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Discuss everything related to paid childcare here, including childminders, nannies, nurseries and au pairs.

Is anyone else struggling to find a full time job?!

39 replies

IHopeYouStepOnALegoPiece · 26/02/2013 12:48

My current nanny position will come to an end at the end of the summer after 5 years (5! Yeesh!)

Thought I'd start looking for jobs just to see when its like and I know it's early in the year to look for one but I can't find anything! I'm concerned!!

Argh!!

Am in London btw!

OP posts:
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catmadcaz · 26/02/2013 18:46

I feel your concern. I finished my last nanny postion in August 2012 had a holiday and a bit of a break and then started to look for another position.

Am still looking!

I am also in London NW.

Most jobs are part time so I would need to get two positions. Nightmare trying to find 2 jobs that fit in.

The other problem is the amount of nannies who apply for each job, when there are so few positions.

I have started to look at non nanny jobs now!

IHopeYouStepOnALegoPiece · 26/02/2013 19:22

I'm in Nw5! We may become rivals Wink

I had a nanny share for a short while but it just didn't work as the families where 30mins from each other so whoever came to pick up from the others house, ended up with tired and fed up children! Am happy to do a nanny share/2 part timers but its would HAVE to work so welland be timed so right that it just wouldn't work iygwim

My current family have said I can stay and work part time from Sept until I find something but I can't got from working 60hpw to 16!

OP posts:
ConfusedPixie · 26/02/2013 21:55

Same here! My 3day a week job is ending in September and the future of my 2day job is uncertain so I'm browsing both part and full time right now.

I am really panicking. Nobody wants to employ a nanny down here (Brighton), I'm happy to mash two part time jobs together again but every ad is asking for a SEmployed nanny, which I will not do! Or wanting to pay min wage if not less, which I cannot afford to live on! It's a fucking joke. I am seriously hoping that some contacts I've made through my current job will come through and they suddenly decide they want a three day a week nanny, or I'm just going to have to leave nannying :(

IHopeYouStepOnALegoPiece · 17/03/2013 23:40

Argh! The hunt is not going well!

OP posts:
drinkyourmilk · 18/03/2013 06:19

I think that you are looking too early for the end of the summer.

AndBingoWasHisNameOh · 18/03/2013 10:41

Are you not finding jobs to apply for or are you applying and being interviewed but not getting the job? If the latter have you asked for feedback?

Blondeshavemorefun · 18/03/2013 15:14

weirdly enough there are quite a few 5 day jobs in blondesland, but i want ideally 3 , dont mind 4, but not 5

very surprised there arent lots of 5 day jobs in london

hope you find one soon :)

MiTran · 18/03/2013 17:03

HI

IHOPEYOUSTEPONALEGOPIECE AND CATMADCAZ, I AM IN THE SAME PREDICAMENT, MY LAST POSITION ENDED LAST YEAR JULY DUE TO UNFAIR DISMISSAL, AND SINCE THEN I AM STILL LOOKING, THERE ARE THOSE FULL TIME AND PART TIME POSITIONS POSTED UP ON GUMTREE REGULARY (WHICH IS WORTH A TRY) BUT FOR ME, SINCE JULY I HAVE ATTENDED OVER 20 INTERVIEWS, EVEN GOT TO THE STAGES OF A TRIAL, BUT HAVE NOT BEEN SUCCESSFUL, ITS NOT LIKE I ONLY JUST STARTED NANNYING, I HAVE WORKED IN CHILDCARE ALL MY LIFE, BUT I DON'T KNOW WHAT IT IS,...

I'VE BEEN OUT OF WORK FOR 9 ,MONTHS NOW.

MiTran · 18/03/2013 17:03

OH... AND I LIVE IN LONDON TOO.. W10

TheSeventhHorcrux · 18/03/2013 17:30

Oh my god, tell me about it!
I have basically been searching for the last 12 months for a permenant full time position and its just no use!
I've been with a few families but I must attract the crazy ones... I was just fired from my last "permenant" position, for taking 2 days off because I dislocated my knee and was in a cast from foot to hip!

I'm pulling my hair out and could cry! There are NO jobs, nanny or non-nanny.

IHopeYouStepOnALegoPiece · 18/03/2013 18:33

There just aren't jobs to apply for!

I've got 9y experience, impeccable references and am ofsted registered but all this is useless when THERE'S NO JOBS!

Aaaaargh!

Good luck to everyone else!

OP posts:
LouiseAnastasia · 29/03/2013 22:42

Me too! I don't live in London but either all the jobs out there are part time, way out of my way or they sound like everything I am looking for, I reply and never hear anything from them again! Grrrr

mamamaisie · 29/03/2013 23:17

Well I'm a childminder not a nanny but I have noticed that I hardly ever get full time enquiries anymore. I used to get a lot more of them but now everything is only 1 or 2 days a week. It just seems like a lot less mums are working full time.

juneybean · 30/03/2013 00:05

My agency told me to stay in my ad hoc nanny job because the only ones she's got are before and after school jobs.

OutragedFromLeeds · 30/03/2013 01:57

I'm not looking myself, but I've heard this from loads of my nanny friends who are/were looking. We're also in London. Loads of part-time, people wanting SE, people wanting to pay way below what is generally expected etc.

OutragedFromLeeds · 30/03/2013 01:58

In fact one of my nanny friends was recently told by two agencies that they couldn't put her on their books, because they already had too many nannies and not enough jobs!

Cathyrina · 30/03/2013 09:53

I'm in London as well (N3 atm moving to NW3/ NW5 soon) and I'm looking for June and still quite relaxed but know I will start to panic when I haven't found anything by end April/ early May, especially because I also have to move before starting the new job so looking for a place, flatmates etc. I definitely want a full-time job but most really are part-time.... grrr.

Welovegrapes · 30/03/2013 09:58

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Cathyrina · 31/03/2013 21:27

^ I thought about that but one family seems so much easier and I can just offer them a lot more flexibility. If you have two families then both of them want babysitting, when one needs you for an emergency you either have to say no or let the other ones down, when you are sick two families are struggling, when one family goes on holiday you would normally have holidays as well but when you work for 2 families there's still the other one, they want you to take different holidays etc. I just can't imagine doing that... but maybe it's not that difficult (I've never worked for more than one family before...)?

TheSeventhHorcrux · 31/03/2013 22:16

Its finding two jobs that fit together that are within a reasonable distance to one another as well.
I'm applying to admin work in my area now. And there's not a lot of that going either. I'm starting to get really worried.

DIYapprentice · 02/04/2013 13:41

Are any of you willing to do housekeeper work as well? I'm hoping to hire a housekeeper/nanny later in the year because I need drop offs and pick ups from school and cover for holidays so figured housekeeping duties would allow me to offer a full time position rather than a before and after school one. (Am assuming I would need to have a proper cleaner come in once a week to do the 'deep' cleaning as that would be too much of an ask.)

LovelyNanny26 · 03/04/2013 15:44

I think nannies need to be more flexible this days. Im a nanny too.I work at the nursery in the morning and I nanny in the afternoon. Ill be looking for a nanny job myself starting from September. Im not looking for full time. Ill be more than happy starting with 3 days.I think nannies are better off looking for 2 different weekly jobs.Good times are definitely goone.

LovelyNanny26 · 03/04/2013 16:57

A lot of us are being out done by eastern European Nannies as they are happy to work long hours. I live in London and I travel two hours a day both ways.

TheSeventhHorcrux · 03/04/2013 18:08

Two hours commute?! I could commute from leicester to london with that! Shock I don't envy you it at all!

LovelyNanny26 · 03/04/2013 18:15

I travel from west london to south love.If I wouldnt want to do it I wouldnt have a job.Ive been with them for 3 years. I work at school in the mornings and a lot of parents are actually taking on polish czech etc. nannies.As one of the parents said They are less demanding and wanting to work hard. No distance should stop you from getting a job.We as nannies need to be stop being picky and expecting 30k jobs a year. If you dont like it change it.