Advertising for a nanny/mother's help. Advice please!

[MabelMay]

Hi, I will need a nanny/mother's help from around mid-september for 3 short days a week as I'm starting a course.
I have two young DS's, have never had a nanny or au pair before (DS1 was at childminder and DS2 is only 6mo). Was thinking of going on gumtree to advertise, but don't know where to start as regards to the 'right' questions to ask etc. Have heard that most ads on gumtree get inundated with replies. So how do I sort the wheat from the chaff, so to speak?

Any advice/previous experience to share?

Thanks!

where abouts are you based?

www.netmums.co.uk is a good place to start... rather use them than site like gumtree I would think, as that is not child/family focused at all.

As asked, where are you based? There might be a nanny here who can help you.

hello Mablemay, i am a childminder with vacancies.. where are you based?

We got some ok responses on nannyjob. It was £25 to advertise for a month.

You need to start advertising now, IME, even if you are still not clear about sorting wheat from chaff.

I'm based in north-west london. Not looking for childminder though, but someone who can come to home and help - although I will occasionally be here myself, working upstairs.
I know I need to get moving on this - so none of you would recommend gumtree then?

We have recruited from Gumtree. It is time consuming, but reasonable people do come up. I recruited two really nice nannies from there. But yes, it's true it's time consuming, you will get loads of responses.

gumtree itself is great. you have lots of people looking for work and offering work. as a family you are likely to get lots of responses. you might have a list of few questions to send out and see how many will get back to you. might be a good idea to put as many details of what you are looking for as possible so you dont have to waste time with people who dont match. perhaps put it capitals what is the most important like this is not a summer job. you see what i mean if you go through some ads on gumtree.

Don't forget about local advertising - corner shops, that kind of place. By advertising in your local community, you may not get may responses but those you will get are at least local.
Short days depending on the exact hours (10-2 for example being probably quite good) may work well for a parent whose children are now all of school age, may also suit someone with a young child (if you will consider having someone bring their child to work with them).

For a list of some questions to consider asking applicants - see AtheneNoctua's Interview Questions. Use that as suggestions for questions to ask, revise questions to suit your circumstances.

Oh and in any advert, be very specific as to what you are wanting. A nanny may be great with children, but bad at (or refuse to do) housework.
Think about what you want the person to do - make a list of the things.