Lead time for new nanny? Advice please?

[HandbagAddiction]

So we're going to be looking for a full time nanny to start work for us late August / early September. dd1 will be starting school and dd2, who will be 2, will be pulled out of her current nursery.

Thing is, I have absolutely no idea how much lead time I need to give myself for getting one, i.e. how soon in advance do I need to start looking, how much time do I need to allow for the interviewing process, etc. etc.

Any advice please from previous or current nanny employers...or nannies themselves??

I would post the ad about 2-3 months before you want him/her to start. If you bump up your start date to July you find a lot more to choose from.

I work on the assumption that the nanny will need to give 4 weeks motice to current employer, and therefore aim to start making offers 5 or 6 weeks before her first day of work.

I think it may depend on how you intend to look for a nanny - are you planning to use an agency/do word-of-mouth/go online? (Or all of those??)

For word-of-mouth, you can't start early enough - let people know you are looking - you might for instance find someone whose youngest starts school in Sept & so will be losing their full-time treasure exactly when you want one to start.

For agencies, as rule of thumb I'd say start two months ahead. Typically a nanny currently in a job will need to give a month's notice, so things won't hot up until six weeks before your start date, then you'll get lots of prospects around 3 weeks ahead, then you won't sleep until your start date but by your date you will have found someone. Depending on where you are, agencies have a steady stream of working holiday-makers (NZ, Oz, SA, etc.) who need jobs as soon as they arrive in the UK, so it is possible (though nerve-wracking) to do things on quite short notice.

For online, I'll let those who're more experienced in that area comment. We've only done it once - I think with the same sort of lead time as if we were using an agency - and there was all sorts of extra considerations, like the sheer number of free hours you need to go through the applications, do email interviews with your likely candidates, etc. etc. I am resigned to agency fees just because that process was such effort.

Thanks for your feedback ladies. Certainly gives me a better perspective.

If you are using the free sites- gumtree, greatcare, nannyjob (i think is free?) start now! On gumtree, you can repost every day until you find someone.

I started my currnet nany job in Septmeber 2 years ago

I first spoke to my boss in the beginning of may and it was all sorted by the end of May.

They waited 3 months for me because I wanted to do the summer holidays with my old family

I've been told by a Berkshire based agency, that they are expecting jobs with a beginning of September start date to start coming in around June - so about a 3 month lead time.
I currently work term-time, and thus my next logical change point is over summer holidays, so if I decide to look at other jobs, then I would be starting to look around mid-May.

If advertising online - such as on Mumsnet where there is currently not a fee for posting in the Childcare Classifieds section - then you could post your advert at anytime, as you never know who may be looking longer in advance. Some nannies coming to the end of their contract (due to children starting school for example) may know many months in advance when their leaving date will be.

Where are you located Handbag? If a nanny in your area is reading this thread, you never know they may get in touch if they are seeking a change to their job in Aug/Sept.

Mighty - NannyJob and GreatCare charge fees. Gumtree charges fees for certain areas, but not in others.

Handbag - guildford.Gumtree is still free for employers posting job ads. Think you are are in that general area.

oops nick- you can tell ive never had to look for a nanny!

we were told 6-8 weeks lead time through simply childcare (listings mag for childcare if you are in london/m25, tends to have really good people and cheap to advertise) and longer if (as we were) you are looking over christmas, which has proved about right (started looking end november, found our ace new nanny last week). probably longer if you are looking for something difficult to find eg very long or very short hours.
as you will be looking over july/early august when prospective nannies might well be on holiday i'd also err on side of caution but don't panic if you still haven't found anyone a month before start date as lots of nannies dont seem to look until a month before they're leaving their job (in london anyway where i guess there is quicker turnover).
as for interviewing i must have interviewed about seven nannies in person (the successful applicant twice, once with just me and ds and once with dh) and about a billion on the phone, you can quite quickly weed lots of them out. good luck!

dont forget that once you have interviwed and not liked... the done anoterh round of interviews... and then had a second interview and CHOSEN your nanny, she may very well have to give notice...

yes most of us only have 4 weeks in our contracts but i personally ahve got on well with all my families and given MUCH more notice.... at least 2 months

last job i gave 3 months notice... but we all new old job would be ending when my youngest started full time school, but even so my final date was sorted 3 months before i actually left.