weekend
i really dont know where to start
london victioria area

can anybody giude me we are getting desparate

:-)

[lovellykids]

Hi Reaching out ,
Got twins 3 months looking to find nanny and costing priceing very expensive
where can i find
cost
monday to friday 8am - 7pm ( sometime weekend sat or sun )
sw area victoria

[mylife123]

oldgreybird > I read your comments above then i would say that it might be you don't know well how the job of nanny are sorry to tell it to you cause normally there is 2 types of nannies which people doesn't know nanny to simple and nanny-housekeeper they undertake the general household duties specifically agreed within the job description. The pay is still the same in these 2 types of job.
I agreed with you only about your comments saying that she should read again her advert cause most of the parents nowadays they are too demanding and not warm enough to their employees. How come you didn't find someone within hundred of CV you already. Let me tell you you ll never find the perfect one unless you try it, almost of nannies do the same job but it's up to their employer to make them like to stay longer in your place if you know how to be well with them not too demanding or too cold they will stay longer with you but if you are irritating believe me no one can live with that. Think about everybody is the same whatever doctor, nanny, director,... you are lucky to have good job but you never know one day how life change to your nanny. Wishing you good luck and try be friendly to your nanny then you'll see they ll respect you.

[Smilingshrew]

My opinion is a mature nanny who has had her own children is far better at being an efficient parenting partner. I have level 3 in early years, experience, qualifications also in art and music and multilingual with patience and humour. Two grown up young graduates so free to travel.

[Batoutahell]

Smiling, what do you mean by an exclusive family background??

But in answer to your question, you sound great to me. Are you not getting interviews even or just not being successful after interview? Because that is two very different problems.

[Batoutahell]

Gumtree, great success three times.

[Smilingshrew]

I am not here to advertise myself as a nanny but I would like to know where West and Central London parents find their nannies. My problem is a. I will commute to a live-in role from Wales so many people do not believe I will stick it and b. although I have 5 years as a part-time nanny in a private house, 12 years in range of nurseries, primary and secondary schools, have worked as an Art Specialist teacher, French teacher for Le Club Francais, am an artist, sucessfully raised 2 children single handed, both recent graduates with a 1st and 2.1, I am too much of a risk; somehow as a fluent speaker or French and Spanish, conversational German, Italian , Russian , Welsh- according to agencies - I don't fit the picture. I am a caring nurturer with oodles of patience and a sense of humour looking always for opportunities for positive reinforcement and unique creative fun involving music, paint, drama, whatever. I have also never cooked a ready meal! Clean enhanced DBS car, non-smoker etc. No ties.
Who can advise me for where to be discovered? My own family background is exclusive.

[user1483387154]

I am a career Nanny and Teacher with Early Years and KS1 specialism.
I would highly recommend www.knightsbridgenannies.com/ as an agency to use.

Personally I would not use gumtree to find a job, however have previously used nannyjob.co.uk There is a huge difference between people claiming to be nannies and those of us who are qualified.

[eastmidlandsnightnanny]

I find my work through netmums mostly although had some through findababysitter and findasitter sites and www.childcare.co.uk

Agency wise I am registered with a few local ones and the one I would recommend cover nationwide and are www.kidsmatter.uk.com

I think when you are avoiding the agency route you do have to filter through loads of applicants that are not suitable - I put an ad on gumtree when searching for a childminder for my baby and have had many silly replies from people that are not even registered childminders.

I know many families have found me privately as a night nanny then tried to find a full/part time daily nanny through websites and had soooo many responses that were not suitable they have eventually gone to agency but equally some families have been successful in finding nannies through websites.

good luck with search

[CCH181]

We are still looking and am now ready to turn to the agencies. I've interviewed a few nannies I've found off gumtree and nannyjob.co.uk with absolutely no luck. I'm at a complete loss and ready to pay the agency fee now. I've signed up with Norland Nannies and while I know that people have strong views about Norlanders, I think that at the very least, I'm guaranteed a certain level of professionalism and education, which is much more than what I can say about the applicants through Gumtree and other websites. So, my next question is - which agencies do you recommend?

[nannynick]

£3K is a lot of money but I suspect it is the only way to get a Norland Nanny, at least until the nanny decides to register with a different agency.

[ReadMyLips]

We used two agencies: one local and the Norland College agency.

We decided against the Gumtree route as we didn't want to risk leaving our daughter with someone so 'random'.

Our preference was Norland, but we also wanted to give the local one a go to see who they would be able to supply (not least because their fee was far lower).

We wanted to use the Norland Agency as this guarantees a minimum standard of conduct and attitude from the nanny, although of course it totally depends on who the person is, in the end.

Using Norland cost us just shy of £3k, the local one would have been £800, plus VAT.

We found an absolutely superb nanny (via Norland as it happens) and I don't think that we could have spent that money better on anything else.

I am back at work and completely confident about my childcare.

The local agency's approach was to put our job out on Gumtree and I guess that they filtered the respondents. The broader candidate pool would be the same if you did it yourself though and the candidates we interviewed from the local agency were all good quality people.

[HappyHappyNanny]

Are you still looking?

When are you looking for nanny to start?

[Shelds]

Hi

Afraid I've got to agree with lots of other people. The best way is through an agency. Although the fees can be expensive they do save you time and money - advertising for you, checking refs etc. Also there is the guarantee period that gives you a bit of a safety net and they should send a few applicants for you to see to get the right person for your family. The agency is used was Norma Lewis Domestic Staff and Norma was great.... really helped and found us a great Nanny who my kids adore. I tried the gumtree route before an agency and had a few disasters with no one staying for longer than a couple of months.
Good luck

[oldgreybird]

I could write an essay about how to find a good nanny - here are just a few points I have highlighted in answer to your query.

When do you actually need someone to start? How far ahead were you advertising? I am involved in helping parents find childcare and nannies find work and I find that most nannies do not look for work 5 or 6 months ahead of when a job is to start. Most of them do not know that they may be needing work that far ahead. After all most nannies are only on a one month's or 6 weeks notice period.
You should actively start looking about 10 to 12 weeks ahead of yourself. Any longer than that then you risk not attracting any interest or the wrong sort of interest.
And how you write your advert is terribly important. Some parents don't realise how unfriendly and dictatorial their advert can sound. If it is written like a long list of must have this and must have that and there is nothing to make you sound like a warm, friendly and good employer then why would a good nanny want to consider applying? So try and read your advert from the nanny's point of view. Does it need amending and humanising? If so try writing it again.
I know a lot of what I would call mature, 'career' nannies avoid Gumtree as they tell me they or their friends have been contacted by rather strange parents using it! So it is not just parents who criticise it.
Also I have had some mature nannies say they would not consider applying for a job until they have had the chance to have a quick chat on the phone with a parent first to get a feel for whether they like them and if the salary is what the nanny wants. Then they will send their CV and references if they are still interested but not before that.
Very good nannies will always get snapped up even in a competitive market like it is at the moment. They know what they want and they know their worth.
Live-in jobs are not popular, particularly with very experienced nannies. They do not want to live with their employer 24/7 - they want to have a private life away from work and live with their friends or they have their own family and husband/partner.
Another thing which might put off potential applicants is if the job is combining nannying duties with some general household duties like the family laundry and cleaning etc. A nanny's job involves what is called full nursery duties - everything to do with the child. This includes the child's laundry and ironing, changing the cot/bed, preparing and cooking food for the child and cleaning up afterwards, tidying the child's bedroom and play area and toy boxes etc. It is NOT doing general family laundry and ironing, or cooking dinner for you and your husband/partner, or cleaning the bathroom, hoovering the living room, going to Sainsburys etc etc. There are plenty of nannies who will do more of a nanny/housekeeper role but a proper career nanny, is not likely to want to do that.
As for educational level - you will probably find that a lot of British nannies are GCSE or A level standard and a lot of Eastern European girls who have fallen into nannying are degree level.
There are nannies around with lots of experience and no relevant childcare qualifications and conversely nannies who are qualified but without a lot of hands on experience. The ideal is to have someone who is both well qualified and very experienced but they will not be at the lower end of the pay scale.

[Blondeshavemorefun]

agree with gumtree you get tons of useless/no good replies

the ad i put on stated i wanted thur/fri work and stated my area and i would get literally 100's of emails from parents wanting full time nannies/hk/cleaners/jobs that were 200+ miles away etc

[SlightlyTubbyHali]

I'm wary of agencies too.

We're on our third nanny. Our first one was an unmitigated disaster (dishonesty, "sickies" when hungover, mahoosive phone bills of personal calls to Australia etc etc). An agency called me about her, I gave them the run down and they said they would still be recommending her because she had a good reference from a previous babysitting job. Our second nanny was wonderful and registered with a lot of agencies, but only a couple called me for a reference, one just wanted to check I knew her (and asked me no questions). Only one of them asked me the main question that matters (IMO): would you hire this person again?

I can do more thorough checks than that myself and it costs nothing!

[Strix]

I think Nick makes a good point about the ad. Have you targeted the right audience? I also wonder if you are perhaps too picky. You can be too picky. Nannies are real people and there probably is no perfect one. You have to choose what is important to you and what you are prepared to give on. If you are looking for live-in, I would ad greataupair.com to your list. It has lots of au pairs, but also nannies.

When do you need this nanny to start.

As for agencies, I wouldn't touch them with a ten foot pole, personally... unless you consider a couple of grand to be pocket change you don't mind parting with.

[drinkyourmilk]

Many career nannies won't consider a position that doesn't advertise the salary - I would consider resubmitting your ad with this included. It's not unusual to give both live-in and live-out salary.