Advice sought: Lead time for hiring a nanny?

[Anonymous]

Hi all,

I would appreciate your advice on how far in advance we should start looking for a nanny for our ~12 week old child. We expect to live in NW DC.

A little background
My wife and I are expecting our first child in a few weeks. We currently live in Ohio. We are moving to DC around August 1 so that I can start a new job in mid-August in the Van Ness area. My wife is currently looking for a new position in DC and she expects that she'll try to return to work around mid-August too.

We will probably make a trip to DC in late June or early July to apartment hunt. Should I try to find potential nanny's to meet with then? Can we wait until August 1 to find someone? I just have no idea how large the pool of potential nannies are, how quickly good nannies get snapped up, etc. In fact, I know basically nothing about caring for a child or hiring someone else to care for my child. Any advice you can give would be very, very welcome. Even just advice on how to rephrase my question, or what additional facts to provide, so that I can get better answers would be well-received.

Thanks so much!
MAB

[Anonymous]

Considering you won't be in the area until two weeks prior to the nanny's start date, I would consider an agency. At the very least, get on care.com starting mid-to-end of June, but an agency who can do interviews on your behalf while you are in Ohio would be easiest if you can swing it.

[Anonymous]

You also can use an agency for temporary care while you are interviewing for a permanent nanny. I would say our average time to find a new nanny has been 8-10 weeks (including time for nanny to provide notice to previous employer).

[Anonymous]

I also think an agency is a good idea - if you were going to be around DC to interview candidates until you found the right one I'd say 6-8 weeks, but you'll have limited opportunities to meet nannies and, if I understand correctly, no time to see her interacting with the baby! You'll either luck out and find a gem or, more likely, feel like you have to settle on someone you're not 100% on because time is running out.

Sign on with an agency and you'll have the first leg of the hunt done for you (background check, references, etc.), access to temp nannies if interviewing takes a while and you both need to be back at work, and if you find a good agency they'll be able to help you figure out nanny taxes, benefits, duties, etc. - which is very helpful guidance for first time employers. Good luck and congratulations!