Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Paid childcare

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

Flip

Original poster

Oh dear

15 replies

HarrietTheSpy · 29/12/2007 19:40

The lovely Kiwi nanny we recruited is back off to NZ as of three weeks' time, due to a family emergency. She's not sure when she'll be back and is talking about helping us find a new person - I'll have two weeks to do it by the time I return from holiday. Nightmare. What complicates things is I am expecting a baby in June and won't be able to keep a nanny on when I'm off on maternity leave. Present nanny was happy to do a fixed contract in light of my situation, but she still had around 8 mo. I COULD consider leaving her job open and using the nursery for a bit, but if things just drag on and on this would be really bad. Bless her, DN doesn't seem to expect this at all.

Am thinking of putting an ad in TNT specifically targeting people whose visas have only a few months left to run and might be looking for a short term placement. Thoughts on this? An au pair MIGHT be poss as DD is over three now and goes to preschool, but DH doesn't want someone to live in...and the au pair threads on here scare me...!

Do I have a hope in hell of recruiting someone three days a week for only five months?!

Help - am on vacation so might not see any responses for several hours but would be grateful for your thoughts.

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

nannyL · 29/12/2007 20:22

where abouts are you?

i know of a great nanny down south (near bournouth) looking for temp work asap

Original poster

HarrietTheSpy · 29/12/2007 22:31

Thanks NannyL but I'm in London.

OP posts:

GloriaInEleusis · 30/12/2007 12:05

Hi Harriet, I have just spent the better part of this morning refining my questionnaire (new and improved so if anyone wants it feel free to CAT me or post here).

I'm really struggling. It seems there is almost no one out there. This will teach me to recruit for a March start. Oh well, there are a couple of suitable candidates crawling out of the wood work, and hopefully more will surface when the holidays are over.

Where are you looking (or haven't you started)? Any luck?

foxinsocks · 30/12/2007 12:10

Hi, I'm recruiting now too (in London) and looking for 3 or 4 days.

A couple of weeks ago, I only had a few applicants.

Suddenly, in the last week, I've had loads and have now whittled the applications down to 2 people.

I would say that about half of the people applied specifically wanted part time work to fit in amongst other things they were doing.

Put an ad on gumtree and see how you go.

We need someone to start on the 8th (have had to get a temporary nanny till then as I couldn't find someone by the 2nd) so I have my fingers crossed that one of the 2 people I interview will be good enough!

GloriaInEleusis · 30/12/2007 12:26

Hi fox. Good luck.

foxinsocks · 30/12/2007 12:35

Thanks. You may well find they start to come out of the woodwork nearer your start date but it doesn't half give you palpitations.

I still fear being stuck with no-one arrghh!

MrsRecycle · 30/12/2007 14:49

I had a live-out Au Pair to help when I was pg with ds and she was a godsend when he came along - helped with dds and took ds out for a walk so I could catch up on some sleep. I found her on gumtree. She is now a Nanny for another mumsnetter who loves her to bits.

You may find someone on gumtree who lives close to you who is prepared to work short-term and live-out.

Oh and dh has just dumbfounded me a minute ago - he didn't want an AP like your dh and was horrified at having someone live-in (he is quite shy). He's just said having an AuPair was something he didn't want but he's so glad we have one now and can really see the benefit of it and doesn't mind the living in bit. I had to sit down as I was that shocked.

Anyway, whatever you decide, Good Luck.

Original poster

HarrietTheSpy · 30/12/2007 18:48

Thanks for your messages. Have reactivated my advert in Simply Childcare from the fall, with some alterations. Not entirely sure why I'm doing it - they're lovely, but it feels like unless you live in N1, Hammersmith, Clapham etc it's hard to connect with someone. But you never know, and the people who have called me from there have been good.

Will put ad on Gumtree this Thursday when it's nearer the time I can actually start interviewing people. Might also try Nanny job this time.MrsR thanks so much for your comments, I'm really hoping to be able to convince DH.

I've just realised the person is only going to have four months actually. So, so not what we need right now.

On top of this all, the week after the nanny goes is likely to be when DH's school gets inspected by OFSTED. Great.

OP posts:

GloriaInEleusis · 30/12/2007 19:06

MrsR, thanks for the e-mail. I've made good use of it.

MrsRecycle · 31/12/2007 10:02

no problems ele - believe it or not, it's easy for me to get on mumsnet with wireless/vista than reply to mails!

Harriet - I posted an ad on gumtree and was inundated by replies (most of them totally inappropriate). Make sure you put age/experience in it and clearly define what you are looking for. Have you tried a search in "Work Wanted" for your location or nearby? Thats how I found my fab live-out AP. I really agree about location, it was near on impossible to find any candidates that were interested in our family, even though we live in West London, on the Central Line. They all wanted Central London.

Original poster

HarrietTheSpy · 31/12/2007 16:10

I'm really surprised you had a hard time recruiting for your area. It seems nearly every response - and I'm not exaggerating - we got from Gumtree the last time was from people thinking they could commute to us from your area. I'm talking an hour + commute.

I will defo refine the Gumtree advert this time as we had a similar experience - tens of responses as soon as the advert went on line, many people with limited childcare experience.

OP posts:

angisnuts · 02/01/2008 12:17

hi harriet! i am looking for nanny work at the mo! what hours,where are you,what ages are your child or children?! and would you consider a nanny with own child?

Original poster

HarrietTheSpy · 02/01/2008 16:11

Thanks for your message. I have one DD, job is from 8.30 to 6.30 three days a week (Mon to Weds). I also travel quite a bit so there are early starts (6.30 am) two mornings a week sometimes. I am looking for someone whose commuting time is less than an hour away from us (we're zone 4 on the Central Line heading East). I would give some thought as to whether a nanny with a child would be workable for us under the present circumstances. I am not set up for CAT at the moment, but could sort this out, if you are still interested.

OP posts:

angisnuts · 02/01/2008 19:46

ok,what area is that exactly? how old is your dd?xx

Original poster

HarrietTheSpy · 02/01/2008 22:59

Hi there. I've just seen your other thread. DD is 3 years old. We are in the Woodford area. My feeling is Hendon is going to be pushing it in terms of commutability. The A406 can get really backed up and public transport is out of the question - it will take around an hour and forty minutes door to door each way.

On the bright side, it seems like you would be well placed for NW London jobs - and there are loads and loads in Simply Childcare in my experience. Have you tried that? They will send you a subscription free of charge.

OP posts:

Flip