6 Steps to Help You Hire a Nanny

How to Find a Nanny

There are a lot of things to look out for when hiring a nanny. Top among the list is safety, trust, and a value system.

In the following steps, we will explain different ways you can find the right nanny for your family, as well as how to conduct interviews, do background checks and more.

Let's begin.

Step 1 — What Do You Want?

This is the most important thing to consider before going to search for a nanny. Whoever you hire will spend a lot of time with your child, so you want to make sure their demeanor, personality, and values are a good fit.

You don't want to be in a hurry and skip this step. Carefully plan out what you want.

To help you complete this step, we've included questions you can attempt to answer; try to answer the following questions critically.

1. What would be the nanny's duties?
2. Do I have the finances to pay for a nanny?
3. What personality traits do I want in my nanny?
4. How often would I need a nanny?
5. Will they live with me? If yes, can I put up with their welfare? If not, how would they get to "work," do they have a car?

Once you’ve answered those questions, you can move on to the next step.

Step 2 — Things to Watch Out For

Now that you've decided you can hire a nanny, you can begin your search and hiring process.

We'll show you just that in a moment, but again we would like you to pause, and watch out for the following as you start looking.

• Do they have a clean driving record?
• Are they CPR certified?
• Experience in the job, how long, and any record of abuse?
• Do they love being around children?
• Can they provide good references of past work placements?

What About COVID?

With the advent of the pandemic, you might want to decide how to handle coronavirus concerns as well. Consider the following:

• Will you quarantine the sitter with you or separately before they start?
• Are they vaccinated?

Include similar questions in your vetting process, and ask potential candidates how they would work under the confines of the pandemic. Any questions regarding the safety of your children are fair game.

Step 3 — Where to Look

There are different places to begin your search. Here are our top three recommendations:

• Ask around. Get recommendations from people you trust; they can be family members, friends, neighbours, co-workers etc.
• Social Media. Facebook can be a great place to find reputable nannies, and many people will also have business pages set up as well.
• Visit dedicated websites. There are thousands of websites out there that list the services of nannies. Some of these sites are dedicated to providing you with nanny job seekers, where people who want a nanny (like you) patronise. Some of these sites are: Care.com, Sittercity.com, and Urbansitter.com.
• Visit a nanny placement company. If you don’t want to look online, then you can walk into a nanny placement company for referrals instead.

Step 4 — Interviewing Prospective Candidates

This should be a conversational process. Get to know the candidate and think about what they would be like if they integrated with your family. Ask them about their background, interests, how they handle stress, and get to know them and their personality.

To be certain, you should ask the following questions:

• Do you have previous experience with childcare?
• Do you have CPR certification? Can you conduct basic first aid?
• What are your views on child discipline, and how do you discipline a child?
• In tough situations like incessant baby crying, what would you do?
• Are you okay with us running a background check on you?

Step 5 — Background Checks

If you found someone who is a good match for you and your family, you may want to run a background check before sending them an offer of employment. If so, follow these steps:

• Ask your candidate for references from their past employers
• Call their past employers and ask for a review from them
• Visit their social media pages
• Check their education records
• Look at their criminal and history record
• Check the National Sex Offender Registry

There are services that can help you run background checks as well; feel free to use them if you want a more detailed history.

Step 6 — Salary

There is no fixed price for a nanny. What you pay depends on things like the number of children they are caring for, number of hours worked in a day, years of experience, degrees, etc.

These will influence whether you'll pay annually or hourly, and how much you'd pay. You can always ask candidates for what their expectations are and use that to gauge what they are looking for, and what you can offer.

Someone with more experience and expertise will expect a higher salary than a new nanny. Remember, what you pay will reflect the care they provide.

Conclusion

If you follow all the steps we’ve outlined here, you should be able to find the right nanny for your family. Knowing how to find a nanny may seem difficult, but with the right tools and resources, you’ll find yourself on the right track in no time.

Make sure to interview them and do your best to find a match that will work with your needs, and the unique needs of your children as well. A good nanny may be difficult to find but will be well worth it in the long haul.