Employing a nanny

[ClareC]

How long does it realistically take to employ a good nanny? What is the best way to find one? Any tips etc?

When I go back to work the best solution for me seems to be nanny / nanny share, would be handy to know how far in advance I need to organise this. I am happy to employ a nanny and then, at a later date (hopefully) find another family to share. At the moment I have no idea when I am going back or how many days which doesn't exactly make childcare easy!!

My friend is an ex nanny and said she would help me, she is very anti nanny agency and recommends advertising in the Lady magazine (sounds very grand). Any advice appreciated :-)

[womanofdulwich]

i think 3 months to start to nose around ( they will need to give a months notice I should think)but I think early sep is a "rush hour" as is whenever a child starts school/nursery, when a nanny ends up being free for part of the day and takes on a younger child- this is how it often works.

Simply childcare is a good place to look.

[chantelle]

Hi Clare, I started interviewing nannies in early July for a Sept. 1 start. I found lots of great candidates on simply childcare (you pay a small fee to search their ads and post your own) and ended up hiring the first one we met, who seemed perfect and has proven to be so. At the same time, I was talking to families about shares, and everything quickly fell into place.

good luck!

[Sqiggles]

an ad on gumtree works well - although you will get a lot of replies, so you need to filter. The best way to find a nanny however is word of mouth - if you know anyone with a nanny, ask them to ask their nanny if she has any friends looking for work. In my experience nannies only recommend people that they rate, and they know who are the good nannies.

[sglanzer]

Gumtree also resulted in a very good nanny indeed for us - possibly less grand than the ones who read the Lady, but highly competent. About one in ten of the replies you get is likely to be any good, but you get loads, so that's plenty. 2 or 3 months in advance. Nanny sharers are surprisingly not so easy to find though,unless someone you know would like to do it, so it's probably a good idea to start looking round for someone to share with as soon as you possibly can, and it may work well to select with them as you then both feel equally involved from the outset in making important decisions.

[littleEDfamily]

I would agree with sglanzer - if you think you may need to go the nanny share route (for financial reasons) or it is your preference reasonably soon, I would start off finding a family to share with once you know what days you are doing.

6-8 weeks should be plenty of time once you know what you are offering.

If you decide to employ the nanny yourselves only initially, I would suggest making sure you know what the nanny would be after pay-wise and condition-wise once the role becomes a share (eg how much more money they would want, whether they would expect to be paid by (and have a contract with) each of you, or to have one "main" employer and a secondary one, how they would propose to manage the often differing expectations of each family in regards to a routine, how it would work with holidays, what age of child they would be comfortable with etc etc).

I have heard of very few people finding good nannies through agencies, and personally I think the way to find a good nanny is through mummy networks, especially mums with slightly older children - this forum could probably offer some good recommendations for nannies who are soon to be looking for new roles as their charges move onto nursery/ school...