I have a 3 month old that I need to find part time care for, and am overwhelmed on where to start. This is my 3rd child, but my first time looking for a nanny. My husband and I have our own business and work from home for the most part. With my first 2 kids, I was able to keep them home with me for the first 2 years, at which point I put them in a daycare facility. Our business has grown a lot in the last year though, and is requiring a lot more of my attention. I don't have enough time to get my work done using only the baby's nap times. (She isn't the greatest napper either, which leaves even less time!). She also refuses to eat from a bottle, which further complicates things! I love the daycare/preschool that my other 2 attend, but I don't like the idea of 1 person caring for multiple infants, which is why I won't consider putting her there. I am VERY picky when it comes to care, especially for an infant. So, where do I start? Should I post a job? Look through profiles and just contact people directly? What about a formal job application... does anyone else use one? How do I determine what amount of pay is realistic? Do most pay by the hour, day, week or month? Any guidance from others that are experienced in this area would be greatly appreciated!

Tiffany

Tiffany:

I think you should easily be able to find someone, so just take it one step at a time. The process i have vetted and like is:

1) Come up with your wants, and an application that YOU have created.
2) Post a very direct, detailed job description on both craigslist and care.com. I thitnk even your tone will solicit the appropriate people. For example, mine said "If you are able to multitask, don't mind jumping in the pool, a board game or activity, are organized and like to keep things clean, etc."
3) When you get someone emailing you, just send them an application. Mine is 7 pages long and weeds out people who are not committed.
4) In my application, I have a question: How much do you want to get paid based on the job description? I never post what I am willing to pay, because to me it entirely depends on the person. If you get an applicant who wants $700/week who has no experience, then I don't even interview them. If you get a good candidate that wants more, then it might be that they can't afford to take less. If you can pay the higher range of their 'request'- I also think that will be a good position for you to manage expectations.
5)After finding a few applicants who meet your needs, do a short phone interview, and if that goes well, invite them to meet.
6) After meeting, narrow down a few. I then take the final candidates home and have them do a 'trial run'- which I pay them for. Once, I had my mom stay at the house, once I worked from home and another time, I left them with the kids and had a good idea of 'do they pick up' do they do dishes, did the kids like them, etc. Then you can make an offer to the best fit for your family. I had 2 great canadidates when I hired my last nanny over a year ago and we ended up with the right one- my husband happened to like her better. . .I liked them both.

ALSO, I ALWAYS pay weekly and try to be consistent. Even if we go on vacation or there is a holiday, I guarantee that they are paid the same each week. Granted, my nannu works 50 hours/week, but there are plenty of times that she flexes, or will stay late for me. . .its a big help when they know they are guaranteed and not necessarily 'clocking' hours.

i'm happy to send any and all of my docs if you email me your email address- you can't send docs through care.com.

I have done all of the things that others here have suggested and I have found some really good candidates. I have even hired them and they have worked out for awhile but I seem to have a problem with keeping them. It is not that we are a difficult family to work for, were not . In fact if we have a flaw it is probably that we are to accommodating and easy going. I would like to hear what others have to say about keeping the nanny once you hire them.I have read other posts that say people have similar issues with hiring someone then they last 6 months and quit. We pay a fair wage for the area we live in and we are nice people, we have a live in now and she seems to be working out but she just started this week so we will see. I am tired of the process and just want to get someone who will stay. Is there something I am doing wrong?

Kindra- I would also love to see your application if you don't mind sending it to me. Hsparks@aol.com. I would really appreciate it!!

We are having the same issue.

Kendra - I too would love to see your application if you wouldn't mind desertdiva7@gmail.com

We have school age children that need to be gotten up and taken to school in the mornings because my husband and I leave by 4 am we were having a really hard time finding someone reliable who was there every morning so we went to a live in. After droping the kids at school we ask for about 3 hours of housekeeping including laundry then she has the rest of the day until dinner, 3 days a week we ask that she fix dinner the rest of the time she is off by 2:30. We pay for gas,phone, gym membership and all living expenses plus a salary. We have a nice private room with attached bath and a pool and hot tub that we allow access to. In the last year I have had one that quit, and 2 that I have had to fire and we are on our 4th one now and at the end of week one we are not sure....she is good with the kids but seems like she is going to maybe be lazy once school starts. To soon to tell. I am just really tired of continuing to go through the process....it seems like the people that apply are young and think it is going to be some really easy glamorous job, we even changed from advertizing for a nanny to advertizing for a housekeeper with child care responsibility's because we wanted the applicant to realize that there was housekeeping involved. I am at a loss for what to do or how to find an applicant that fits in with our family and wants to work and stay! I know that most of the applicants from Care.com have not worked out during the interview process, I have never moved to the trial process with them.

I don't think there is a perfect solution to retention- I honestly think it is luck- on both the part of the employer and employee- and finding the right fit. For regular person to be a childcare giver, it is a tough job, and I think finding the right balance of someone who is conscientious, but also caring and diligent is tough. We are on our 4th nanny in 5 years. I think the more YOU can do to figure out your comfort level as to what YOU need and want in a person will 1) help you craft a better job description, 2) lay out expectations from the start and 3) be able to ask the right questions to a prospective nanny.

I think my job description alone weeded out 1) people not willing to do housework, 2) people not wanting to be too active(3 boys and swimming prerequisite), 3) people who don't like pets and 4) by virtue of those things, someone who needs to be a multitasker. I also think it ultimately targeted what my comfort level was, and that was someone in their 20 somethings, v. a grandmother-type or someone who had kids of their own. I think it would be hard to work 10 hours for me one day and then go home to more young children.

ALSO, if you need weird hours, nights or early mornings, and you have the space for another person, I really do think an au Pair is a great situation. WE are in the process of considering that for next summmer/fall. My husband travels a lot for his job (and will continute to do more), I travel occassionally and we have no familly locally. We have room for an additional bedroom in our basemet and a half bath that could be converted to a fell bath, so we are looking into that. We also provide a car for our nanny rightnow, so while my husband doesn't love the thought of someone living in our house, I think that needs are needs and au pairs can be really flexible with nighttime and weekend hours too. I have a few friends that needed part time daily help, but then use the au pair for nights out, which works great for a date night or weekend errands. One of my full-time working moms also puts her youngest in mother's morning out,so the au pair gets 3 mornings a week off, which opens up her hours for other things or working some nights. Realize the most an au pair can stay with you is 2 years, but if you aren't getting more than 6 months out of most local nannies, I think its a great thing. In our oldhouse, it would've never worked,but now that we have a basement and a bigger house, we are considering it!

good luck!!

Thanks Kendra for the info and papers!
Cindy I totally understand you pain. I can not understand why it is so difficult to find help that can do what you ask. We also had issues with a live in that became to comfortable and that is why we had to fire her. We really would like someone to feel at home when they are a live in but it seems that it is difficult to find someone that can draw their own boundaries! I also have twins however mine are older and need less care since they go to school. My pay a good wage and am at the point where we are thinking of having a nanny and separate housekeeper...we will pay the same or more for less but we can't seem to find someone who can do it. My husband can't understand it ...and neither do I really. It is not a really tough job with us because our kids are older and yet you would think we were asking for the moon and stars. We are thinking of the Aupair as an alternative to what we have done, they only stay 2 years but it is better than 6 months or less!

I wouldn't worry that much about the au pair- I have about 6 friends who have au pairs and they are all really happy with the arrangement- and if your house is big enough, then they will want their own space- and make friends with other au paris (there is a network) when not working for you. I just think for consistency, reliability and TRAINABILITY, if you have done a live-in, it works out to about minimum wage if you do everything right. We have a fabulous deal on our current nanny and generally works out really well, but my next choice is an au pair, especially if we can put them in our basement(it even has a 2nd kitchen), so I think you could still have your family time as I am sure most of them want their own space to do stuff as well!

Do you ladies mind me asking how much you pay for a live in baby sitter/housekeeping????
I am having the same issue with our live in baby sitter and was thinking to go back to a daycare.......

It really depends on where you live. I used the calculator on the site for my area. I have a live in and we provide all daily living like shampoo toothpaste food ....etc as well as gas for her car and Gym membership and cell phone then we pay 300 a week. We work on a 40 hour work week and pay for every week even if we don't use 40 hours . We use to provide car and insurance but our last nanny wrecked the car so at the present the person we hired already had a car so we are paying her gas.

I agree it is a super hard balance. You want to be nice and when they live in you want them to feel welcome. I think that is where we have a hard time drawing the balance between being nice and being professional. I would love to hear any suggestions people who have had live ins before have or even live outs. It is harder I think with a live in. My husband seems to let them be more lax while I am gone(I travel a LOT) but then he complains to me when things are not kept up on...Then I get upset because I come home to the turmoil and sometimes a mess....

Thanks everyone for sharing your processes and hopes and fears. I am an starting round two of this process, taking over the care of my three year old granddaughter. My daughter was 27 and my son is 24. Back when I started with them I hired a live-in nanny from a nanny agency. The first go round did not work, but my second nanny stayed with us for 7 years. I agree some of it is luck, but I also pursued looking for an older woman who was in her 50's and had already raised her own kids and was not likely to run off to get married or have another career. This formula had worked for my business partner's wife and it worked very well for me.

Now, I have a wonderful little three year old and I am looking for a part-time live out. With my own kids I used live-outs, also from a nanny agency and they were younger and did not last more than 2 years each.

I think that because these women are essentially being paid minimum wage and the children are not theirs that getting a helicopter mom type for long term is impossible. I recently interviewed a wonderful potential nanny who was looking for a new job because her current family was moving to Europe. She had been a part-time live-out and was a Montessori teacher and was a good cook and an organizer/multi-tasker. However, her former employer paid her over $20/hour. I think that is the main crux of the problem. Someone who is really good like ourselves will want to be paid well for the job. When you add up the $20/hr or the equivalent of a weekly salary that is $20/hr it is still quite a low pay.

So there are no easy solutions here. And I recently did a trial run with an older woman that did not work out. I used the "Nolo Press" book" how to hire an nanny or an au pair" that spells out the process and has forms that are legal etc. I would highly recommend that book!

I think in general an older woman will have more longevity but maybe not the "young spirit" and energy that a younger woman has. So I think it is a choice on what you want, and you may not be able to get all of the household management stuff plus excellent "mom" like childcare in the same person. However, I think it is possible to get a long term person with a very prescribed set of household activities and adequate to good and loving childcare if you manage expectations up front and provide benefits like paid vacation, holidays and do annual or semi-annual performance reviews with salary increases or benefit increases like health insurance. That is what I had with my first nanny!

Good luck everyone!

Tiffany, would you mind sending me your applicatoin so I don't have to reinvent the wheel? I can certainly make it my own but would love to see yours as a starting ground. My email is kcappelli03@aol.com. Thanks so much!!!!!!!