Lead Time for Hiring a Nanny/Housekeeper in Bethesda?
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Anonymous
| We are going to be looking for a new nanny/housekeeper and we would like her to start on July 8th. The kids will be in camps most of the summer and school full time in the Fall so this will not be a traditional nanny position. How far in advance should we place the ads? |
Anonymous
| The longer you wait, the fewer options you have. Btw, the "nanny/housekeeper" fantasy, doesn't exist in real life. We'd all like to have a Brady Bunch Alice. I'm still looking...... |
Anonymous
| Hey not to hijack your thread but PP when your looking to hire a nanny/housekeeper do you look for several years as both a nanny and housekeeper? I have been a nanny for several years but only with light housekeeping. I'm trying to figure out how to switch to the nanny/housekeeper role, because I am a student and with children in school it would be so much easier. But I am afraid that I would not be hired because of lack of housekeeping. |
Anonymous
|
Nanny/Housekeeper applicants not only exist, but can be excellent. You seem quite clear that this is not a traditional nanny job, and you shouldn't have trouble finding someone. If the housekeeping is the majority of the job, I'd focus on someone with housekeeping experience who is interested in adding on childcare. What you don't want is someone who sees this as a part time nanny job with some extra tasks to fit in while the kids are in camp.
As far as lead time, I'd start looking 2-3 months ahead. Any further, and you will lose candidates because of the long time until the start. |
Anonymous
|
PP once again because I didn't see the second post.
We hired a housekeeper who had some experience in ger church nursery as a volunteer and who has tons of references as to her reliability. Our job was about 90% housekeeping and twice a week pick up from preschool. (So, about 4 hours of sitting a week) The more the ratio of nannying goes up, the more nannying experience I'd want to look for. The problem with switching from nannying to nanny/housekeeper can just become of mindset. Our housekeeper has definite, reliable breaks during the day. Other than that, however, she is working. Id be afraid with many nannies (rightly or wrongly) that they'd be in the "get through my list of tasks and then relax" state of mind, which doesn't work for someone who is hired primarily for housekeeping. If you can address that right away, I think you'd have success finding this type of position. |
Anonymous
Where did you find yours? How much per hour? |
Anonymous
|
[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Nanny/Housekeeper applicants not only exist, but can be excellent. You seem quite clear that this is not a traditional nanny job, and you shouldn't have trouble finding someone. If the housekeeping is the majority of the job, I'd focus on someone with housekeeping experience who is interested in adding on childcare. What you don't want is someone who sees this as a part time nanny job with some extra tasks to fit in while the kids are in camp.
As far as lead time, I'd start looking 2-3 months ahead. Any further, and you will lose candidates because of the long time until the start.[/quote] Where did you find yours? How much per hour? [/quote] Care.com When we switched from ft nanny to nanny/housekeeper we upped the hourly rate by 2$/hour. We still offer PTO and guarenteed hours,which is rarer in the housekeeping world, so we had lots of applicants. |
Anonymous
Basically I am looking for a way to do morning childcare drop off etc, some cleaning in the morning go to two classes between 9:30 ish to noon and come back more housepkeeping, pick up and dinner/clean up. The days that I would have classes would be 3, 4 at the most. Would that work? |
Anonymous
| OP here- Thank you for your responses. We will move up our date for looking for applicants based on this information. To the PP who asked if the split schedule would work. Yes, for us it would work. We were talking with someone who was going to be attending night school but it fell through at the last moment so we are open to the idea. The challenge would be what to do with the kids when they are on school vacations. One thing I never understood is why you would pay a nanny less than a nanny/housekeeper? What about the market am I missing? Thanks to anyone for their insight. |
Anonymous
Housekeeping jobs in general pay more because cleaning is more physically demanding, so a housekeeper/nanny combo typically gets an increased rate out of appreciation for the additional manual labor she'll be performing. |
Anonymous
| Is that why your she earns more than a preschool teacher, because of the physical labor? |
Anonymous
|
Its easy to find nanny/housekeepers. The roles are usually combined (yes, much to the dismay of the nanny poster who gets offended at any situation which requires her to get up from the couch). Most candidates are looking for work within a a few weeks of their search so I wouldn't start looking prior to 2 months before the job unless you can afford to hire her to start earlier.
A lot of nannies are let go at the end of August/early September. These are the long term nannies who the families really loved. They usually know 1-2 months if not more in advance of when they are being let go so if you are flexible enough to find other solutions for July/August this could be an option as well. |
Anonymous
| We just ran a search for someone to start in late July. We had over 70 applicants (for this kind of position) and made an offer last night to one of them. I would say you could start your search now and get a good response. Good luck! |
Anonymous
You do understand that the vast majority of them are illegals? How do you know that your lucky pick, is legal? |
Anonymous
Yes, a lot of them were. We ran a background check (SS#, criminal, driver's license) on our final two candidates. Our pick is legal. |