Our nanny is leaving the country

[Gidleigh]

she has been flexible as to her leave date, but ideally want to work until end of November. How difficult is it to find a new nanny to start work on Dec 1st? any advice on hiring times and when nanny generally are out looking for jobs would be helpful.

Thanks

Give advert in your local area, library is great because so many people could see it and could call you back. Good luck!

I would think December is probably the worst time to hire a new nanny. Sorry, probably not what you want to hear.

Athene- This is what I had feared. Do you know when would be the best time normally?

june/july if you want a live-in from EU/Aus/NZ looking for a year abroad. Otherwise maybe it doesn't matter so much. But, I think December is a horrible time to look for a new employee/job no matter what the line of work.

However, this is definitely a nanny employer's market so maybe not so bad.

Have you agreed to the end of November end date?

not officially. Her original time was End of Sept which does not leave too much time to look and she can stay until end of Nov which would give me more time. i thought maybe offer paid trial for the beginning fo December giving a new nanny full 3 weeks off over X-mas new year and start formally in Jan.

Or maybe you could manage with a childminder for a couple of weeks in December, floowed by a couple of weeks of hols, and then get a nanny to start in December.

It might actually be that in this economic climate there are nannies out there ready to start in December. Although I'm not sure I would want a job for a week followed by three weeks of no pay. You might find someone. But, it might also be an easier search/hire job for you if you just go for a Jan start.

floowed = followed

i would say hire before december - i needed a february start and started looking in december and it was a nightmare, no nannies were leaving jobs unless they absolutely had to, we were told most will stay for christmas (and a christmas bonus if they get one) and then start looking in january. so you have a better chance hiring now for a december start maybe? but as AN says, if you are planning not to pay for three weeks over christmas/NY you may find that is not very attractive to them. might have to bite the bullet and pay them over the holiday (maybe do trial period when your current nanny is here and can help with handover/give you her opinion, if you get on well with her she may be a very good judge of what sort of nanny would suit you)