Finding a nanny - which website is best

[GatherlyGal]

We are going to be needing a nanny soon. I am loathe to spend a big chunk with an agency as I only have a 6 month contract. I am sure I have used a website before but it was a few years ago and I can't remember which.

Childcare.co.uk and nannyjob both have a membership fee so I don't want to join both but does anyone have any particular recommendation of either?

We are in North Yorks if that's relevant.

I posted on childcare without joining and didn't get many decent applications.

I signed up to NannyJob and got lots of decent ones (and some rubbish, but not inundated). It's v cheap compared to an agency and I think a reasonable fee for what you get (not that I can actually remember what the fee is ... )

Nannyjob and childcare.co.uk are the main ones where agencies advertise and nannies look. As a nanny I never understood why parents would not want to pay the membership fee as its so small compared to potentially paying out thousands to an agency. For you to get a lot of responses I would say its better to just pay the membership.

You could always try your local netmums page that's free to advertise on. Both as a nanny I would say nannyjob or childcare if you pay to be a gold member so the nannies don't need to pay to contact you.

If I were looking for a new job the first place I would look is on Nannyjob.co.uk as that is where agencies advertise.

Agree with NannyNick. Also hate to say it but if you're trying to be this tight already regarding the welfare of your child/ren already I dread to think what it'd be like to work for/with you.

Apologies if I speak out of turn..... I speak from personal experience.

It might depend on where you live. Most people I know have had better luck on childcare.com. It's not very expensive - I think about £20 for 3 months. You can always join and only pay if there is someone you want to send a message to? If your job sounds appealing, nannies looking for a job will message you or put you on favourites (they often don't want to pay for membership so add you as a favourite to let you know they're interested).

Good luck :)

Thanks everyone. 18yearsoftrying interesting instant judgement of me. I have had nannies before over the last 12 years and am still in touch with almost all of them.

I am not being tight just wondering what peoples' experiences are. Sounds like it's worth joining both.

Thanks

Chippingin it's $20 a month or $99 for a year now.

I've just found someone from childcare.co.uk and interviewed 2 others, both of whom I'd have been happy to employ. Definitely worth the £20!

I've had my fingers burned - for legal reasons I can't go into it. I'm really glad my first judgement seems to have been incorrect - credit to you for being open with me & staying in touch with your ex employees.

Sorry you've had a bad experience 18years.

Will join both websites and see what comes up. All I need now is a call to hear I've got the job!

Oh that's gone up a bit then! Still, if you see some people you like, it will be worth it.

Good luck getting the job and finding a lovely nanny :)

The nice thing about childcare.co.uk is they have very detailed filters - I needed a live out, part time nanny who has a full driving licence and is prepared to use her own car - I could filter for all 4 of those things so I only saw people who were appropriate for the job.

we found someone amazing on Childcare.co.uk but i was careful to only approach people rather than posting a vacancy. The one time I did post a vacancy on there, the responses were all utterly unsuitable, unrelated to the requirements of the ad, taxdodgers, had little english, were childminders rather than nannies, had no car etc etc etc
Agencies have frequently told me that from their use of the site, they can tell that a lot of the nannies on there are people they've previously rejected as unsuitable - and I think that may well be correct. On the flip side, the person we hired will never use agencies after they've repeatedly sent her on interviews for completely inappropriate roles.
you need to separate the wheat from the chaff on there and be far more rigorous in reference checking (though, once again, dont' rely too much on agencies to check references thoroughly for their £0000 service - they don't. In either instance, call at least two of them and grill them)

I think childcare.co.uk has reduced the number of messages you can send per day and that has really helped - when I used it last year I got huge numbers of spam emails from people who clearly hadn't read the job description. This year pretty much everyone was serious and met the criteria. I did both - posted an ad and emailed people - my nanny is someone that I emailed.

Good tips thanks all.