Anonymous wrote:It happens frequently. If they are flaky to start with, you move on. If they couldn't keep track of their vacation week, you should have moved in at that point.

I see your point, lesson learned! thanks for the feed back!

Anonymous wrote:Well, that was a lousy thing they did. They should have at least called or gone ahead with the interview. I've been the nanny parents hired and then cancelled other interviews with. Except once (I'm not sure exactly what happened) but I went for an interview that was set up last minute. I got to the house sat on the floor with one of the babies in my lap and a young woman came to the door, came in and tried to take the baby from me. I had no idea who she was or why she was there. The mom took her out on the porch and talked to her for a few minutes and came back alone. She said she was testing her and then went on with the interview while cooking dinner. I don't know if she hired her on a trial bases and it wasn't working or what (there were three kids under three so it wasn't the job for just anyone.) I felt bad for the other nanny and hope she found something perfect. I've been with that family 2.5 years now. It's the hardest job I've had in a lot of ways. I was hired for one year but it has gone longer. Kids will all be in full day school next year. All that to say sometimes parents find the one and hire them on the spot. It was wrong for them not to call you and to not tell you they had other interviews lined up...especially after telling you they had to change the time due to work when that was obviously not true.

Thank you very much for your feed back and sharing your experience and possibly another perspective to this situation. That's such an odd encounter with the lady trying to take the baby from you... I definitely do understand parents may just find a perfect fit way before interviewing you and its for many reasons-as I stated before I am okay with not being hired/offered the job, you cannot be offered every job you interview for its unrealistic. I'm also glad you see what the main issue was and that they could have possibly just let me know of other interviews lined up so at the very least they wouldn't be notifying me after i have arrived at the interview site. Hope for more contributors like you. Well done on taking on the challenges in your current post and wishing you the best in your career!

Anonymous wrote:I can't read that. Simplify.

Thats Okay, there's some helpful feedback on here. Thanks though

I can't read that. Simplify.

It happens frequently. If they are flaky to start with, you move on. If they couldn't keep track of their vacation week, you should have moved in at that point.

Well, that was a lousy thing they did. They should have at least called or gone ahead with the interview. I've been the nanny parents hired and then cancelled other interviews with. Except once (I'm not sure exactly what happened) but I went for an interview that was set up last minute. I got to the house sat on the floor with one of the babies in my lap and a young woman came to the door, came in and tried to take the baby from me. I had no idea who she was or why she was there. The mom took her out on the porch and talked to her for a few minutes and came back alone. She said she was testing her and then went on with the interview while cooking dinner. I don't know if she hired her on a trial bases and it wasn't working or what (there were three kids under three so it wasn't the job for just anyone.) I felt bad for the other nanny and hope she found something perfect. I've been with that family 2.5 years now. It's the hardest job I've had in a lot of ways. I was hired for one year but it has gone longer. Kids will all be in full day school next year. All that to say sometimes parents find the one and hire them on the spot. It was wrong for them not to call you and to not tell you they had other interviews lined up...especially after telling you they had to change the time due to work when that was obviously not true.

Anonymous wrote:So sorry OP that you had to go through all of that!

The family mentioned sounds crummy + flaky and I honestly feel awful for the Nanny they ended up hiring.

Too bad these childcare websites do not offer up any way for a Nanny to warn other Nannies about rotten families.
They should!!

They only have it set-up where the families can say negative comments about Nannies.

Very one-sided.
And unfair.

Thank you for your feedback! True, I hope my post reflects needs from both ends. Nannies have the duty to deliver what is expected of them and so do parents. As for some nanny sites, most feedback comes from parents to nannies even during the interview and hiring process and I feel it is beneficial to have the same the other way around. Kind of like the Uber experience where nannies and parents can both rate each other. On some sites, if you do not respond (nanny) you are rated down or pushed further down the search list (something like that. But then again some parents have never been nannies so I'm not surprised many don't see the need for a mutual relationship or even respect the need. But I know many nannies who aren't parents and can put themselves in a parent's shoes thus try to deliver what is expected of them. Are you a nannny/parent/both?

Anonymous wrote:I suggest you learn BREVITY as well as how to use paragraphs.

I'll consider that, Thanks for your insight.

So sorry OP that you had to go through all of that!

The family mentioned sounds crummy + flaky and I honestly feel awful for the Nanny they ended up hiring.

Too bad these childcare websites do not offer up any way for a Nanny to warn other Nannies about rotten families.
They should!!

They only have it set-up where the families can say negative comments about Nannies.

Very one-sided.
And unfair.

I suggest you learn BREVITY as well as how to use paragraphs.

Anonymous wrote:You sound a little entitled. You must have known they had other options. You seemed like a backup to them. It happens in every job field. It sucks.

it can actually be almost impossible to know if you are a backup or not but I do see your point. If we had an opportunity to meet you may realize that in far from entitled, just believe in mutual respect from both sides and sharing for insight. But I know you may not know me since this is an anonymous forum so I see what you're saying. thanks for your feedback.

Anonymous wrote:Wow. You could have explained that in about 5 sentences.

I see what you're saying. Thanks for your input

You sound a little entitled. You must have known they had other options. You seemed like a backup to them. It happens in every job field. It sucks.

Wow. You could have explained that in about 5 sentences.

Does anyone have any insight to this? Slight rant and also just an appeal to parents searching for nannies to consider when looking for/working with nannies so you know what we experience on a daily basis when looking for jobs and working with families...bottom line please try to remember the golden rule when searching for and maintaining a relationship with your nanny once you employ her. Nannies are not doing what they do for a hobby or going on interviews for fun...this is their daily lively hood and they take interviews as seriously as you do for your nanny interview or your personal employment.

I communicated with a parent on a nanny website who was looking for a full time nanny and we conversed back and forth until agreeing to meet for an in person interview. I knew that they were a real person based on our communication, specific needs and familiarity with locations and i looked for general signs of a scammer which I did not find. I usually request to have a phone conversation with parents I encounter via online nanny forums as I believe its mutually beneficial for the nanny and parents in regards to originality, safety, for parents to get a sense of my sincerity and decreasing the chance of having time wasted in case both parties see that it is not a mutually beneficial situation thus worth an interview. This individual contacted me towards the end of a week of Aug 7thth and requested to speak with me asking me which times I was available for a chat in the following week as they were available that week and wanted someone to start work the week of Aug 21st. I returned their message saying I was available Monday Aug 14th and gave them a free time frame for them to pick which works best and then they responded that they had planned to go away that week coming back Saturday Aug 19 (literally two days before their post starts)-- That was the first red puzzling red flag, when I wondered why would someone tell me that they will be away coming back two days before the post starts (something was telling me they weren't being honest and just wanted a back up or something like that...btw I still continued searching and doing other interviews). So I remained flexible and suggested another time to speak and requested that I'd like to speak over the phone before meeting in person and can work around their schedule to do so. They then picked a time frame to speak based on their time difference which would have worked for me and then followed up with an emails saying due to time difference it was going to be too difficult to speak so they asked if I could just meet on the Mon Aug 21st and possibly start work on the 22nd if its a good fit...and I agreed to meet at 4pm (the was an eclipse going on)- we agreed on location of meeting and since I knew it was an unusual day with the eclipsed, I messaged her to confirm the time of meeting at 4pm and location (this was around noon) and the mother even followed up with an email via the same nanny forumn asking me if I could meet around 6:15 instead because she was going to be out of work late (another thing, changing the time abruptly a few hours before and waiting to do so after the candidate has sent you an email first...didnt sit well with me, but I remained professional and told her I could meet them however, our time may be a bit shorter than if we met at the planned time because I also had a mandatory commitment at 7pm...she agreed. Well I showed up at before 6pm at the location we agreed. and just to let them know where I am sitting and what I am wearing so that it is convenient for them, I opened my nanny forum to send her a message. I then saw a message from her saying something like "Sorry (insert name), we just hired someone a few minutes ago, sorry for the inconvenience" So I sat there having wasted my transport and time to travel to an interview with a family only to be told they hired someone else thus cannot meet. Now I do not mind the fact that they hired someone else, that happens and that is totally okay. What doesn't sit well with me is that this family did not even think it was necessary to give me a call or text (which i provided) prior to me leaving, or even giving a heads up that they planned interviews and thus didn't need me urgently to start work the next day or even consider the fact that I had been flexible to work around their abruptly changing times back and forth. Has anyone else had any experience like this? And do nanny forums such as sitters city or care allow this sort of behavior from parents and/or nannys who do not respect others' time?

My only appeal to both nannies and parents is that parents, yes, nannies are looking for jobs and willing to work around your schedules and spend time to travel to meet you, but that does not mean they are signing up to have their time wasted/disrespected or jump to the rhythm of your needs only. Please respect nanny's time, including candidates even those you may not end up employing. Imagine applying for a corporate job in your career, showing up on time and then your interviewer either doesn't show up or notifies you that the interview is not taking place after you have already arrived.....most of us would not like that thus why do it to a nanny? is it because we view nanny jobs as hobbies? these are people helping parents invest in their children's life for a lifetime. If you want to cancel an interview please do so in a way that respects his/her time by notifying her a good amount of time ahead via phone/text if she has provided it, especially if she did a follow up the day of.
Nannies, it is our duty as well to respect parents' time by showing up on time and if we are hired before an interview with a certain family, notify them respectfully and wish them the best.

Thank you and my post is respectful with the aim to appeal to both parties, possibly gain insight/encouragement, see whether such behavior is tolerated on nanny websites (from nannies and parents) and to see whether others have had similar experiences. Thank you all and I hope this never happens to anyone!