How do I advertise for this job?

[Anonymous]

Hi,
I am going to be starting a full-time job in September in a field I've never been in before. I used to be a teacher (pre-kids) and then I owned my own small camps business (still do for now) and so I've only had babysitting by college aged girls a few hours each day when my kids were little and now that my kids are older they just go to camp with me.

My children are going to be in upper elementary school next year and I've already got someone lined up for them from 3-6 every day.

I am also going to need about 15-18 hours of help a week with stuff around the house. I was thinking that I could hire someone from 12-6 or 1-6 three days a week to help with laundry, cleaning and cooking.

I feel like it's good to have this person at my house at the same time as our sitter as one child can stay here with the housekeeper if the other had practice, etc. and won't have to be dragged around everywhere. We live in Arlington.

My question is how do I advertise this kind of a position, how much do I pa, and am I thinking about this right? This is all new to me...

Thanks so much!!

[Anonymous]

You want to advertise for a housekeeper, and make sure they don't mind watching the kids once in a while. Stress that it is an hourly position, and that you are paying for the hours of work, not a flat rate for the cleaning. Stress that you are hiring an employee, not a service or a team.

We had the exact same set-up. Three times a week housekeeper who would pick up my daughter from preschool when I was running late from work.

On the upside, we found most candidates were happy with a wage just a few dollars an hour more than our nanny used to have. (We didn't have both people at once) However, we did offer guarenteed hours and PTO.

Based on our experience, your challenges will be:

Good housekeepers book up and want to keep their unpaid travel time to a minimum. By far, most housekeepers for 15-18 hours will want to do 2 days, not 3. It's also a challenge to clean the house when the kids are there. Many housekeepers will prefer to work while they are in school. Finally, we found that the good housekeepers we interviewed really do take pride in their work and want to keep the house clean! Even with the great person we eventually found, it took a while before she really, actually believed we were ok if less work got done if she needed to pick up our daughter.

[Anonymous]

PP once more. Btw, as soon as my daughter was out of preschool and had aftercare, my housekeeper requested to go to two days a week. I miss having that third day, but it was worth it to keep her happy.

[Anonymous]

OP here... thanks so much!!

So, maybe I do morning hours... I just have to keep on our sitter about making sure the kids put away shoes, book bags, put cups in the dishwasher, etc.

So, $18-$20 an hour?