Discussing salary in the nanny search

[Anonymous]

I'm sure there will be many opinions on this pretty basic topic, but how do families go about discussing pay when in the nanny hiring process? Do you just say up front, this job pays $X/hr and outline the benefits, vacation, other details of the contract, etc., or do you work with candidates to get a range of what they are looking for salary-wise?

[Anonymous]

We gave a range, yes. And we said the range depended on fit, education, and experience. As for benefits, we just said there would be a comprehensive benefits package after the probationary period ended. We didn't want to waste time.

[Anonymous]

Just let them know what you can pay. As nanny, I really don’t like seeing ranges. But, I know it does depend on experience. So if you prefer someone who has lots of experience state that and say you’ll pay $x. If you really can’t pay more then $x then also state that you’re not willing to negotiate hourly wage. So please just put what you CAN pay. I had a family in the past advertise for $15/h and then at time of interview said they could only do $12. Please be honest in your post and don’t go switching around prices. Stay consistent. That’s why you and your husband should sit down and discuss and crunch numbers and come up with a good package.

[Anonymous]

Yes, state benefits upfront and give an hourly range depending on experience and education.

[Anonymous]

I think that how you phrase is based on what you can afford. If you are at the lower end and can’t go higher, put what you are willing to pay. If you have a range that you are willing to work with, give that range. If you put $18 as your price but I am not willing to accept anything less than $20, I won’t apply. But if $20 was in your range, you’ve just missed out on several candidates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm sure there will be many opinions on this pretty basic topic, but how do families go about discussing pay when in the nanny hiring process? Do you just say up front, this job pays $X/hr and outline the benefits, vacation, other details of the contract, etc., or do you work with candidates to get a range of what they are looking for salary-wise?

Yes, you always want to have your benefits package upfront but your hourly salary should be a range of five dollars. So like $20-25 or $25 to 30. If advertised on care.com - this is really important. Within that range you can ask what the nanny's quote is. Also we had truly the world's greatest nanny for our son who accepted the job with us even though we were under her price range because we lived only a block away. So make sure to use the care.com search for nannies who live within a mile of your house and ask in the phone interview if she is will to accept less due to proximity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm sure there will be many opinions on this pretty basic topic, but how do families go about discussing pay when in the nanny hiring process? Do you just say up front, this job pays $X/hr and outline the benefits, vacation, other details of the contract, etc., or do you work with candidates to get a range of what they are looking for salary-wise?

Yes, you always want to have your benefits package upfront but your hourly salary should be a range of five dollars. So like $20-25 or $25 to 30. If advertised on care.com - this is really important. Within that range you can ask what the nanny's quote is. Also we had truly the world's greatest nanny for our son who accepted the job with us even though we were under her price range because we lived only a block away. So make sure to use the care.com search for nannies who live within a mile of your house and ask in the phone interview if she is will to accept less due to proximity.

I don’t charge less just because someone is close to me. That’s ridiculous. What does it matter if I live 5 mins away, I still have the same amount of work with the kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm sure there will be many opinions on this pretty basic topic, but how do families go about discussing pay when in the nanny hiring process? Do you just say up front, this job pays $X/hr and outline the benefits, vacation, other details of the contract, etc., or do you work with candidates to get a range of what they are looking for salary-wise?

Yes, you always want to have your benefits package upfront but your hourly salary should be a range of five dollars. So like $20-25 or $25 to 30. If advertised on care.com - this is really important. Within that range you can ask what the nanny's quote is. Also we had truly the world's greatest nanny for our son who accepted the job with us even though we were under her price range because we lived only a block away. So make sure to use the care.com search for nannies who live within a mile of your house and ask in the phone interview if she is will to accept less due to proximity.

I don’t charge less just because someone is close to me. That’s ridiculous. What does it matter if I live 5 mins away, I still have the same amount of work with the kids.

No gas, no traffic and no parking and no mileage on her car. It took her two minutes to walk one block to our apartment. It was worth it to our beloved nanny (and we are so glad it was!).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm sure there will be many opinions on this pretty basic topic, but how do families go about discussing pay when in the nanny hiring process? Do you just say up front, this job pays $X/hr and outline the benefits, vacation, other details of the contract, etc., or do you work with candidates to get a range of what they are looking for salary-wise?

Yes, you always want to have your benefits package upfront but your hourly salary should be a range of five dollars. So like $20-25 or $25 to 30. If advertised on care.com - this is really important. Within that range you can ask what the nanny's quote is. Also we had truly the world's greatest nanny for our son who accepted the job with us even though we were under her price range because we lived only a block away. So make sure to use the care.com search for nannies who live within a mile of your house and ask in the phone interview if she is will to accept less due to proximity.

I don’t charge less just because someone is close to me. That’s ridiculous. What does it matter if I live 5 mins away, I still have the same amount of work with the kids.

For the luxury of not having to commute and walking one block from hone to work?! Nothing at all ridiculous about accepting less money for that HUGE perk. I commute 45 minutes each way in LA traffic so I might be biased. But that is 1.5 hours a day I am not being paid for and not enjoying. So that is what - I make $25 an hour x 1.5 = $40 a day! Yeah - hell yeah, I would take less hourly to walk two minutes to work!

[Anonymous]

it seems like every parent on care.com has a range of $15-$25 listed, and then once you start messaging them it's $15 with no wiggle room. it's annoying and i wouldn't be interested in the job for that-that's a huge range. if you're not going to be honest in an initial conversation then why should anyone give you a shot? keep the range small and i wouldn't try to entice applicants by pretending you're offering or willing to negotiate for more than you are.

[Anonymous]

I was pretty up front when I interviewed and said $18-22 and the vacation offer. It was easier for me and I gave the range over the phone so those not interested wouldn’t waste their time or mine. We got a wonderful nanny who does live far away but we flexed on the hours being earlier so she can head home at 4 pm and miss some traffic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:it seems like every parent on care.com has a range of $15-$25 listed, and then once you start messaging them it's $15 with no wiggle room. it's annoying and i wouldn't be interested in the job for that-that's a huge range. if you're not going to be honest in an initial conversation then why should anyone give you a shot? keep the range small and i wouldn't try to entice applicants by pretending you're offering or willing to negotiate for more than you are.

Yes I totally agree. Just put the rate you can pay with a low range.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm sure there will be many opinions on this pretty basic topic, but how do families go about discussing pay when in the nanny hiring process? Do you just say up front, this job pays $X/hr and outline the benefits, vacation, other details of the contract, etc., or do you work with candidates to get a range of what they are looking for salary-wise?

Yes, you always want to have your benefits package upfront but your hourly salary should be a range of five dollars. So like $20-25 or $25 to 30. If advertised on care.com - this is really important. Within that range you can ask what the nanny's quote is. Also we had truly the world's greatest nanny for our son who accepted the job with us even though we were under her price range because we lived only a block away. So make sure to use the care.com search for nannies who live within a mile of your house and ask in the phone interview if she is will to accept less due to proximity.

I don’t charge less just because someone is close to me. That’s ridiculous. What does it matter if I live 5 mins away, I still have the same amount of work with the kids.

For the luxury of not having to commute and walking one block from hone to work?! Nothing at all ridiculous about accepting less money for that HUGE perk. I commute 45 minutes each way in LA traffic so I might be biased. But that is 1.5 hours a day I am not being paid for and not enjoying. So that is what - I make $25 an hour x 1.5 = $40 a day! Yeah - hell yeah, I would take less hourly to walk two minutes to work!

Great that may work for you but I would never tell someone to pay me less just because I live close. I ask what I feel I should get paid based on experience and characteristics not where I live.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm sure there will be many opinions on this pretty basic topic, but how do families go about discussing pay when in the nanny hiring process? Do you just say up front, this job pays $X/hr and outline the benefits, vacation, other details of the contract, etc., or do you work with candidates to get a range of what they are looking for salary-wise?

Yes, you always want to have your benefits package upfront but your hourly salary should be a range of five dollars. So like $20-25 or $25 to 30. If advertised on care.com - this is really important. Within that range you can ask what the nanny's quote is. Also we had truly the world's greatest nanny for our son who accepted the job with us even though we were under her price range because we lived only a block away. So make sure to use the care.com search for nannies who live within a mile of your house and ask in the phone interview if she is will to accept less due to proximity.

I don’t charge less just because someone is close to me. That’s ridiculous. What does it matter if I live 5 mins away, I still have the same amount of work with the kids.

For the luxury of not having to commute and walking one block from hone to work?! Nothing at all ridiculous about accepting less money for that HUGE perk. I commute 45 minutes each way in LA traffic so I might be biased. But that is 1.5 hours a day I am not being paid for and not enjoying. So that is what - I make $25 an hour x 1.5 = $40 a day! Yeah - hell yeah, I would take less hourly to walk two minutes to work!

Great that may work for you but I would never tell someone to pay me less just because I live close. I ask what I feel I should get paid based on experience and characteristics not where I live.

Right you don't advertise that you would charge less based on location, but if you do the math, the nanny that walks two minutes probably "makes" $4-5/more per hour if you count the commute as part of the job. And it's infinitely less stressful, less wear on your vehicle, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm sure there will be many opinions on this pretty basic topic, but how do families go about discussing pay when in the nanny hiring process? Do you just say up front, this job pays $X/hr and outline the benefits, vacation, other details of the contract, etc., or do you work with candidates to get a range of what they are looking for salary-wise?

Yes, you always want to have your benefits package upfront but your hourly salary should be a range of five dollars. So like $20-25 or $25 to 30. If advertised on care.com - this is really important. Within that range you can ask what the nanny's quote is. Also we had truly the world's greatest nanny for our son who accepted the job with us even though we were under her price range because we lived only a block away. So make sure to use the care.com search for nannies who live within a mile of your house and ask in the phone interview if she is will to accept less due to proximity.

I don’t charge less just because someone is close to me. That’s ridiculous. What does it matter if I live 5 mins away, I still have the same amount of work with the kids.

For the luxury of not having to commute and walking one block from hone to work?! Nothing at all ridiculous about accepting less money for that HUGE perk. I commute 45 minutes each way in LA traffic so I might be biased. But that is 1.5 hours a day I am not being paid for and not enjoying. So that is what - I make $25 an hour x 1.5 = $40 a day! Yeah - hell yeah, I would take less hourly to walk two minutes to work!

Great that may work for you but I would never tell someone to pay me less just because I live close. I ask what I feel I should get paid based on experience and characteristics not where I live.

She didn't tell them to pay her less. She applied for and accepted a job she otherwise would not have accepted because she lived so close.