How long to find a new nanny job?

[Fridayschild]

My former nanny says she is having trouble finding a new job and I wondered how long it takes? As far as I know she is looking for a FT live out role in SW London. She has heaps of experience and has registered with an website. Is one website enough, do you think? And does anyone use agencies anymore?

I'm having the same issues I've been looking for months for a position. I'm at the point where I'm giving myself one more month then unfortunately will have to leave nannying. I've noticed this year there's a new wave of families who want a nanny but can't actually afford one, like many families myself included. so are trying to pay cash in hand only declare a certain amount of hours a week. So I'm not sure about your former nanny, that's one of the issues I'm facing and why it's taking so long to find a job
I've been on the childcare site and gumtree looking for jobs. I would get her to register with some more agencies some of the big central London ones as well as local smaller agencies as well.

Definitely use agencies if she has some solid experience under her belt. Three or four is ideal. For SW London I suggest O&P, Nannies Inc, Imperial (can be less approachable/ selective than.others though - charge v high fees to clients), Greycoat Lumleys, Swanson Nannies (more W than SW generally but v v friendly, family run agency) l, Eden Nannies.
Nanny could also register on Childcare.co.uk and nannyjob.co.uk
Look on gumtree (though can be a magnet for time wasters...)
Speak to local nurseries/school to see if they have a noticeboard/newsletter where she could advertise?
Also if she was shortlisted previously for roles,might she be able to approach the parents now and see if they/ their friends are in need of a nanny -(so long as these are not interviews via an agency as they take a v v dim view of such things...!)

Hope she finds something good soon!

I'm in West London and there seems to be loads of work around. Most of it part-time, awkward hours or underpaid/cash in hand though.

She does sound like she needs to be more proactive. One website isn't enough. She needs to speak to a few agencies and actively look on childcare.co.uk and nannyjob.

Word of mouth is also good. Could you put the word out that your wonderful former nanny is looking for a new family?

They need to proactive and register with a couple of agencies (who have listed jobs which appeal to her, in the right area) and once registered show interest in jobs that come up. www.nannyjob.co.uk lists ads by agencies and some private ads as well.

Full-time jobs may be in short supply, if she finds that then combining two jobs together may be something to consider or do less work... I liked it when I worked 3.5 days per week.

Competition can be an issue, there are lots of people looking for work. Is she finding suitable jobs but not getting an interview? Does she need to revise her CV, write a better initial contact e-mail/letter? Is she realistic in her salary expectation. Is she Ofsted Registered so she is able to accept Childcare Vouchers and be on the new Tax-Free Childcare scheme?

I register with all the local (and not so local) agencies when I'm looking for a new position.

Jobs are at a premium at the moment, families are wondering/worried what Brexit might mean to them and their own jobs once article 50 is triggered. A lot of families are not declaring the whole wage (whether they can afford it or not!) or want the nanny to be self employed. Or hiring 'cheap' staff, especially in London.

You have to be proactive and get yourself out there. I've been a nanny for almost 30 years, excellent references but I wouldn't like to be looking right now. (Thankfully I have a wonderful family and hope to be here another couple of years (longer if my charge gets his wish of a baby brother AND a baby sister!!) when the whole EU thing has settled down.)

I do think it may be tougher at the moment but at the same time, when we advertised our job on nannyjob recently (full time, £11nph, only one child so I would hope should be attractive to plenty of nannies) we only got 3 or 4 applications who actually bothered to write an e-mail to us about our particular job for example (even just a sentence saying "It looks like a great job, I really like working with children of X age, please see my CV and let me know if you have any questions" just to show they'd actually read the advert), rather than just pinging us their CV.

Those ones really stood out and we met most of them. Two of them (and another we found through word of mouth) were really good and I know that all 3 that we liked at interview quickly found jobs. So I think if she is proactive she will find something, but she may need to make more effort to really stand out by tailoring her application a bit to the job she is applying to and/or going through a few different agencies, not just sticking her CV on one site and hoping for the best.