Advice on how to find a (wonderful) nanny!

[LondonBridgeMum]

Hi

I am a first time mum, due to go back to work in a couple of months. We have tried to find a nanny for our 6 month baby (sole charge) through word of mouth and recommendation but not had much luck. We started a few conversations with potential candidates but have been very disappointed so far. What advice do you have on the best way to go about this ...

• Through an agency? It seems very expensive but probably finds good candidates?
• If we use an agency, which are the best/ most reliable? (for central London)
• Are there any good websites to use where I can post an ad to find a nanny? Someone recommended gumtree but it just seems so general and wide reaching

It's tough enough going back to work - any advice would help!

nannyjob.co.uk

almost all nannies actively job hunting look there.
also childcare.co.uk

Good Luck.

IMO all nannies who are actively job hunting check nannyjob, so you wont be missing out on the nannies registered with agencies as they all look there aswell. + it will save you 4 figures of fees

We have had 2 nannies ever and both were recruited through an agency. To be honest, we did try gumtree and nannyjob candidates too, but they just weren't as good overall. I don't know why.

We liked Eden Nannies and Imperial but not Tinies (I would not touch them again with a bargepole, they seemed interested in just the money). it is very expensive but worked well for us both times. Where are you by the way? I know of a very good nanny who is looking for work.

Try Simplychildcare.co.uk - nannies looking for work post there and you can post an advert but miles cheaper than an agency!

Thanks for the advice! LittleOneMum we are in London bridge, so central London.

LondonBridgeMum, would you consider a nanny with own child? My best friend is looking in your area (London Bridge would be perfect for her) and she has a 6mo old little boy. She is very highly qualified and has worked in several nanny shares so is adept at handling two. I am of course biased because shes my best friend so I automatically think shes amazing, and I know NWOC is something some parents wouldnt consider but if you think it could work let me know!

When I first looked into getting into nannying last year I realised that there isn't really a difference between joining with an agency or not but the employers have to pay more. I'm the third nanny the family I currently work for and they say that they have prefered me over the two agency nannies they hired (,and fired) previously.
I'd reccommend childcare.co.uk. Its free to join but you can't contact potential nannies. But other parents I know who have hired off the site say they liked it as the keen nannies al had subscriptions to the site so they could contact the parents showing Their seriousness towards the position.

My friend is looking for a position in Central London, if you pm me your email, I will ask her to forward you her CV. I, and also all her previous families,can trully recommend her, she is great and has plenty of experience with this age group. Her prev family (stayed with them for nearly 2 years) moved out of London at the end of April and she is just about to register herself with agencies to find a new position.

I found both our recent nannies though nannyjob, there are a heck of a lot of people on there who aren't suitable at all, but you have to wade through a lot of unsuitables to find a brilliant one. You will find one, but have an open mind... for example a nanny with her own child as superduper suggested might be brilliant so don't be put off. Our current nanny has a dd 2 weeks older than our dd and they get on so brilliantly it's wonderful. Ds goes to preschool most afternoons so I was worried dd would be a bit left out, but with our nanny's dd she has someone to play with.

I would also keep an open mind about age too. I interviewed some brilliant nannies who were out side our original age range (either very young or much older) but for various logistical reasons we weren't able to offer the job to.

Be prepared to interview lots of nannies, you'll know almost immediately when the right one turns up, it's just so obvious. Both the nannies we employed were immediately at ease with the dcs, sat on the floor with them and started playing with toys and were very comfortable answering ds's millions of questions.

I wouldn't bother with an agency personally. I was quoted prices in the region of £1000-£1400 which I thought was bonkers, I'd much rather spend that money on my nanny than a silly agency!

I have been a nanny for 20 years and have always used agencies, it gives me piece of mind as they make sure that both parties are happy.
You can try www.anauk.org, they have members in London and they have to follow codes of practice.
They will also narrow down the candidates by offering you the most compatable nannies, I know you pay a fee but it's worth it to make sure you have piece of mind.

Ana code of practice does not prohibit agencies from advertising jobs as a Net wage. Least it didn't last time I looked at it. Does ANA now prohibit their members talking net wages? Talking net does not help parents, as parents have to pay a gross salary to their nanny, pay employers NI and make tax and ni deductions from the nannies gross pay.

If agencies only talked Gross wages, nannies who don't already understand Gross wages will soon get the idea. If ANA wants to make a difference, prohibiting advertising of Net wages is the way to go in my view - get nannying out of the Victorian era. Professional nannies want to be paid just like other employees.

agree Nick

In 10 years i have NEVER had net in my contract.... has not always been easy to pursade parents to agree a gross wage though, though i have always got gross into contract.

It's so odd this whole gross/net thing because just about every nanny on here says they only talk in terms of gross salaries, and yet every nanny I've interviewed has talked in terms of net.

That's because the ones on here have been indoctrinated are enlightened.

Those nannies have been told about net by someone though - not their parents, as in any other job salary is quoted Gross. So agencies and other nannies are the only people talking Net. If agencies stopped, then those nannies who don't already talk Gross will in my view start to use Gross. Won't know though unless agencies stop talking Net, advertising jobs as Net Per Week, Net Per Hour etc.

aahh frak... that's it then. My current nanny talked only of gross salaries but she's Polish so maybe they don't know about net salaries over there.

My top piece of advice is to be prepared to interview (in person and by phone) loads and loads of unsuitable candidates in order to find the one you click with - allow yourself lots of time and don't get dispirited if you have lots of bad interviewees (or your first selection turns you down). The advantage of an agency is that they shouldn't send you any complete no-hopers, but you pay a lot of money for that weeding out service.
You have to be fussy, you have to be sure, and someone who is perfect for one family may not be right for you.

To be fair we're a pretty eclectic bunch of nannies on here and most of us who jump in feet first at every opportunity have had jobs outside of nannying so find the whole net thing slightly bizarre to start with.

A lot more nannies are getting to grips with gross though, especially with the recent big change in the personal allowance.

Most job adverts, until recently, quoted any nanny salary as net, regardless of whether it was through an agency or a private ad. I still think the problem stems from the agencies as that's where parents look for inspiration before composing their own ad, and once you get into a mindset of knowing how much you get net (and you trust your employer to take care of all the tax/NI business so it doesn't affect you) then it's hard to see why you'd change. What benefit is there to you knowing how much tax/NI you're going to pay if it'll be on your payslip anyway? And therefore what's the big difference having after tax instead of before in your contract (which is an option on the published ANA contract, so I'm really not convinced they're leaders in the fight against net) if you end up with the same anyway?

Also whilst most of us insist on a gross figure in the contract we may well still talk net at interview because that's the figure parents have in their head. Personally I don't because when I graduated I got into the habit of telling the parents I had a student loan (which is a deduction so if they'd done a reverse calculation I'd end up more expensive) and therefore insisting they talked gross, which is a habit I've never kicked!

You're so right dilys. I even found the interviewing process really useful for working out in my head what was important and what was not. Things written down on paper can be very different in practice, ie 20 years experience doesn't necessarily mean someone is perfect for you.