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Nanny Seeking Family
Using this site & choosing a nanny job
If you have a question thats not been answered here, simply send us an Email by clicking here and we will do our best to answer it.
This site is designed for ease of use. Please Email us if you have any questions or are unable to use any feature of the site. We have tried to present for you the information that you will need to choose the families that you would be interested in interviewing. After you have registered you will be able to search for families and contact families directly by phone or Email Please remember that after 30 days your posting will expire and you will need to renew your account. We will Email you to remind you of this.
The place to start is to decide where in the country you would like your nanny job to be, if you are relocating. Please remember that most nanny jobs will be in the larger cities. Unless you are only interested in one city, we suggest that when you register, you register for several areas so that more families will contact you. When you are searching for your nanny job, looking at family descriptions, try all areas of the country that you would like to live in.
Once you know what areas you are looking for nanny jobs in, you need to match your experience with that of the family and the requirements that the family requires. Nanny jobs vary from requiring no experience to requiring many years of full-charge nanny work. Generally, if this will be your first nanny job, it is best to find a job where you would be a "mother's helper". This is generally a nanny job where the mum is not working and you will be there to help her out. As all experienced nannies know, a nanny's job can be very stressful at times, so it is important to choose a nanny job that is at your level of experience. Usually if there is more than one preschool age child at home this can be stressful for an inexperienced nanny.
A Mothers Help would have childcare experience but has not taken any formal childcare qualifications. If your experience is bringing up your own children and you have not worked for a family before, obtain character references from people you know. If you have childcare experience and are able to provide any kind of references you are welcome to register.
This site is designed only as a venue for nannies and families to find each other. NannySelect.co.uk has not verified in any way the information posted by families, nor have we spoken to them. Because of this it is extremely important that you listen carefully to what the family is saying to you. It is also important that you have a very clear understanding of what the family expects from you. Listen carefully to your feelings. Feel free to ask questions of the family and judge how they respond. Be sure to speak to both the mother and father, if it is a two-parent household. If this is your first nanny job perhaps you should have one of your parents or another older adult that knows you well speak to the family.
Here is a list of things that cause most of the problems between nannies and families:
Bad communication between the parents and the nanny. Never assume that they know what you are thinking and feeling.
Lack of respect of the family for the nanny and failure to backup the nanny's decisions with the children.
Not clarifying in advance what is expected of you. The points to cover are the number of hours that you will be working, the duties that are required, vacation pay, overtime and which holidays you have off with pay.
Sometimes there is not a good "personality fit" between the nanny and the parents. Perhaps you as the nanny are very structured and the family is not structured, or maybe the nanny is not very neat and tidy and the family is very fastidious.
Most importantly, if you have a bad feeling when you are interviewing try to explore what it is about. If it persists there will be another job for you.
Nannies are normally almost exclusively focused on the children. When the parents are not home the nanny is a replacement for mom. That means that you'll be responsible for disciplining, driving, bathing, providing emotional comfort and feeding the children. Nannies are usually only responsible for the child-related chores around the home. This includes cooking, doing the children's laundry, keeping the children's toys and areas neat and tidy and tidying up the kitchen. Other tasks that many nannies do are doing the family's laundry, shopping for the family and cooking for the family.
Nannies depending on their experience and skills earn from about £130 a week up to £600 (Mothers Helps and inexperienced Nannies at the lower end of the scale). Live-in nannies often work up to five 12-hour days. Live-ins are normally responsible for babysitting one or two nights a week, with the nanny free to go to school or out the other nights. Most families will allow the nanny to live seven days at their home and also provide the nanny with a car for work usage. Some families provide more experienced nannies with full-time usage of a car. Live-out nannies work up to a ten-hour day. All families need to pay at least the minimum wage. If you are unsure about what that might be, contact the appropriate employment department.
Living arrangements vary from a private guesthouse to sharing a room and bath with a child. The usual is for the nanny to have a private room and preferably a private bath. A live-in nanny job has long hours and privacy is real important, so that you can separate yourself from the family when you are not working. A live-in nanny is not expected to get up regularly at night to feed or attend to a child.
It is important that you have several conversations with the parents, both mum and dad, before accepting the nanny job. Be sure that the family listens to you and your needs. A nanny job is a real partnership and good communication is critical for its success.
Find out about the family's lifestyle. Are they formal, casual, do they want you to eat with them? Have they had a nanny before? If so what did they like about her? What could have been better? Is the family fastidious, average in cleanliness or are they sloppy? How does this fit with your personality? What is their child-rearing philosophy--is it close to yours? How much structure is the mother going to give you and how closely will she supervise your work? How much structure do you need? Is the mum at home and not working? If so, you and she will have to become especially close for the position to work. Does the dad or mum work out of the home?
If you haven't had much experience as a nanny, think about having a more experienced adult speak to the prospective employer. How is the family paying weekly, bimonthly, monthly? Most importantly sign a contract so that what is expected of you is clearly spelled out. Please remember that NannySelect.co.uk is only a venue for you to find a nanny job and does not interview or speak to the families.
Deactivating your account is easy. Simply log-in and go to "Your Account". At the top of this page is a large button that says "deactivate your account". Click this when you have found a job and do not wish to continue receiving inquiries about your services.
