Has the time come that you need to turn partial care of your child over to another person? No matter whether your child is a baby, toddler, or of school age, the decision is huge. You are entrusting someone else for the care of the person you love most in your life. And you want to make the right decision for your child. And that decision means finding the right person to care for your child.

But before you make your decision on who will be the best at caring for your child, you will need to attract the best person to care for your child. Before you begin your search for the perfect nanny, prepare yourself. Let us help by helping you with the top 5 ways to find the best nanny for your family.

Prepare Your Expectations

You will need to be prepared to communicate your EXCACT expectations to your potential nanny.

What tasks do you expect your nanny to complete? What specific aspects of your child’s care do you want the nanny to perform? Will they need to cook and prepare meals? Bathe your child? Help with homework/schooling? Take your child on outings and play dates? Help with the tidying of the house? How do you want the nanny to discipline or correct the child? Do you prefer specific training and skill sets? Know what you want your nanny to do daily!

Once you know what you expect, prepare.

Setting Hours and Being Flexible

You will want to know ahead of time what and how many hours you will need your nanny to work per week. Will they need to be there 8-5? Part time? Full time? Will you need them to work weekends? How about holidays? Think of all the possibilities and be realistic with your needs and the exact schedule you might need!

The majority of career nanny candidates want full-time positions with 40-50 hours a week. But they also expect to be given some flexibility for sick/personal days and ample time off when needed. Consider offering your nanny two consecutive days off per week to let them rest and recharge for the following week! If you know you will need more help certain weeks, be prepared to give ample notice to them. Or if need be, be prepared to find a babysitter on those days when your nanny needs time off. We can always help find temp nannies to fill in any days off you may need to accommodate giving your nanny some days off here and there as needed.

Prepare to Offer Competitive Pay and Great Benefits

In order to attract the best, most experienced nanny, you will need to offer a competitive compensation package. This doesn’t necessarily have to be the max salary out there, but one that shows you respect the experience, education and hard work that any career nanny will devote to your family. Know what the typical rates for nanny care in your area are and offer that or better to your potential nanny.

You will also want to offer the a solid package of benefits. These often include legal pay, paid vacation, paid sick days and paid holidays with guaranteed hours. Some families will offer to cover some or all of their nanny’s insurance costs for health and dental/vision insurance. Some will offer gym memberships, the use of a vehicle and even the use of a vacation home during time off. Another great benefit is gifting their employee frequent flier miles to let them travel during time off! Offer the best, if you want the best. We can help you customize a great package for your family and situation.

Pay Them in A Legal Manner

Let your potential nanny know you are honest and want to do right by them. DO NOT pay or offer to pay your potential nanny “under the table”. Yes, it will save you work, but it can also get you into legal trouble. Do right by your employee by offering them the benefits and legal protections of keeping books and withholding the taxes you are required to. This also allows for a more experienced, professional nanny to step into the role and often times makes for a more proactive, engaged and reliable nanny who takes her position much more seriously. They will feel like you respect them, and will perform their job better in return!

Offer Training

Great nannies will jump at the opportunity of bettering their skills. Offer to send them to workshops, and training sessions. Both of you will benefit from the extra skills learned.

Finding the perfect nanny does not have to be difficult. Just remember to prepare and communicate your expectations, set the hours, offer competitive pay and benefits, be honest, and help them grow.

And soon, you will have the nanny best suited for your family!

Oh, we can’t forget one more way you can find the best nanny! That is to use a nanny placement agency like us here at �����鶹. You are able to get an agency that has experience with over 20 years in business, a trustworthy agency that performs extensive background and reference checks, and tons of value as we choose the best candidates based on a custom family profile. You can learn more about �����鶹 here.

Go check us out on , , and .

Read more of our blogs here!

The post Top 5 Ways to Find the Best Nanny for Your Family appeared first on �����鶹.

And you do not want to make the wrong choice when it comes to the care of your child. The wrong choice could leave you feeling unsettled and anxious every time you leave your child. And you DO NOT want that at all.

Today I want to share with you six things that you DO NOT want to do, when hiring a nanny.

1. Do NOT hire an inexperienced nanny.

When you hire a nanny, you want her to have the experience caring for a similar aged child, and the same number of children. For instance, do you have twins? Its best in that type of situation that she has cared for twins and their special needs before.

• Do NOT neglect calling references.

�����鶹 performs lengthy phone interviews with each candidate’s references and provides a detailed report on each conversation, but we suggest you do additional reference calls to ask your own questions as well!

Calling a nanny’s references will quickly get you the facts on that nanny’s previous work experience.

Ask questions to get the facts. Such as …

“How did you come into contact with this nanny?”

“Would you hire this nanny again?”

“How many days did she call in sick, or report to work late?”

“What issues (minor ones included) came about with this nanny?”

• Do NOT be vague on your parenting methods and preferences in the interview process.

Your potential nanny needs to fully understand your preferences from the beginning.

During your interview discuss…

Housework- What do you expect your nanny to accomplish around the house. And when should she do them.

Media Usage- Are you comfortable with the nanny using the Television, computer, or phone during hours she is caring for your child? Or do you want her to only use those during specific hours during care.

Sleep training and routines- Do expect the nanny to rock or walk the baby to sleep? Or do you prefer your child to self soothe? Is there a specific way you want your children put to sleep? Do you want nanny to help with a new routine or work on sleep training or do things exactly as you already do?

Nanny’s meal arrangements- Do you provide meals for your nanny? Or will you expect her to bring her own food?

Play dates and activities- Is the nanny expected to arrange play dates? Do you want playdates in your home, or in a public setting? Do you want your child participating in story time at the library or visiting the zoo? Is the nanny okay with driving your children around? Are you okay with driving her around?

Discipline- What methods of discipline do you want implemented for your children?

• Do NOT be vague about pay.

Talk about how many days you expect of her to work a week. Talk about exactly what the schedule will be each day. How many days off she will have in a year, including sick days, and whether or not she will be paid those days.  Professional nannies will expect a standard package of benefits including paid vacation, paid sick days paid legal holidays and guaranteed hours.

Also discuss how she will be paid. Hourly? A flat rate? And how often will pay be received?

• Do NOT neglect to set up working interviews!

You should always ask the nanny to come do at least one working interview where candidates will come perform anywhere from 1-5 complete work days to watch how you take care of your children, what the normal schedule and routine will look like and how you want things done. Walk her through a typical day. Show her how you feed, change, and put the child down for naps. Then let her do those tasks the next day, with you following behind to make sure it is going well. This time will also help your baby adjust to the change and know that this person is someone they can trust.

• Do NOT interview only one person.

While it may be the right person right out the gate, don’t settle for the first person you interview. Make sure you interview multiple candidates. You want to make sure that you have candidates to compare to make the best decision! Make sure to ask the right questions of each person. We will provide you a detailed list of interview questions and what to look for in interviews! Here are some great suggestions to ask candidates:

“How long have you been a nanny?”

“How many children have you cared for at once?”

“How and why did you end your previous jobs?” 

“What activities will you do with my child during the day?”

“Do you have any certifications? CPR, childcare, etc.?”

“Is your schedule flexible?”

“How do you handle sick days?”

In conclusion, finding and deciding on a great nanny can be hard work, and it should be! This is a big decision. You are hiring someone to fill your shoes in your child’s world while you are gone, those are BIG shoes to fill!

Hire experience. Call references. Be clear on parenting methods. Be clear on pay. Do working interviews. Interview multiple candidates.

And before you know it, you will have your dream candidate. Someone matched to meet your needs, the needs of your child and who will become the newest member of your family!

If you need more tips on what not to do when hiring your perfect nanny, feel free to reach out to us here at �����鶹 and we’d be happy to assist! We specialize in long term, career nanny placements and have an amazing relationship with of some of the best nannies in the industry who have trusted us for many years. We can help you in finding placements that are the right fit, for all of your families unique needs. Click here for more information. We would love to help!

Want to keep up with us even more for family and nanny tips? Follow us on the following platforms:

The post What Not To Do When Hiring A Nanny appeared first on �����鶹.