Nannies do you give out references?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agencies provide recommendation letters prior to interviews. Go that route.

What if you don't even want the job after you meet them? Complete waste of time for your former employers if they're called.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would hesitate to give out references until I was fairly certain I wanted the job. If I'm interviewing a lot of families, I don't want my references bombarded with phone calls.

Also, if rates and job specifics aren't discussed beforehand, I wouldn't want to waste anyone's time if the family and I aren't a good match.

+1,000,000

[Anonymous]

References should NEVER be given to any prospective family until both nanny & family meet face-to-face.

Reason being is that the nanny's references are typically working parents, busy raising young children.
It would be really inconsiderate if a former nanny gave their contact info to a complete stranger she has never met, and expect the family to talk to a complete stranger for even fifteen minutes.

Nannies do not want to exhaust their references since they are her ticket to securing her next position.

If security is a concern for you, if you feel really uncomfortable inviting a complete stranger into your home (who wouldn't??!), then arrange to meet w/her in a public venue.

Ideally a neighborhood park, playground or even a coffee shop w/an outdoor patio could work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agencies provide recommendation letters prior to interviews. Go that route.

What if you don't even want the job after you meet them? Complete waste of time for your former employers if they're called.

This is a big advantage to using an agency, though, for parents. When the nanny signs up with an agency, the agency verifies her references and usually solicits written references as well. So, parents who are interviewing the nanny know that someone from the agency has checked references, and the nanny knows that only one person (the agency) has bothered her references. Once you get to the hiring stage, the family may want to call those references, just like in any other position.

There's a woman on Care in the DC area that has been on there for years, telling the same story. Her profile looks great, so she gets interviews, but her references are clearly FAKE when you call them. I know at least two other people who have interviewed her. Presumably, an agency would save you that time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agencies provide recommendation letters prior to interviews. Go that route.

What if you don't even want the job after you meet them? Complete waste of time for your former employers if they're called.

This is a big advantage to using an agency, though, for parents. When the nanny signs up with an agency, the agency verifies her references and usually solicits written references as well. So, parents who are interviewing the nanny know that someone from the agency has checked references, and the nanny knows that only one person (the agency) has bothered her references. Once you get to the hiring stage, the family may want to call those references, just like in any other position.

There's a woman on Care in the DC area that has been on there for years, telling the same story. Her profile looks great, so she gets interviews, but her references are clearly FAKE when you call them. I know at least two other people who have interviewed her. Presumably, an agency would save you that time.

How do you know the nanny's references are fake?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agencies provide recommendation letters prior to interviews. Go that route.

What if you don't even want the job after you meet them? Complete waste of time for your former employers if they're called.

This is a big advantage to using an agency, though, for parents. When the nanny signs up with an agency, the agency verifies her references and usually solicits written references as well. So, parents who are interviewing the nanny know that someone from the agency has checked references, and the nanny knows that only one person (the agency) has bothered her references. Once you get to the hiring stage, the family may want to call those references, just like in any other position.

There's a woman on Care in the DC area that has been on there for years, telling the same story. Her profile looks great, so she gets interviews, but her references are clearly FAKE when you call them. I know at least two other people who have interviewed her. Presumably, an agency would save you that time.

How do you know the nanny's references are fake?

The two I called: one couldn't remember when she worked for her, for how long, or in what capacity (just kept saying "she's great! you'll love her!"); the other claimed that she had worked for her for two years starting about three years ago -- in another state. She had DC area jobs listed as far back as 5 years ago, and my friend interviewed her about a year ago. I think she must mostly do temp or date night sitting, and people either don't bother to call, or don't ask anything other than "what did you think of her?"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agencies provide recommendation letters prior to interviews. Go that route.

What if you don't even want the job after you meet them? Complete waste of time for your former employers if they're called.

This is a big advantage to using an agency, though, for parents. When the nanny signs up with an agency, the agency verifies her references and usually solicits written references as well. So, parents who are interviewing the nanny know that someone from the agency has checked references, and the nanny knows that only one person (the agency) has bothered her references. Once you get to the hiring stage, the family may want to call those references, just like in any other position.

There's a woman on Care in the DC area that has been on there for years, telling the same story. Her profile looks great, so she gets interviews, but her references are clearly FAKE when you call them. I know at least two other people who have interviewed her. Presumably, an agency would save you that time.

How do you know the nanny's references are fake?

The two I called: one couldn't remember when she worked for her, for how long, or in what capacity (just kept saying "she's great! you'll love her!"); the other claimed that she had worked for her for two years starting about three years ago -- in another state. She had DC area jobs listed as far back as 5 years ago, and my friend interviewed her about a year ago. I think she must mostly do temp or date night sitting, and people either don't bother to call, or don't ask anything other than "what did you think of her?"

I had one family tell a reference I worked with them for 6 months, then the dad said 9 months. I had worked with them for 7 months until they unexpectedly moved. They were juggling, a major move ( a month after a state move, a toddler, and a newborn baby). My recommendation letter gave the real time. They felt bad because the interviewer questioned the validity of my reference. Thankfully they were both very well-known and verifiable attorneys. Taxes also showed I worked for them during those periods. Sometimes parents can genuinely forget if they have too much going on, or too much time has lapsed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agencies provide recommendation letters prior to interviews. Go that route.

What if you don't even want the job after you meet them? Complete waste of time for your former employers if they're called.

This is a big advantage to using an agency, though, for parents. When the nanny signs up with an agency, the agency verifies her references and usually solicits written references as well. So, parents who are interviewing the nanny know that someone from the agency has checked references, and the nanny knows that only one person (the agency) has bothered her references. Once you get to the hiring stage, the family may want to call those references, just like in any other position.

There's a woman on Care in the DC area that has been on there for years, telling the same story. Her profile looks great, so she gets interviews, but her references are clearly FAKE when you call them. I know at least two other people who have interviewed her. Presumably, an agency would save you that time.

This just proves my point that everyone and anyone who has access to the Internet can post a free online profile and attach the term "Professional Nanny" to themselves and willing parents have no issue paying a fee to gain access to these people that they can just find for free on Craigslist.

[Anonymous]

I think parents tend to think of a childcare website along the same lines as an agency more or less, just a cheaper version of one.

What they should take into consideration is that there is no middle man involved as well as zero checks + balances as well.

A Care or Sittercity provider could be just anyone off the street, any common citizen, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think parents tend to think of a childcare website along the same lines as an agency more or less, just a cheaper version of one.

What they should take into consideration is that there is no middle man involved as well as zero checks + balances as well.

A Care or Sittercity provider could be just anyone off the street, any common citizen, etc.

...Or not even an American citizen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think parents tend to think of a childcare website along the same lines as an agency more or less, just a cheaper version of one.

What they should take into consideration is that there is no middle man involved as well as zero checks + balances as well.

A Care or Sittercity provider could be just anyone off the street, any common citizen, etc.

...Or not even an American citizen.

The horror!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think parents tend to think of a childcare website along the same lines as an agency more or less, just a cheaper version of one.

What they should take into consideration is that there is no middle man involved as well as zero checks + balances as well.

A Care or Sittercity provider could be just anyone off the street, any common citizen, etc.

...Or not even an American citizen.

The horror!

Yup, the laws are for the little people, not you apparently.

[Anonymous]

MB here.

You should check references on your final candidate (or two) after you have done your interviews. You don't have to have initial interviews at your house - you can start w/ a phone call - that will let you winnow people down some. Then you can meet your top 4 or 5 ppl at a coffee shop and then just have your top two candidates come to your house to meet your baby, talk about your daily routines, etc...

You don't want to be checking references on all your candidates - that isn't an efficient use of your time. And, you can't talk about specific questions regarding a candidate before you have even met him/her.

Also, no one serving as a reference wants to be called by a lot of people. So candidates are appropriately respectful of their references' time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

doodlebug wrote:Most people don't even have recommendation letters. If you asked for one, I could type one up and email it to you... see where I'm going with that?

I don't give out references until we've met in person and are both sure we want to move forward. I'm leery of people who ask for them before we meet because it means you don't have experience working with people/managing and you'll probably ask me for other inappropriate things later on.

Many nannies have recommendation letters. You can't actually just type one up. A REAL recommendation letter will be signed and dated by both parents. I have 3 recommendation letters, all signed. It would be odd not having it's signed.

Mine are REAL and not signed. I agree that they should be, but they're not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are looking for a nanny for our infant son. We would like to check references prior to candidates coming to our home. A couple candidates seemed fine with it, but a number of nannies said no. Is it a red flag that maybe their references are bad?

Yes,I always give my reference before the interview.