Find a job or child care first?

[CoraCoo]

So after another thread I started, I have been buoyed to get back into work. I have two under 5's so household income will just be breaking even after childcare costs but I'm looking at the long term picture.

What did you do in this situation? I don't know what days I will need childcare until i find a job, but u xant dtart a job unless i have childcare in place and there's waiting lists, admission panels and whatever else to consider. How would you make it work?

It's a bit of a chicken and egg situation, isn't it? Personally I sorted childcare first, so I could be sure the children were settled first and answer with certainty about my availability in interviews. Having the children already in care will also give you more time to job hunt in a strategic way. However I had reason to be confident that it would not take me long to find the job I wanted.

If I had been less sure of my how long job hunt would take, then I would probably have found the job first, & then hired a casual babysitter to bridge the gap between my starting work and finding permanent care for the children.

Slightly different situation, as I only had one (14 month old) when I went job hunting following redundancy, and the type of work I do is earning more than just break even. I sorted nursery first and had it formally booked a day a week (I used that day for job hunting and nap time in the other days) until I found a job and agreement with nursery to up hours to full time once I got a job. They also did ad hoc extra half days for job interviews/assessment centres for me. At least it meant my dd was settled in and I could start work immediately when I got a job.