Has anyone else found it hard to get mindees?

[littlewillows]

Is there anyone else out there who found it hard to get mindees. I'm extremly experienced childcarer with over 25 years experience, but I have no children of my own and I think this may give parents worries. I would love to know if anyone is having trouble. Any advise?.

The equires have dried up its the first time in 8 yrs i will have a space

I have been on here under another name for 10 years, so a regular poster on the childcare boards.

For the first time in 25 years I have vacancies too. The nature of way people work has changed over the last year in particular.

People are not looking for full time spaces now, they want 2 or 3 days as grandparents are doing a day and parents seem to be doing 5 days in 4,-flexible working to cut the cost of childcare.

I used to have a waiting list and at least 2-3 enquiries a day. On childcare.co.uk no one has looked at me for 2 weeks! I would normally be filling vacancies for Jan 2013, but people are really leaving it to the last minute as they don't want to pay retainer fees or deposits.

I have 3 going off to school in mid July, so no income over the summer, I have been term time only, but will have to look at all options now.

I run a vacancy register locally, parent demand use to outstrip c/m supply by at least 3 or 4 to one. We are all chasing the same enquiries.

It's dire, income down. costs up by 30% according to my accounts.

I have found the opposite. I am newly registered and only work part-time, term-time only. I am turning down a couple of children a week at the moment. There definitely seems to be a lack of childminders in my area though, plus, as has been said above, a lot of people are looking for part-time care, which suits me. I haven't had a single enquiry for full time if that is what you are looking for. Most of my enquiries have come through people I know at my children's school, so I imagine without that kind of network it would be trickier.

Hi I have just closed my setting but was full and lots of enquiries till last day.

In south Birmingham, could it be a regional thing? Charges?? Mine was £3.00 per hour which is standard here so we cheaper than local nurseries.

Op I can't imagine your having no children could put off clIents, wouldn't put me off at all.

I started up as a Childminder in February and have got 4 kids on my books pretty quickly, I've had to turn a couple away as well. The only problem with you not having kids is you don't have access to a potential pool of 'customers' - all of my mindees are in the same school as my own children. I think people are often inclined to use a childminder they feel they know a little bit, the fact that parents know or at least recognise me from the school gate works in my favour I think. Where have you been advertising?

I advertise on childcare.co.uk,and I get regularly looked at, so recently I.ve changed profile. but i live to far from most parents. They all want someone near work or house. I live in a town that has 14 cm, neighbouring town 33cm
and over 20 cm's in the other neighbouring town. So competition is high.

Little willow, can u sort of see what they are offering and offer different stuff, tbh with no children I think you would be preferred as dont have commitments in that area I.e your child sick or school run needs.

Can u undercut other cms??

At our school, after school care is hard to come by. There is an afterschool club but it is full, and children who go there 5 days a week get bored with being in the same setting. I think there could be money in offering after-school care only. (I charge £5 per hour so could be earning £90 for 3 hours work.) I can't do it because of my own children and their after school activities, but for someone without children I think it could be a good option. Maybe ask your local school if you can put an ad in their newsletter? After-school children could gain you younger sibling mindees once the parents get to know you?

Have you tried registering as an emergency childcarer with your local authority or on childcare websites. I am on emergencychildcare.co.uk and a couple of times a short "emergency" booking has resulted in an enquiry for longer hours. Not having your own children and not being too full actually works in your favour when parents are looking for an immediate place or for someone to have 2 or 3 siblings. HTH.

Another suggestion - if you see somebody advertising for a nanny, ring them anyway and sell your services - maybe even offer to help out while they are looking (I do that if I am quiet). Chances are they may decide to stick with you or at least pass on your name. If people think they want a nanny because they are concerned about a CM having own kids to look after, they may be happy to settle for a CM without children, but not imagine that there are any around.

I charge £50 a day and have been turning people away. I think these days not having your own children may be less of a put off for people than not having your own website. None of mine are at school - all my enquiries have come through childcare.co.uk. My website address is on my childcare.co.uk profile. It's very easy to set up a free blog-based website - people who've come to me have said that they really like being able to read more about my approach, the activities we do, a sample menu, that sort of thing, before they get in touch. The other advantage is that they can get in touch directly without having to pay the monthly fee on childcare.co.uk.

I'm finding it impossible to find a childminder. There is only a limited number who do pick ups from DS's new school and none work 5 days a week or past 5pm (I work til 5.30 on other side of town)
It seems I live in a part of town where very few households have two full time working parents and I've been told 'there is no call for us to extend our hours' ( um but I'm asking).
The only option in this area is to hire a FT nanny (there aren't any part time ones) and I can't afford nor justify that expense.
I really don't know what I'm going to do it is causing many sleepless nights.

Zuleika - that's interesting. Do you have to pay childcare.co.uk to put your web address on, or can it be done on the free profile? I keep getting messages that people have looked at my profile, but no contact through it - I'm guessing because neither myself, nor the parents, want to pay anything....

Agree with others who have said it's been getting quieter recently. I've not had many spaces over the last few years and any I have had have been filled very quickly and well in advance of the space being available. I now have 2 spaces for September and have been advertising them for a good few months and hardly had any calls but then suddenly since Tuesday I've had 7 enquiries so maybe people are leaving it until nearer the time to start looking these days. I agree that more and more parents are relying on help from their own parents so many don't want full time (which suits me as don't work Fridays!), when I started 7 years ago, most enquiries were for full time so things have definitely changed.

I must say having a website does help so if you have one (sounds like you do), try and get that on as many places as possible and help it get high up on Google if possible. Lots of my enquiries are googling 'childminder in..... or '. I don't pay for childcare.co.uk as I think it's a lot of money but I have been sneaky and added wording in my listing that would make any person with half a brain know exactly what my website is .

Try and use the fact you have no children as a selling point. I must admit though the downside of you not having any is that you having got the networking side going. Can you borrow a child to help a friend and go to the odd toddler group with? Just a thought as would get your face known.

Have you tried advertising on Netmums?

I'll try and find my old Advertising tips post and bump it up for you. Some may not be valid now as it's a long time ago that I started that but you never know.

Good luck :)

Have bumped 2 threads that may possibly be useful.

Must go now as got a few things to do before a family come round to meet me plus I MUST get on with some coursework!!! Good luck :)

Runout - putting your web address in is part of the free profile. I get nearly all my contacts directly so I'd guess that an awful lot of parents don't want to pay the childcare.co.uk fees. It really is very easy to do - just go to Wordpress (wordpress.com) and click on Get Started to create a new blog. It lets you choose a page template so there's no design involved. You can add pages where you talk about what you do, add a photo of yourself and your setting, some activities (obviously not photos of mindees) and put your email address. You can add your vacancy information, prices etc. Anything you like. Wordpress gives you your own URL in the format www.wordpress.{whatever you want to call it}.com. I really think it makes a huge difference and sets you apart from a lot of the CMs on childcare.co.uk.

ZuleikaD - that's really helpful, thanks. Will get on to it!

Wow littlewillows, that's a lot of competition. How well do you know the other childminders? I'd try and find out a bit more about them and the services they offer, see if you can differentiate a bit. Find out if there's a gap in the market. I think with all those other childminders you're going to have to think very carefully about WHAT you're advertising/what you say in your adverts if you're going to stand out from all the others.

I rung up a childminder the other day in preparation for September when I go back to uni. When I said I would need roughly 3 days she wasn't very interested. I find childminders only want full time children so am thinking of just using a nursery instead. Shame really but when my older children were young my cm dumped us as we only did 5 mornings 8-1 and not full time. I wouldn't want to start her somewhere only to find a few months later she is dumped for a full time child.

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone, I.ve wrote down all your ideas.
I'll let you know, what happens. Good luck to you all.

Just to point out that although you can put your website on childcare.co.uk for free, this is not able to be seen by a parent unless THEY have paid and can click on that info. You are not allowed to add it to the text on the advert either as (of course) they want you to pay the monthly fee.

fluffygal - that's awful. We're all different and I DON'T want full time but regardless, I'd only take on work that I was happy to stick with and would never dump anyone just because something better came along. I hate those who do stuff like that as gives us a bad name!

I agree with you looneytunes, I wouldn't turn any children away. Where was that cm's compassion. Most parents only want 2 or 3 days.