Frustrated with nanny search and hiring

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Get an Au Pair. That would work well for you.

That's a real crap shoot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You're going to have a hard time finding someone in the lower end of the pay range (18-20) in Boston who isn't flaky. You're even kind of describing flaky (1-2 years of not-sure-what-she-wants-to-be-when-she-grows-up).

I think you do actually want a professional nanny, just a younger one. You're going to need to pay more.

Agree that your price range is too low for what you want.

[Anonymous]

What should the hourly rate be? I think the other person may be right - I do want a more professional nanny just someone who is younger.

[Anonymous]

Boston nannies usually quote around $23-25/hr.. I have no idea how suburbs play into that. I also think the group I hear that from usually expects to be paid on the books, so that would probably be competitive even with those who are used to being paid off the books.

[Anonymous]

While it can be super frustrating when people apply for a position that they are not entirely qualified, many employment coaches suggest doing it because you may still get offered the position.

Perhaps there are qualities that weren't originally listed that you possess. Or perhaps the responses received by the potential employer didn't net any "fully qualified" applicants!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:18-20 per hour for 46 hours. It's two kids, but one in school so more like 1.5. Light housework only - we have a house cleaner 2x a month this is more unloading dishwasher, sweeping after kids and folding laundry during nap. Because of the tax thing - all of the former au pairs typically cannot do the position because they are on student visas. I am looking for someone ideally in their 20s, without kids, who speaks fluent English, drives and has some childcare background, could be anything from camp to babysitting, to working at the Y to nannying. I do not care about level of education. There is just so much to wade through from care.com

Ideally my candidate is in her youngish twenties who may have graduated college, or may not, or done some community college and wants an eventual career with children but not sure exactly what and wants to work as a nanny for 1-2 years.

Is this unreasonable?

OP we actually had very very similar requirements/wants, a virtually identical setup, and were offering pretty much the same rate though in what I suspect is a slightly less expensive market--Philadelphia. We had a terrible time finding someone and the tax issue was a big part of it. I don't think it was just the money, people also didn't want to claim the income on their taxes, file taxes, etc. They didn't want the hassle.

In retrospect I think another part of the problem is that there are very very few qualified, responsible nannies out there, especially younger ones. These people are out there but there aren't a lot of them and they can be hard to find. I do think young adults of this age can also be very flaky (we had the same problems with interview no-shows, etc).

One piece of advice I will give you--check references very very carefully. Over the years we have had two candidates who faked references, one of whom we were close to hiring. It was scary. We found the fakes by Googling their references and by the caller ID of a reference when she phoned us back, which did not match the information we had about her.

Good luck. The person you're hoping for is out there, it sounds like it is just a slog to find her. But I am pretty certain you will.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What should the hourly rate be? I think the other person may be right - I do want a more professional nanny just someone who is younger.

If you think about it, isn't professionalism earned through experience? Not to say that every longterm nanny will become a professional. Professionals have standards of practice they will uphold.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have hired two nannies before and don't remember it being this hard. I am not in DC and my prior nanny I found on DCUM. In my new area I am using care.com and a nanny agency. The agency has yielded nothing and care has been incredibly frustrating. Candidates do not show up to scheduled phone interviews, and most people applying for the job do not meet the requirements stated. I have probably corresponded with 40-50 people and yet most cancel on me, or cancel an in person meeting. I have gone after people as well as taken a look at those who have applied to my job. I am paying a competitive rate and nothing in the job is unreasonable though I am not willing to pay under the table. I have tried the local facebook page and list serves. I am at a loss. I know the market moves quickly and I am ready to make a decision.

What am I doing wrong? I am in a suburb of Boston.

There is also sittercity. Sittercity is like care.com, but smaller.

I am a nanny. I found the two families I work for on sittercity. I have been with these two families for close to two years now and all three parties are happy with each other. But every now and then, just for fun, I log onto sittercity just to see what is going on in my area. When I log on, it says there are like 350 people available as nannies in my small town in Florida. However, when i narrow the search down to within 10 miles of me, and show only those who have logged on within the last two months, then there are less than 40 people available.

I know care dot com is more widely known because they have commercials on TV, but I like sittercity better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have hired two nannies before and don't remember it being this hard. I am not in DC and my prior nanny I found on DCUM. In my new area I am using care.com and a nanny agency. The agency has yielded nothing and care has been incredibly frustrating. Candidates do not show up to scheduled phone interviews, and most people applying for the job do not meet the requirements stated. I have probably corresponded with 40-50 people and yet most cancel on me, or cancel an in person meeting. I have gone after people as well as taken a look at those who have applied to my job. I am paying a competitive rate and nothing in the job is unreasonable though I am not willing to pay under the table. I have tried the local facebook page and list serves. I am at a loss. I know the market moves quickly and I am ready to make a decision.

What am I doing wrong? I am in a suburb of Boston.

Good nannies are really expensive. Have you found anyone you can afford?

[Anonymous]

$18and hour after taxes is like $13 to take home. Not that much and if the market is more into under the table it's definitely not competitive.

[Anonymous]

Op you may not know this but young people are really hit hard by taxes in some states. I am a nanny in a two income household with no kids. My taxes are insane. There are not withholding allowances on my W4. I know this going in so I always negotiate based on what I need to net each month - and I know for certain I ask for more then my nanny friends who aren't handing over 20% of their pay to taxes. The only reason it works is because I also work hard at creating more value for my employers by offering a higher quality of service then a lot of nannies in my area. So, although I meet many of the requirements you listed in your description of your ideal nanny (age, education, energy level and pay on the books) I would have to decline your position because the pay is just too low.

[Anonymous]

What does your nanny agency rep have to say about the wage you are offering on the books? In general why do they think they haven't been able to staff the position? I would ask for this local, on the ground feedback and be open to a frank answer. It could be you are not close enough to transportation. Or the wage. Or so many things.

There are a few great agencies in Boston - Washburn Agency is one.

[Anonymous]

Too low for Boston OP, sorry. That's where I'm from - now in Seattle - and given that you're looking for someone who knows both toddler care and development and how to bond and engage with a 5yo they don't know, my guess is you're asking too much of a young nanny and aren't offering what the more experienced nannies (who'd be interested in your job) can command. Rent is so insane there, jobs with 1-2 kids go for $20-$25 easily for a nanny you'd likely be satisfied with.

[Anonymous]

Can you offer other perks to attract more interest? Like additional paid time off or half days on Fridays. Otherwise, consider a nanny share.