Pushy or keen? Help me on nanny applicant issue

[poppy34]

Looking for new nanny starting in April - old nanny has mentioned this to couple of people she know including someone who sent me cv details.
Now read this and decided not to interview her as cv looked badly put together (preamble was talking about what a good experienced secretary she was and how good she was at admin..). Experience was also all in nursery which is ok but ideally we would like someone with sole care experience as dd still under two. And on basis of cv didn't really want to take a chance .
Emailed her saying thanks but no thanks as wanted sole care experience.

Got email back saying how do you get Start as nanny if not given a chance and giving her
references. Now part of me (and dh) thinks she is just ott and pushy(dh also thinks she is odd on basis of tone of cv and hobbies in there) whereas I wonder if she is just keen and expressing herself badly.

Just asking for other views on this ESP from nannies as how easy/ hard is it to show you are keen without going too far.

Oh and am going to ask nanny how she knows her - it is our responsibility to get new nanny but do trust old nannys judgement.

I'd talk to old nanny about her and see what she says.

It's kind of a fair point she makes, but would also be fair for you to reply that she should probably rewrite her CV, and that perhaps her starter nannying job should be with older children.

I agree, or encourage her to get a mothers help job, with a degree of sole charge attached to it - thats how i got started in nannying and progressed very quickly after that, as the sole charge aspect was quite full on with 4 under the age of 8. I understand where shes coming from but agree that if she was serious she should revise her CV and maybe use a nicer tone - you are potential employers after all!

Nannies CV's I have seen over the past few years are generally dreadful in terms of how they lay things out, what detail they include and being tailored to the particular job for which they are applying.
If you send me an e-mail: [email protected] I can send you a version of my CV to show you how I feel a Nannies CV should be laid out. Whilst my layout is far from perfect and everyone will have their own view as to how to lay things out, I feel the way I do it does help to show what I do when caring for children. A CV which just gives details of whom the nanny worked for, how long for, ages of children I don't feel is that helpful. I feel it needs a few sentances about what the nanny actually did in the job, the things they and the children enjoyed doing, outings they went on etc. That I feel then gives parents more specific things to ask about at interview.
The CV I feel is designed to get someone an interview. It is also to give the interviewer ideas for things to talk about, may even help show what sort of thing a nanny does, as parents who have not had a nanny in the past may not know what a nanny does during a day with a baby/toddler.

I don't know exactly how she worded her email with the references, but taking a bullying line (making you feel guilty for not interviewing her) would be a Stop Right There, for me. It would give me huge concerns about how she would deal with problems in the job or feedback you give her which isn't wholly positive - all which is so crucial in a nanny/employer relationship.

All you can do is say, if you want to give yourself a chance, consider sorting out your CV so that it actually reflects the job you're applying for. And yes, recommend that she build her sole charge experience via a mother's help job.

Bottom line, is, even if she'd been a good candidate, I'd have been scared right off (and reasonably, I'm quite experienced at this now) by that email.

I would agree with your DH that this candidate may be a bit odd.. as I would not consider it the done thing to ask a potential nanny employer about how someone should get their first nanny job.

"how do you get Start as nanny if not given a chance"
Is that exactly how it was phrased? How do you get Start as nanny... surely that should be How do you get started as a nanny.

Poorly laid out CV plus issues with grammar in communications with a potential employer, I would wonder how well educated they are. See Reconciling Nannies' Needs and Employers' Needs message thread with regard to my view on the educational level required to be a nanny these days.

Experience was also all in nursery which is ok but ideally we would like someone with sole care experience as dd still under two.

How is all their experience all in nursery, that would not seem right to me as anyone who works with children (especially younger people) will also be doing some evening babysitting - which is sole charge care of young children. They may even do some occasional daytime care at weekends to help local parents out. That is all relevant experience, even if it is only for a few hours at a time.

Where someone has only worked in a nursery, I would expect to see quite a bit on their CV about other things they have done connected with working with children. Such as any volunteer work with youth groups, about any babysitting they have done for local families, anything really to help give a better impression that they have a varied experience of caring for children.

Thanks this is all hugely helpful as confirms my instinct to leave it. Nick will email you for
cv but agree that does need bit more than basics as others I have seen give much better flavour of their experience.

And have been reading other thread with interest as some good points made on there ESP about the lime between professional employee And household member. Trouble is think I have been spoiled as existing nanny excellent at treading the line between using her instinct and experience and deferring to us.

"How is all their experience all in nursery, that would not seem right to me as anyone who works with children (especially younger people) will also be doing some evening babysitting - which is sole charge care of young children. They may even do some occasional daytime care at weekends to help local parents out. That is all relevant experience, even if it is only for a few hours at a time.

Where someone has only worked in a nursery, I would expect to see quite a bit on their CV about other things they have done connected with working with children. Such as any volunteer work with youth groups, about any babysitting they have done for local families, anything really to help give a better impression that they have a varied experience of caring for children."

Sorry, just want to point out this isn't always true. I babysat whilst I was in school (but only for over 5's) and did Holiday Camps for late primary aged children, but whilst I was studying and just afterwards all my exerience (therefore, all my experience with under 5's) was in nurseries!

Yes, I was interested in childcare, hence why I did a qualification. But all my recent and relevant experience was in nuseries until my first nannying job!

OP - I am not saying you should interview/hire this particular person. If you aren't comfortable with hiring someone for their first nanny position, don't. Its all about trust and you need to find someone you are happy to trust with your child! HOWEVER, she does have a point that we all need to be given a chance in our first sole charge positions in order to get sole charge experience!

But beth you do have experience outside of a nursery setting and in sole charge, which I'm assuming you put on your CV. Someone who only lists nursery experience, whether they have additional experience or not, is not going to come across as well as someone who has thought about the fact it's not a nursery they're applying to and tailored their CV to suit.

I don't list details of my maternity nannying work or volunteering with TAMBA when I'm applying for teaching jobs. I put it on there that I've done it but it's not really relevant! Similarly when I'm applying for maternity nanny jobs I don't put oodles of detail about the recruitment consultant job I had one summer or how I worked in a bar. It's listed on there but not in any detail.

Even though I totally agree that everyone needs a start there are things people can do to help themselves get that start and this candidate ain't doin' 'em!

Beth - are you saying that a nursery worker who wants to be a nanny won't be doing any other childcare related work, like babysitting, so they have something to put on their CV?

beth - fran/nick have a point as I would give the right person a chance if everything pointed in the right direction (lets face its a very personal thing - even someone with nannying experience may not work for everyone). So lack of experience per se wouldn't count against someone who had shown they had given some thoguht to how to phrase their application for a sole care job.

This person's cv just looked like it had been sent out for any old job. Turns out old nanny knew her from one of her courses and passed on details as this person happened to ask if knew of any jobs going. Have seen someone else who had no personal experience who did try to at least phrase thigns in right way (althogh note to anyone who is doing this - I wasnt overwhelmed when she played down a reference to poor time keeping/attendance on a previous reference. That is pretty key if you are taking up a sole charge job).