Should I wait or should I give up?

[LouiseAnastasia]

I have been struggling to find a nannying job in Wiltshire for about a year now. As much as I want to work with children and would love to be a nanny, so many families have ditched me at the last moment and I'm thinking of giving it all up.

I've had a few families contact me over the year, some just haven't worked out due to hours etc but in October I finally had an interview at the families house. We had a chat, everything sound lovely and perfect and we had agreed that the family would cut back on their current CM's hours and phase me in a few hours a week until the 2 children got used to me. In the interview we also discussed pay - £5 an hour for 9 hours a day, 4 days a week, and I said to them that I wasn't OFSTED registered therefore wouldn't accept childcare vouchers. We mentioned them paying for me to be OFSTED registered and said we would talk about it next time I saw them. It was also mentioned that once they had moved house they would build an annex so I could live in.

We arranged I would go back the following week and they would be in touch to confirm this. On the day arranged I emailed as they hadn't been in contact and the Mum emailed back the following day saying they had forgotten and was sorry. A day later I received a text asking if I would babysit for them in the evening which I did do. I met the children who were very nice and we seemed to get on well before they went to bed. When the parents returned they said they would be in touch about when I could start.

This was in October and in December they hadn't been back in touch. I emailed a few times and texted but I can take a hint and it was quite obvious they didn't want me as a nanny. Someone told me to email for one last time to make sure as their CM was changing careers in January and part of me thought they would be in touch asking me to start then. I emailed asking if they still required me as a nanny or if they had found alternative arrangements and they replied back the following day saying they were sorry they hadn't got back to me sooner and that 'did I accept childcare vouchers?' as they relied on them and 'was I OFSTED registered'? They also mentioned that if I didn't accept the vouchers, I wouldn't be the best childcare for them.

To say I was upset was a little bit of an understatement. They knew this in the initial interview and they had messed me around for months. Finding a job anywhere at the moment is hard and I can't even seem to find a retail job, let alone childcare. Being a nanny is what I want to do and I would like to be OFSTED registered but at the moment I can't afford to pay for something which I wouldn't really get anything out of.

Should I give it all up and find another career? Not really sure what to do at the moment and it's getting me down.

Hi - do you have any qualifications or experience to back up applications? GCSEs, 'A' levels etc,

It probably is one of the hardest fields to get into. What other careers do you have in mind though?

My wife was NNEB, a nursery supervisor, then trained as a teacher. I was a discontented office worker, then got to be a Teaching Assistant, starting as a voluntary helper in primary school, when our child started school.

It's not a career that pays particularly well either. Do your parents still support you, or do you need to earn a 'living wage'?

If you don't have to pay your way yet, you could try voluntary work in schools or nurseries (unless you've already done all that!) in the hope it leads to employment eventually. At least these days via the Internet you can always get information and help on pretty well every subject there is, which was much harder to do in 'old days'. I'm retired now, so all those problems are behind me.

(Nice county, Wiltshire - I was at Compton Bassett when I was young, used to go walking round Cherhill and the White Horse Hill.)

Good luck, and come back if you want specific info.

£5 an hour is a joke for nannying, not even minimum wage which is illegal.

What is your experience like? Can you live-in for a year to get experience as a nanny?

I got into it that way, lived in as a mother's help for a year (found the job through aupairworld accidentally, they contacted me when I was looking for work abroad), then I fell into a live-in nanny role and whilst it didn't work out, it included SEN experience which got me into live-out nannying.

Families should pay for Ofsted registration, though it's common for nannies to pay it themselves these days. Have you contacted agencies? Some may have families who just want a helping hand which is a good road into nannying too. Before/after-school work might suit too and you could find out if you can do supply work for agencies in the middle hours? Have you tried childcare.co.uk?

If nannying is what you want to do than please don't give up! being a nanny takes such commitment, and is not easy. I have had some moments in my 30 year career I can tell you. My MB thinks I should write a book!! Can you move away? Could you do some voluntary work in a preschool?I have been looking, as in the job market and there are loads of jobs in Bath and London. Please don't let one awful incident put you off. There are some people who think the world evolves round them. Put it down to experience and move on. And good luck. PS £5 an hour is taking the p*.

£5 an hour? blimey. you should be glad your shot of them.

stick with it if its what you really want. .have someone check your cv. Are you with agencies?

£5 an hour? Blimey! When can you start?

Hi everyone. Thanks for all of your messages! I'm currently halfway towards a childcare qualification (need a job to finish it!) but I've worked in a nursery before and have nannied a couple of times but purely on weekends. I know I'm not the most experienced which is why, part of me thought I'm struggling to get a nannying job but we all have to start somewhere, right?!

When I told friends I was going to charge £5 an hour they were all shocked too but I had no idea what to charge as I'm not qualified - what would you think would be a reasonable amount to charge?

At the moment I'm volunteering in a charity shop but obviously it's not what I want to do as a career. I've tried Childcare.co.uk, Gumtree (who now want to charge me £18 for the privilege of putting an advert on their site), Nannyjobs and Netmums and still nothing. I've tried the agencies but all of those who I've contacted won't help me as I don't have qualifications. Sigh!

How tied are you to Wiltshire? I'll be considering a nanny when no2 arrives but we're much further north. I'll pay you more than £5 an hour though!

I've never seriously looked at nanny prices, but childminders are around £3.50 an hour and nurseries around £4 an hour and you'll be offering a much more personalised service so you should be well above that.

For a start, you don't "charge", as you'll be employed by the family. It's at least min. wage, though living in does make you exempt from that, living in also has a wage that is comparable to living out. But it depends. Can you take an AP job to get the experience? It's not much money wise but should leave you time to finish your qualification too. Are you doing it at a college or studying from home? What qualification is it?