How far in advance for nanny share? Family or nanny first?

[Klaska]

I'm going back to work in August 2011 and would like to find a nanny share in my area (near Camden in London) for (probably) 3 days a week for my daughter (who will be 12 months then). How far in advance do I need to start looking for a nanny share? Is it like nurseries - as as far in advance as possible - or more like a notice period of 2-3 months?

Also - any thoughts on whether it's best to find a family first and then interview together, or easier to find a family with a nanny looking to share?

Thanks in advance!

I would suggest that the best place to start is by finding a family to share the nanny with. This will probably be the hardest part! If i were you, I?d start looking for a family now and once you've found one (and agreed on the finer details of how the nanny share will work), you can start looking for a nanny!

Good luck
Sally :)

can i ask...

do you want a family to be using nanny at the same time as you, ie nanny caring for 2 children at a time? OR do you want a nanny who works for you 3 days, and anotehr family for the other 2 days?

If you want you child cared for alongside another child, i suggest you find a family who want to share with you 1st...
but if you want a nanny 3 days, and her have another family for the rest of the time, then look for nanny 1st...
you never know, nanny may only want to work for 3 days.

As a nanny i would never consider a job without meeting all children and parents first!

I have just gone into a nanny share.
I started with the main family in jan 2011. mum did mention in the interview about maybe looking for a share i didnt have any probs with that.
She already had a profile on nannyshare.co.uk and we had two families interested by the 3rd week of jan.
I work 3 days for the main family and the share comes 2 days out of the 3.
So for us is was quite quick, id suggest you set up a profile on nannyshare and see if you can find a family.
Good luck

I agree with nannyl - if you want a simultaneous share then family first, because it's important you know where the share will take place, how much you're prepared to pay etc.

If you find the nanny first you risk a share who definitely want it at their place all the time, but it's not convenient for nanny because it her commute a nightmare, or will only contribute £6/hour, which if you're 50/50 limits your budget to £12/hour and you'd already agreed a higher salary etc. Or they absolutely need an OFSTED reg nanny and your nanny isn't so they'd need to wait for the process to go through. Basically it's easier all round if you negotiate the share arrangement and offer the job then rather than try to change the t&cs to fit in with potential sharers.

If, however, you want a 3+2 arrangement you may find a nanny with a 2 day job who wants a 3 day one or someone who only wants to work 3 days.

Thanks so much for this advice! I have now signed up to nannyshare.co.uk and thenannysharers.co.uk. I think I was imagining something like a family with school age children who wanted to keep their nanny when the youngest went to school, so my LO wd have the nanny during the day and then the advantage of older kids around later afternoon and sharing the cost. I'd heard of that scenario once working really well but I now realise there are loads of different variations on sharing!

What about how far in advance to look? 2 months? More?

at least 2 months +

I have normally changed my long term jobs in september (when youngest current child started school) and have always had my new job sorted signed and sealed by June...