How soon should I start looking for a new nanny position?

[ConfusedPixie]

Asking well ahead of time!

I have two jobs, one I will definitely be made redundant from when toddler goes to nursery in September, but the parents would ideally like me to carry on until Christmas gradually reducing my hours.

My other job may come to an end in September, may not, it's looking after three older children on Thurs/Fris, two of whom are at school part-time currently (staggered intake until year 2 I think) and the third is autistic and not ready for school, which is why it may be ending in September as we don't yet know if he'll be ready. Bosses are great and have already said that they're happy to be flexible about one of my days if another job needs it though I'd rather avoid it as I enjoy having them the days that I do.

But I was wondering when I should start looking for a new job really, obviously I don't want to start too soon only to discover that MBoss in job one wants me to stay longer, but then I don't want to start too late and end up with little coming in for two/three months whilst I'm trying to find another job. But I found these two jobs within a couple of weeks of advertising and started job 1 the week after the interview! So I don't want to be in a situation where I have to turn down a job because I haven't finished with current jobs. I also don't know how long I'll be in job 2 either hopefully for a few years because I adore them and losing job 1 charge will be hard enough!

I also don't know whether I'd go down the childcare.co.uk route again or try the nanny agencies again (they wouldn't offer me work due to lack of experience before, but by September I would have nearly 2 years in current two jobs, a 3-month position before that and a year long position in 2008)

Do you start looking well ahead for a nanny or nannying position? Or wait until the month before or so? What avenues do you use? Agencies or websites?

I think jobs for September will start being advertised in the summer, June/July maybe. There are usually lots of new jobs starting in September, but fewer as you head towards Christmas, so I'd be wary about working reduced hours up until Christmas and then looking. Maybe you could find a job starting late September/early October and reduce your hours over 4-6 weeks, rather than 3 months.

I would think that your 2 day job would know by the summer whether their youngest is ready for school or not, so you should know by June/July whether you need 3 days or 5 days.

I've always found good jobs through Gumtree, although I've been in my job 5 years now, so haven't looked in a while. I think you do get a lot of rubbish ads and probably not great if you're not in London. I have nanny friends who always use agencies, but tbh they've had a real mixed-bag of jobs. Childcare.co.uk has been good for some of them. I have one friend who has never used an agnecy or answered an ad, but has found all her jobs through word of mouth and has always had jobs she's enjoyed.

If I were looking now I'd probably look myself, including at agency websites and only apply to an agency if they had a job I liked the look of, they put most of their job online anyway.

Thanks outraged :)

Yeah, 2 day job will know by then, though being honest it looks like he won't be ready by September, which is both sad and good for me! On one hand it'd be lovely if he could attend school, on the other, I lose the job when he does and the three of them are lovely!

I will look at reducing hours over a shorter time span then. I was hoping to find a job that started with less hours and increased which would go perfectly (it's how my 3-day a week job started) and I got asked to interview for one doing that a few weeks back! Wrong time unfortunately! But if my chances of getting a job are improved nearer to September then I'll go at it that way.

I don't think I'll get a 5-day-job here tbh, most down here are part time so it would be more about finding a pair of part time jobs that fit one another, but that isn't too difficult down here being honest. I've had quite a few enquiries about working afternoons Monday-Wednesday (I currently only work mornings) so there is plenty available split through the day too if it comes to that.

I'd also start keeping an eye out from June time. If you have the possibility to gradually reduce and you don't have anything that's great but you can always give notice if you find a job to start Setember.

I'd use both agencies and websites. Most agencies put their jobs on nannyjob anyway....

Like others have said if you did ideally want a job from September then start looking early summer onwards when most of September start jobs would be advertised. Talking from experience I ended my last job in October it took two and a half months of job searching to I finally found a job. So as you know in advance what is likely to happen after the summer re your job I would defentilly start looking properly the start of the summer.

Thanks :) I had a chat with my boss today and they've just discovered that charge's nursery doesn't do afternoons, so it looks like I may end up staying if MBosses workload stays the way it is :) But I've told her that I'm going to start looking in June preferably for a gradual start job from September however I'll have to fill if I can't find one and she's okay with that thankfully. So we'll see what happens now. Thanks again :)

If nursery does not do afternoons, you may find that your hours may change (by mutual agreement) so that you start at midday. I quite like starting at midday then working into the evening.

Nannynick: that's what I'm hoping will happen, but it's all dependant on if mboss gets work and if dboss's job changes as that is due to happen too. I do prefer mornings but this job is four hours so I'll be done by evening still!