Nanny job description, and other queries. Advice sought. Thanks!

[Penthesileia]

Slightly behind, I fear, on the whole recruitment business, as a nanny-share we thought was arranged just fell through. Anyway, I'm going to post this ad (below), but was hoping that the MN experts would cast an eye over it and tell me if it looks ok. Is the salary being offered (given that it is part time) reasonable? Are the terms ok? Is what I say about a bonus and pay-rise ok, and should I mention it in the ad, or save it for the interview stage?

Thanks in advance for your help!

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Sole charge qualified nanny required part-time from August 2009.
Starts August 2009
Live out, sole charge nanny job working Monday to Wednesday (non-negotiable) with baby girl (14 months at time of appointment), in XXX, a village north of XXX.
Loving, energetic and dedicated nanny sought for 3 days a week (32 hours in total).
Basic salary: £13,312 p.a. gross/£210 net p.w.
6 weeks paid holiday a year (taken in university holiday periods only).
A second full year of nannying may be required; if the nanny agrees to commit to a second full year, a bonus and pay-rise will be given.
Nanny should be Ofsted registered, as parents wish to pay with childcare vouchers.
Driver not required, but if you wish to use your own car we will pay a mileage allowance of 25p per mile for using it to get to work (up to £5 per day). Alternatively, we will pay for your public transport costs.
We intend to spend the first month of the nanny?s appointment helping baby become accustomed to being away from her mother and generally getting into a routine with her new carer.
Routine (from late September):
Monday and Wednesday:
8.00-18.00: Care for baby in house and garden; go to playgroups and other activities, as desired, in the village. Do ?nursery duties?, e.g. tidying up after baby?s play, washing, etc. if necessary, meal preparation, cleaning up after mealtimes, and so on, while baby naps.
Tuesday:
9.00-17.00: Care for baby (as above) ? mother may occasionally work from home on this day.
One evening?s babysitting per week (up to 4 hours).

Yes, there's a bus route direct to the village from the nearest large town (Cambridge).

Sorry, btw, for sounding so feeble and hopeless. I am really bricking it about DH. He's so stubborn, and, well, (to the uninitiated) difficult... I'm used to it, but the nanny shouldn't have to put up with it!

Looks to me as though DH should stay home to look after your DD - if he is that much of a control freak! He will have to do Home Education as well when DD is 5, as he clearly won't want her going to school - all those strange teachers caring for her!

I don't know what to suggest... at least your village seems to have some things in it... the village I work in doesn't even have a village shop (I don't count garden centres as a real shop, especially as they don't sell Icecream this time of year).

I think you may be right when you say that your DH will make it impossible for you to hire someone. Are any of his friends fathers of similar aged children, who could talk with him about his feelings towards having someone care for his DD? Maybe that could help.

If you need your nanny to work on a Bank Holiday then I feel you need to state that pretty early on - and I feel it will lose you some applicants. I would not put it in the advert... as it will limit the replies you get, but I feel it does need to be mentioned at some point, I think it best prior to interview... so that you are only interviewing those who are really likely to accept the job. Legally it is fine to require your employee to work a bank holiday, it is taken into account in the 5.6 weeks statutory holiday entitlement calculation.

wages vary so much in each area - i would expect about £13gross but sure you can find a fab exp nanny for what you want to pay

From having a brief look on Nannyjob for jobs in Cambridgeshire, £7-£8 net looks typical.

£10 gross sounds very reasonable for a nanny with a few years experience. Some ask and get more - a lot will be on that sort of salary.

It is good that you are thinking of all these things prior to starting. I think with most jobs the key to harmony is making sure that you are upfront with all your expectations at the interview stage.

By offering 6 weeks holiday you are offering more than the legal minimum so you don't really need to add extra for working on bank hols - just make sure that it is explained at interviews that bank hol working is definitely needed.

The driving thing is a bit of an issue as unless you lived in the centre of a bustling town it is likely that the nanny would want to get out and about. Local activities, swimming and parks are good, and she may make some new friends there, but sometimes you need the company of other nannies that you know. Would he be happier if the nanny was not so young and had a few years driving experience under her belt? Maybe he's just thinking of the nanny being only 21ish and only drib=ving for a couple of years. (I'm a nanny myself and have been driving for 20 years with no accidents or points at all)

£9 gross looks to be about £7.40 net for your hours I think - that should be pretty reasonable in your area.

Village has bakery, village shop, chip shop, Chinese, Indian, 3 pubs (not terribly useful, admittedly, to a nanny during working hours ), 2 schools, a pool, village green, building society, post office, pharmacy, beauty salon, other random shops (e.g. carpenters/furniture). So it is quite "well-stocked", so to speak. But, I imagine that the nanny is most likely to come from Cambridge, and all her friends will be there... I doubt someone would want to feel stuck out in the village, however busy, during their working week.

That's a good idea about talking to other dads. Will suggest it. Thanks.

I looked on nannyjob for average salary info, but it seems to me that what people offer, and what people accept, are different things!

does dh want you to go back to work- or does he think you should be a sahm

your village sounds great - where i work i have only a pub and nothing else-not even a church - therefore i work in a hamlet

you need a church to be called a village

thats blondes useless useful bit of info to day

you never know you may need to know that in a pub quiz

No, it's not even that simple. He's happy for me to return to work. If he could, he probably would become a SAHD (I earn more than him), but we couldn't really afford it, and he doesn't have the energy, TBH, to look after DD (she a very active child ) - needs an energetic nanny!

It's just he can't get his head round someone else looking after her, I think.

Thank you for that info!

Thank you, btw, to everyone who answered this thread. I really appreciate your honesty and expertise. And it's really helped clarify some issues for me.

welcome

blonde is lovely as well as very blunt

happy hunting

Hi, Just wanted to add that my nanny started recently, looking after DD. It only took a week to handover to her. Day 1, I did everything so she could just observe, Day 2, I did morning she took over in afternoon, but I stayed around. Day 3, she did it all and i stayed around, day 4, I went out in the afternoon and day 5 I went out whole day. DD is a few months old and at that phase when she is funny about strangers otherwise could have been done more quickly!

My sisters nanny can't drive and its been a nightmare as the kids have got older. I delibrately wanted a nanny who could drive. I went in the car with the nanny a couple of times so i could observe her driving. TBH, she was so nervous (because i was with her and also because the car we have given her to use is a brand new top end car) that she ended up slamming on the brakes a couple of times with me in it. Nonetheless, I have to trust that she will drive DD safely in it and if you want your DD to do a wide variety of things with her, you will need to do the same so your DD really gets the best out of 1 to 1 care.

You sound like such a lovely person, but your ad does come over as a bit control freaky so I think you need to put your shoes of a potential nanny reading the ad and tweak it for phrases that would put you off, and I say that as someone who happily admits to being a control freak! Good luck.

Hi novice. Thanks for sharing your story. It's good to know that handovers can go so smoothly!

Am working on control freakery!

OK, so here's the new and, hopefully, improved ad... What do you all think?

I've gone for £9ph gross, which is slightly better than average in our area, but not the £10 I um-ed and ah-ed over... I want to be able to incentivise the nanny with a bonus and 5% payrise in the 2nd year, and I don't think we could easily afford to do those things if we go for £10 at this stage). Obviously, if no suitable candidates come forward at £9, we'll rethink; or if a candidate comes for interview and we love him/her and wants £10, ditto.

I've also upped the holiday to 8 weeks to compensate for any potential lost bank holidays.

I'm going to work on DH's intransigence like mad between now and interview stage! Fingers crossed. Send me good vibes!

Live out, sole charge nanny job working Monday to Wednesday (non-negotiable) with girl (14 months at time of appointment), in XXX, a village north of XXX.

Loving, energetic and dedicated nanny sought for 3 days a week (28 hours in total).

Basic salary: £13,104 p.a. gross/£210 net p.w.

8 weeks paid holiday a year (during University holiday periods only; i.e. not to be taken between 23rd September-18th December 2009, 11th January-1st April 2010, and 4th May-11th June 2010.)

Nanny should be Ofsted registered, as parents wish to pay with childcare vouchers.

Driver not required (public transport available), but if you wish to use your own car we will pay a mileage allowance of 40p per mile.

Hours: Monday and Wednesday: 8.00-18.00; Tuesday: 9.00-17.00

Nanny will be expected to:

• Tidy up child?s playroom
• Wash, hang, and put away child's clothes
• Prepare child?s meals and clear up afterwards

it reads better now

But TBH your hubby sounds like he would be a nightmare DB !

maybe a nursery setting would be better ( in his eyes) ?

Thanks for your response. Yes, I agree, RachieB - and I have pointed this out to him. I honestly think that, unless he gets to grips with the situation, we'll not be able to hire anyone - they simply wouldn't accept such unreasonable terms.
I am so worried that a wonderful nanny will come along, and be put off by him.

Unfortuntely, he won't consider nursery either, as it cannot provide the 1-to-1 care he (we) wants.

I feel very stressed about it all.

It sounds like a lovely job tbh (so long as you sort DH out!).

Thanks, willow. Fingers crossed it will all go well.

Hi, that reads much better! Only two things I would do would be to maybe to take out the non-negotiable bit, as although its true it gives the ad a slightly "hard" tone, if that makes sense. The other thing is that I personally don't think you need to give 8 weeks holiday, I think 7 weeks would be sufficient. The standard holiday allowance is 28 days (including the 8 bank holidays), if my nanny had to work the bank holidays and I wanted to make it up to her, then I would give her 2 days for every bank holiday, so in effect, I would give her an extra 8 days holiday, which comes up to 36 days. If you round that down to 35 days, i.e. 7 weeks then you're still being very generous. Hope it all goes well for you.

generally agree with what others have said about ad. think hols. are reasonable as they are university, not school, hols. Paying well should make up for travel.

less expereinced may be willing to be more flex. and not leave the local area BUT more than an experienced one might need to have support from other nannies around her.

Having said that i have a lot of experience and for 3 days i really wouldn't mind staying local and meeting up with townsfolk only rarely, if the dynamics work okay. It is important though that you socialise your infant on your days with regular playdates etc.

How about bus? I would expect over time DH would gradually feel more comfortable for nanny to go out in car/further anyway.

oh, must have missed a page of thread. didn't notice about the bus before.

re DH: you must be on same page, whatever you decide, so nanny not trying to please two employers who disagree. nightmare!

Who is the ultimate decision maker? i could stand up to control freak dad if i knew mum agreed with me and that there wouldn't be consequences for my job for doing so. Else i'd be miserable.

Hi novice . I agree that non-negotiable sounds a bit harsh, but it really is non-negotiable! I have to lecture on those days, so simply must have someone then, IYSWIM. I don't want to waste anyone's time - and if I don't put it in, a nanny might come along who can do - say - Thurs-Fri, and who thinks, "I'll respond to this ad., just in case"... Maybe I'll try to re-word it so it says the same thing without being too hard...

Thanks for your advice about the holidays... I'll mull it over. I was hoping that a generous holiday provision might give us more edge/leverage in other respects...

Thanks for responding, Oligo. Yes, I hope that faced with the real situation, DH will adapt. I would definitely defend any nanny from DH's control-freakery! As I said, it's ok for me to put up with (I can at least shout at him! ), but horrid for a potential nanny.

just say in ad that job is fixed days mon-wed

if you are a lecturer - how come you have to work/teach on bhm?

i agree at both you and dh need to agree on stuff, i had an ex mb who said one thing and db who said another

i HATED being in the middle- as i would always please one and always annoy one and eventually i haf to sit down with both and say make your minds up what you want me to do