MB's - Do you not trust your nanny if you do a trial/shadow day?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a 4th time mom and just did my first trial days (two weekends because she had another weekday job). We got this nanny through an agency, too.

I did it because I needed to *know,* not just assume based on her answers at an interview and what her references said, that she could handle all of our kids and their mix of ages for an 8-hour day. I have also had a couple of nannies who really could not separate their personal and professional lives, and I wanted to see how we interacted.

So, she was hired contingent on those trial days.

Hmm...I would be okay doing the trial days, but I would hope that you would understand that I wouldn't be giving notice until after you extended a full and true offer. This means many nannies would still not be available for another 30 days. Do you give them enough time to do that?

She gave her notice before the trial period, but could have gotten her job back (she was working at a daycare). I hear what you're saying, but it's better to call it a trial period so everyone has their eyes open than to fire someone after a couple of weeks/month, don't you think? We were confident in our candidate, but we needed to see her in action.

Working interviews.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've been a nanny for a looonnnggg time and I have seen both types of parents, the ones who want to "train" you and have shadow days and the ones that say "we are so glad to have found you, here, good luck!"

Those families that want to have shadow days always turn out to be the more annoying families. If you have a special needs baby I could understand it, but all the families that have done the overlapping days with me have turned out to be overbearing and obsessive. They are the ones who without fail try to justify their children bad behaviors and problems. They always say one thing but do another.

The ones that gave trust right out of the gate always seemed to be more involved in a constructive way. They are the ones that let their kids go out and explore their world, experience new things, learn by doing.

Of course I'm sure there are people who would break the trend, but just in my experience this is what it has been. By now I have learned enough from experience to avoid overbearing families and notice the signs, so I hope to not end up doing any more "trial" days in the future.

I've been a nanny a long time too, and have had both trial days and just jumped right in and I have never had an overbearing boss, but I tend to know if I will click with a family from their job listing and our interview. If I feel I'll be micromanaged and not supported I'll keep looking.

Nice generalizations there. Guess you'll never work for me (as I "overlapped" for a day and a half with our nanny to infant twins - clearly a major indicator of an overbearing boss). I think we're both better off for not having to suffer each other.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a 4th time mom and just did my first trial days (two weekends because she had another weekday job). We got this nanny through an agency, too.

I did it because I needed to *know,* not just assume based on her answers at an interview and what her references said, that she could handle all of our kids and their mix of ages for an 8-hour day. I have also had a couple of nannies who really could not separate their personal and professional lives, and I wanted to see how we interacted.

So, she was hired contingent on those trial days.

Hmm...I would be okay doing the trial days, but I would hope that you would understand that I wouldn't be giving notice until after you extended a full and true offer. This means many nannies would still not be available for another 30 days. Do you give them enough time to do that?

She gave her notice before the trial period, but could have gotten her job back (she was working at a daycare). I hear what you're saying, but it's better to call it a trial period so everyone has their eyes open than to fire someone after a couple of weeks/month, don't you think? We were confident in our candidate, but we needed to see her in action.

Working interviews.

This is our hiring process:

1. Job Ad
2.Select applicants for a phone interview
3. Select a few from phone interview to meet in person
4. Pick top 2 and have them do a working interview no more than two days to see how we connect and check references.
5. Offer job.
6. Have an orientation of a day or two just for transition.

My sister suggested this method to me and we have found great nannies this way.

Before someone gets on me for having multiple nannies DH and I are both in fields that require frequent moves. Our current nanny has been with us 15 months hopefully we won't need to search again for a year or two.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've been a nanny for a looonnnggg time and I have seen both types of parents, the ones who want to "train" you and have shadow days and the ones that say "we are so glad to have found you, here, good luck!"

Those families that want to have shadow days always turn out to be the more annoying families. If you have a special needs baby I could understand it, but all the families that have done the overlapping days with me have turned out to be overbearing and obsessive. They are the ones who without fail try to justify their children bad behaviors and problems. They always say one thing but do another.

The ones that gave trust right out of the gate always seemed to be more involved in a constructive way. They are the ones that let their kids go out and explore their world, experience new things, learn by doing.

Of course I'm sure there are people who would break the trend, but just in my experience this is what it has been. By now I have learned enough from experience to avoid overbearing families and notice the signs, so I hope to not end up doing any more "trial" days in the future.

Nice generalizations there. Guess you'll never work for me (as I "overlapped" for a day and a half with our nanny to infant twins - clearly a major indicator of an overbearing boss). I think we're both better off for not having to suffer each other.

We can tell you are overbearing long before we get to discussing a trial day, so don't worry, we won't waste our time on you.