Advertising for a position, or looking for childcare?

[IceTheChristmasKateMumsnet]

Hi everyone,

We're just starting this thread to let you know about the best way to use Mumsnet, if you're a childminder, au pair or nanny, or are looking for one of these.

As mentioned up there ^ in our talk header, this board is for discussion about childcare issues, not a place to advertise.

Our lovely new shiny Mumsnet Local site has a listing section devoted to childcare, so if your looking to advertise your services, you can add yourself here for free!

Here's how do that:

FIND YOUR MUMSNET LOCAL SITE

Go to local.mumsnet.com, and log in. You will see a large map of the UK. You can choose your local area by clicking on the name. This will bring up a list of place names on the right hand side. Choose the appropriate place from this list. This will bring you to the Local homepage for that area.

ADD YOUR LISTING
Once you've got to the right Mumsnet Local site, click on the large pink button on the top right of the page that says 'Add a listing' and enter the relevant details under the right section. Be warned that there is a word limit, so please keep your info nice and succinct.

If you're looking for childcare, you can browse these listings, and contact people through the local site.

By using your Mumsnet local site, you can connect directly with people in your area, and probably get a better response, rather than spamming the talk boards (where your post will probably get reported and deleted!)

Thanks for reading, and good luck!

Yes, I agree, but I wish it did have enough traffic! Sifting through those threads, it's so unlikely that people will be near enough to me to make it relevant.
And I really don't like all these findwhateverchildcare.co.uk variants where you can get search results from zillions of ads and then have to pay 25 quid just to send two tiny messages to the two who are near enough to you, available, sound good etc. 50p per message I'd be fine with; some nominal fee that reflects the actual use I make of the site, but of course that's not how these things work.
This is something MN really should be able to do! I even resort to the dreaded NM for this kind of thing because at least there you don't get fleeced just to send a message. But it's not MN :( Sigh.

Couldn't agree more with the comments above. Absolutely no traffic on local MN and as we are on the edge of an area it is impossible to draw in people from just the other side - too localised. Allow one thread to have jobs/people looking to advertise otherwise we'll all be off to different sites. And I really don't want to. PLEASE LISTEN TO ALL THE FEEDBACK

Have HQ not come back and responded to this yet? I agree with everyone else and think I'll try and get MNHQ to read this!

Have reported my post with a message

@looneytune

Have HQ not come back and responded to this yet? I agree with everyone else and think I'll try and get MNHQ to read this!

Thanks for the nudge here. We will look properly asap

Thanks again

Thanks :) I know you guys are very busy, just thought you probably wouldn't know about the feedback so wanted to 'nudge' you like you said

What about a sub section? I personally don't want it in the main but because it then becomes difficult to find the real threads but think a separate but is a good compromise.

We used to have 2 threads on the go, one called something like 'Parents looking for childcare' and the other something like 'Childminders/Nannies with vacancies', these 2 threads did not mess up the main section as was simply those 2 threads. People could use it or not use it, I used it lots and although yes there were loads of us on there, it helped by putting out local area in bold for fast scrollers to see. I know this worked well for quite a few childcarers and parents and don't see what harm those threads did? Fine to have the local section too for those who want to use that but I personally wouldn't as not enough traffic.

Hi is the lady still available as I'm looking for a childminder.

Hi there, I am looking for a nanny to look after my 14 month old in the North Oxfordshire area. No idea where to start! Help...!

Totally agree with what's been said above. Mumsnet local is quite dead, and we're off to Gumtree. Please reconsider.

And how do you keep the pages tidy after you have the word ANAL there, my dear moderators?

hello,i am just looking for a childminderfor my 6 mth old daughter in Bexley and Bexleyheath areas. any recommendation pls?

We're in Bournemouth and the Mumsnet Local site is practically dead :(. We've tried childcare.co.uk to find a childminder but after a few leads we've been told to upgrade our subscription (£20 a month) to carry on emailing potential childminders :(
We are brand new to this and I'm finding the whole process quite depressing. We have found one or two childminders but they have both asked for a minimum of £100 a month retention for the months between now and when we need them to start. Is this even usual?
Think you are missing a trick here Mumsnet.
Guess it's back to Yellow Pages!

To reserve a space with a childminder or a nursery a retention fee is usual. Otherwise they could sell the space to someone else.

For a list of registered childminders in your area contact your local council Family Information Service.

Bournemouth FIS online search - not all providers will be listed online. There is a phone number on the site for contacting the council should you need it.

Hello!

Right - so sorry we've taken an age to look at this properly.

Here's what we think: obvs, in an ideal world you'll all start using MN Local to list either your vacancy or your services.

But we take your point that being able to list things here is useful too.

We don't want to give a complete green light to childcare providers to list their availability here. We know our lovely regulars/genuine users will play by the spirit of the rules, but experience tells us that spammy interlopers would not - and we'd end up completely overrun.

But, going forward, we think it's fine for parents/carers to use this board to say that they are looking for someone, and for childcare providers to answer that post, so long as it is a genuine response to that particular request, and not a general 'here is an advertisement for my services' post.

So, for eg, if Poster A asks for childcarers in Bolton, and Poster B rocks up advertising their nannying services in Edinburgh, that post will probably get deleted.

Does that make sense? And sound OK?

And if you could all go and list/post in Local as well as doing this, we really would love you for ever

Wow. It's taken almost a year and a half for MN to respond to people's feedback. Bit late, don't you think?! Looks like you may have missed the boat somewhat.

Does that make sense? And sound okay?

I can see that having taken so long to ponder it might be a bit embarrassing NOT to suggest some sort of change, but I honestly can't see what was wrong with the two threads that were on here before. I think that is much less messy than having a load of individual threads seeking childcare. I think leaving it as it was would make more sense and be more okay.