How to Find the Perfect Before and After School Nanny

Its around about this time of year that we get a lot of calls from families looking for before and after school nannies. In most cases, the children have tried the service provided by the local school and it hasn't worked out for reasons such as the children's after school activity schedule and having to get up too early in the morning in order to leave at the same time as their parents.

Many parents often arrive at the conclusion that a nanny is the perfect solution; the children can stay in bed a little later in the mornings and the parents don't have to rush around before working getting them ready for school. A nanny normally arrives in the morning at approximately 30 minutes before the parents leave for work so that they can assist with the hectic morning schedule of breakfast, getting dressed, preparing school bags, seeing children to the bus etc.

Once the children go to school the nanny is free to leave and will not return until meeting the children off the bus when they finish school. Then its unpacking the school bag, preparing a snack and helping with homework. Its an ideal situation and normally cost effective if you have two or more children in school. It certainly makes life easier for the parents!

Finding the right nanny however can be challenging. In our agency, it's the most difficult position to place because most nannies don't want a job with split shifts, working for about two hours or less in the morning then two to  three hours at the end of the day. There is also the question on school breaks when you don't need the nanny to work. Therefore there are some important points to consider when searching for your nanny:

1 - Location
Find a nanny who lives within close proximity of your house. Ideally within a radius of five miles or a 10 minute commute. You want your nanny to be reliable and if a long commute is needed, traffic will become an issue. Also, who wants to get up in the morning and do a long commute only to work for less than two hours, return home and do the same later on in the day.

2- Nanny Qualities
Make sure the nanny is capable of being organized and staying on task. The busiest time in a household with children is the hour before they go to school and the time when they return home so you want to have a trial run first to see if your nanny can meet the hectic demands. She will need to demonstrate that she is able to stay calm.

3 - Homework
If you have children in third grade or higher they will have homework. The nanny will need to be able to assist and help review the lessons of the day.

4 - Driving
If the nanny is required to take your children to after school activities you will need to be sure that she is a safe driver, has a reliable form of transportation and is willing to sign an agreement with you that she/he will not text or talk on the phone while driving. Its really important to emphasize this and not assume that your nanny will know better. Its an epidemic problem.

5- Nanny pay
In order to attract the right candidates and make sure they stay with you, a higher hourly rate may be necessary. If you normally pay $12-$14 per hour in your area, you should consider paying in the region of $14 to $16 or more for this type of position.

6- Background checks
Make sure you run a thorough background check on your nanny before she/he starts and check that they have current CPR and First Aid so that they are ready to deal with emergencies.

Finding the right nanny can really help to improve a family's quality of life and avoid the organized chaos that so many of us find ourselves in.

The Nanny Interview - Getting it Right

I have seen many a nanny, who is highly experienced with  much to offer a family, lose an opportunity to someone with less experience just because of the way they performed during the face to face interview with the family. Generally the objections are mild, such as the nanny being shy or not asking any questions but occasionally I hear some real bloopers like the time the nanny candidate chewed gum all the way through the interview!

Of course, when you work with a nanny agency  there are a lot more hurdles to cross because you need to make a good impression on both the agency and the family. If you really want to land the perfect nanny position you can drastically improve your chances if you follow a few simple rules:

Rule One - Communicate

Whether you are using an agency or applying directly to the family your first line of communication with either be a phone call, email or application form. This is your first opportunity to capture the attention of the person making the hiring decision. It is also the most important. First impressions really do count.

Out of every ten emails I receive from candidates approximately 7-8 of them have spelling and grammatical errors. Many emails are written like a text message i.e. "hello, my name is jo and i was wondering if u r still looking for a nanny." Its no surprise that these emails are deleted without further consideration. Part of a nanny's responsibility, if she is caring for pre-schoolers might be to teach basic writing and reading skills!

Be sure to follow up your application with a phone call if possible or a second email. Nanny agencies can receive upwards of 200 applications a week and you need to make sure yours stands out. Don't take it personally if the agency or family doesn't return your call but whatever you do don't give up. 

Rule Two - Look like you want the job
You are not applying for a position working in an office and therefore you don't need to necessarily wear a suit but you do need to look smart and understated. Remember, as a nanny you may be required to step in for the parents at school events and the parents will want to see that you are able to represent the family in a strong light.

Rule Three - Make an impression
The first 30 seconds are the most important? Yes definitely! When you arrive for your interview be sure to get there on time, smile, make eye contact and give a firm handshake. Be sure to acknowledge everyone in the room, especially the children.

Rule Four - Nail the interview!
The family will have lots of questions to ask you. Liston carefully and only answer the questions they ask avoiding going off track onto other subjects. Have a list of questions of  your own, ideally with regards to the children and the responsibilities of the job. If the children are present, its okay to play and interact with them - the parents will want to see this.

Rule Five - Finish on a good note
Before leaving, let the family know if you think the job is an ideal fit for you and ask if they would like to set up a time for you to visit again and have more interaction time with the children. Always, always, always follow up with a thank you email reiterating your interest.

Good luck out there. If you follow these simple steps you will dramatically increase your chances of nailing the perfect nanny job.

How It Feels To Be A Nanny

How It Feels To Be a Nanny (For One of the Best Families in Town)

By Katelin Hill

Their mother is going to kill me, I thought as I scrubbed the black crayon off of the floor in vain, only smearing it further. My first day nannying for three toddlers had been spent thus far getting to know the kids, and the second their mother left me alone to go upstairs to relax, BAM—a Picasso, on a canvas of hardwood floor, with a medium of Crayola crayon. That's when I smelled it. Another child had left a little creation of their own in their diaper. I dropped what I was doing to tend to that.

I was holding toddler number two's feet with one hand and a clean diaper in the other when I realized that toddler number three had found the crayon I had neglected to hide, and was decorating the woven clothes hamper. I had to watch the mural unfold as I finished what I was doing, deciding I would rather have crayon on the walls than what toddler number two had to offer.

Since that day, I learned a lot of important lessons. Mr. Clean Magic Erasers, for example, should always be kept on hand as they are pure concentrated genius encapsulated in a single several-use sponge. I also learned that a good employer will not kill you over a mini-fiasco such as the one on my first day, and a great employer, such as the one I had, will giggle and tell you that was actually a very mild day in their household, and if that was all that had happened on my first day I should consider myself lucky.

Two years later, I still have yet to beat the feeling I get when I walk through their door and am welcomed by 3 pairs of feet, several sizes bigger than that fateful day, come scrambling to the door for hugs and screaming my name. During the last two years I don't think I have ever been able to get the theme song to Peep and the Big Wide World out of my head (and clapped my hands four times in the appropriate places). I've replaced choice grown-up words by exclaiming “oh fudge!” when a toddler runs right over my fingers while wearing their heaviest sneakers. I've been hugged by dripping wet children fresh out of the kiddy pool with no change of clothes on hand and put Band-Aids on bruises because sometimes it's just not worth it to argue with a three year old if a Nemo Band-Aid is all it will take for him to feel better. Although on the one hand the kids have been highly predictable little beings there was never a shortage of surprises. For example, when I ask one of my babies what he wants for dinner, the answer will never not be “grilled cheese.” Yet when I caught another kid I've recently started watching wiping boogers all over construction paper in place of paint, I can't say I was expecting that.

I have a lot of respect for parents. On several occasions I've arrived home after particularly long days and instead of relaxing kept thinking, “oh crud, where did the kids go?” I think this is how most parents probably feel daily. When I put my toddlers on bikes when they were just starting to learn to ride them I thought my heart was going to pound right through my chest. And the first time we took them to Kidsburg? I think my blood pressure steadily rose the whole hour we were there. That is one terrifying place. Ladders are dangerous, ropes are an accident waiting to happen, and if a bigger kid even looks at one of my babies the wrong way then it's time to mosey on over to a quieter area. Many people have told me I'm going to be the mother one day who keeps her kids enclosed in a protective bubble. There's an idea.

Nannying has been a great experience, and one of the most important things is to find the right family. This family and I were a perfect fit. One of the greatest compliments I've ever received was from the toddlers' mom. She walked into the house a few months after I had started working for her and told me she had forgotten her cell phone, but she told me “when I realized you couldn't call me, I thought, it's okay, because if anything happens Katelin can handle it.” She said that she hadn't trusted anyone like that with the kids, other than her own mother. I have to say though; I do probably raid the refrigerator a lot more than her mother.

It seems like forever ago I was making sure peas didn't get shoved up nostrils and that diapers stayed on their bottoms instead of wherever they felt like ripping them off to leave somewhere for me to step on. They have grown out of their diapers and cribs and gone through about 30 pairs of shoes each, each of which fit them for about a week before another growth spurt hit. They ride the school bus. My babies aren't really babies (and I guess technically they're not “mine”) but big kids now, and I look forward to watching them grow up as long as I have the privilege too.

My thoughts about nanny wages

I recently worked with a family who used the Williamsburg Nanny Agency on a previous occasion. They had been delighted with the nanny who unfortunately had to leave to move to a different state. During our first meeting I explained that the hourly nanny rate they could expect to pay for a professional nanny was a minimum of $12 to $14. Experience has taught me that its better to manage a client's expectations by being upfront and telling the truth.

I could tell they weren't keen on the idea of paying more than $10 per hour but I explained that in the case of hiring a nanny the old adage of 'you get what you pay for' could never be more true. Anyway, to cut a long story short I sent them eight strong candidates with excellent nanny experience and they ended up hiring a nanny they found on their own through a nanny website.

Naturally, I blamed myself for doing a poor job and not finding the right nanny (rare for me) only to find out from the ex-nanny that they hired an inexperienced illegal immigrant and paid her $9/hr which in some ways, was a relief to hear because I realized that despite the fact they were prepared to pay my fee they didn't want to pay the nanny anything above $10.

I truly hope it all works out for them for the children's sake if nothing else but why do we pay so little for childcare? I can understand if parent's are struggling to support a family and money is an issue but in the case of a professional couple, living in an upmarket neighborhood and driving nice cars why do they turn into Scrooge when it comes to their own children?

A good nanny works hard and earns every penny. So why is nanny work so underpaid? I like to see myself as an advocate for helping to increase nanny wages. Last week, two nannies sent me emails telling me their hourly rate had been increased. They were so excited! Just think how much happier they will be around the children they care for and how much more likely they are to stay with the family. We all know that children need consistency in order to thrive and taking care of a nanny can be the best way to provide it.