Where do I even begin to start looking for a nanny??

[PacificDogwood]

I am clueless, please help!

Since the arrival of DS4 14 months ago, if has gradually become increasingly clear that a nanny for 3 days/wk would meet our childcare needs/wants better than the current arrangement with a (lovely) CM, much as I will be sad to 'lose' her.

So, where do we start: agency/ad in local paper/notice in the window of the papershop??

And is there actually any self-respecting nanny out there who will take on 4 insane lively boys aged 8 and younger?? Does it cost more for more children??

Gawd, even writing this down makes me feel even more clueless...Any advice/pointers from nannies or families employing a nanny would be most appreciated.

And should Giraffes read this, (or if anybody knows under what guise she hangs out these days could you point her in this direction, please?), did you not mention a friend who might be interested in us a (long) while ago? I really like the idea of a personal recommendation...

Thank you for having even read this far .

Suppose it depends on how many people there are around who would want the job. Is the agency based in the same location as you are, or near by. Would it be the natural place for a local-ish nanny to register with?

Tinies Scotland Job Search - looks like they list jobs as Net or Negotiable. Neither is desirable in my view... make sure you are happy about how they would advertise the job.

A fixed fee can be good. However is that payable in advance? What happens if they don't find you someone within a set period of time? Is there anything in the small print, such as 'sole agent' type agreement?

Registering with more than one agency can result in two agencies sending you the same applicant. That can make things tricky.

Are you in a hurry to find someone? If not, then try one agency... see how it goes.

Can't believe no-one has mentioned The Lady yet.

Possibly because it isn't used these days

Nannies - any of you look for jobs in The Lady?

@ The Lady - we are in the Provinces, you know!

Nick, the guy I spoke to was talking about gross pay and then used a handy table (which he has now also sent me by e-mail) to figure out how much that would be net. And yes, the Glasgow Tinies is quite local to us. Good point about how long they would advertise etc. I am not in a huge hurry, so will probably wait and see. I really want to give my current CM as much notice as possible as I suspect that her income is the bulk of her family's income . Giraffe said good things about GCCS, but they did not get back to me today. Sigh.

PAYE Calculator by MrAnchovy is a great tool to use. It will do Gross to Net and Net to Gross. However, you have to know the taxcode of your employee. You won't know that until they start. Which is why agencies in my view should not advertise jobs as Net, as they don't know what tax code the candidate has.

Never agree a Net wage rate... keep that in mind. Make sure when it comes to the contract, that it states Gross wage, not Net.

On a side note, how do you know the ads on Gumtree are valid? Some have so little information, I'd rather not send a CV. I've had scammers contact me that way before now... What do you look for as a "tell" that the advertiser is genuine?

Little example of why Gross salary:

Say the candidate wants £300 Net per week
Their tax code is 747L
Total cost to employer: £21,250 per year

Their taxcode is BR
Total Cost to employer: £23,752 per year

Their taxcode is 747L but they have a student loan
Total Cost to employer: £22,036 per year

HMRC:Tax Codes

purplepidjin - I don't think there is a way to tell. Approach all with caution, contact them and start discussions and get a feel for if it seems genuine. Obtain address details, check it on Google Street View (or even better in person) to confirm it's a real location.
Restrict personal information on a CV being sent via e-mail. If they really need things like full date of birth (why do they need that?) then that could be supplied when meeting in person.

I'm a nanny in Scotland (ayrshire), most of the nannies I know are earning between £8-£10 per hour gross. Part time seems to lean more towards the £10 per hour.

I know of 2 nannies that are very likely to be looking for new jobs around Aug/Sep time.

Glasgow tinies must be relatively new, I only remember one in Edinburgh, which seemed to cover the whole of scotland,

Thanks all, again.

I feel I have stalled: got lots of information, but now need to come off the fence and actually invite some CVs.

GCCS have not been back to me....

Have you created a job description yet? May help to focus what you need the nanny to be able to do, working times and days, that sort of thing. Also have you calculated what salary you can offer someone?

You don't want CVs, you want applicants who meet your minimum requirements and who are prepared to work the days for the money on offer. You may only get one applicant... which is fine, as they could well be the best nanny for you. An agency should not send you lots of CVs, they should be making sure the nanny is suitable for the position and willing to consider the job, then contacting you to tell you about the nanny and if you like the sound of them arranging an interview. They may well bring a CV with them to the interview, or send one via e-mail but it's not the main thing you want... you want to find people who are interested in the job, who meet the person specification.

Oh, poo, just lost a long post.

nick, yes, I do have a job description. Bare bones really, mainly as the required hours are pretty much set in stone so anybody who cannot manage the required hours/days really does not need to apply. I have seen local on-line nanny joboffers for 6-7£/hr which just seems ludicrously low . I know this is not London, but still... We can offer £9/hr gross for 30 hr week which should include doing the family washing, not just the kids' (I never quite saw the point in that). Ironing/light housekeeping could be included, but I feel with 4 charges nanny is likely to be kinda busy.

I spoke to GCCS today, their fees are higher, but they offer a home visit and more longer term support after hiring of a nanny though them. I have yet to digest their bamf properly.

The ads you have seen may be Net - so could be similar to your Gross figure.
With 4 children, probably won't be much time for Ironing... though chucking things in the washing machine should be fine - at work I just do whatever needs doing, can't see point in separating out children's washing from adults.

You really need to see if you can contact nannies who are in Scotland to ask them how they go about finding jobs. Problem is, I would doubt that there are that many nannies working in Scotland - jobs do seem thin on the ground up there (NannyJob is currently listing 10 nanny jobs in the entire of Scotland).

I know loads of nannies, 10 in mine and local 2 streets alone. If you want to meet up for a coffee and a chat then happy to help. You know where I am :)

Great to hear there are really loads of nannies in Scotland. Wonder where they find the jobs - finding that out would probably be of help to Pacific. NannyJob doesn't list many jobs in Scotland, so maybe that's not where nannies look for work.

Nannynick in my experience most nannies, in Scotland, tend to find jobs through word of mouth. Some areas have quite a large nanny community, usually if there is a local private school.

I tend to look in local newspapers, gumtree, childcare.co.uk and nannyjob

Right, so I posted an ad on Childcare.co.uk last night, gave my little used secondary hotmail address as a reply address (as it does not identify me by name)... and then couldn't remember my password, tried so often that hotmail have chucked me out, mailed them to reset my password and have just now accidently deleted their reply e-mail - wail!!!

I will try again.

I know a number of people who have always emloyed nannies, certainly Edinburgh seems to be full of nannies and their charges .

My neighbour who is a retired lady had a cleaning lady from the village when she was first married who then morphed into her nanny while her children were little, stayed on as a housekeeper-type-person, and most recently helped my neighbour nurse her dying husband. She was/is a gem (she's not dead, but neighbour moved away and said gem is now quite elderly).

That's the kind of person I need . If only I could bake one...