DC urban is a great place to look for nannies. I found my wonderful nanny here; since they are recommended by their former families!

Anonymous wrote:We found ours on DCUM!

How? Was an ad for "nanny available" posted?

NannyPoppinz

I did care.com and the moth and found our nanny here.

White House Nannies is the absolute worst agency.

As someone who has over a decade of Nanny work and has many additional years as a Family Assistant, Personal Assistant, child educator, and assistant to a childcare placement agency, the best advice I can give you about choosing a Nanny is Do Not Keep Looking if you've found one you like. This is a trap many fall into, if you find a Nanny you love but keep interviewing other nannies, the one you love may have a job by the time you come back around and offer it to her. I have witnessed both ends of this disaster and can lead to disappointment and guilt on both sides.

Care.com has been successful for many people but they are currently forcing the nannies to pay for things in order to access their account so that may keep some from getting on there

The GREAT advantage to sites like Urban Sitter and Care is that the nanny can represent herself. That is a huge deal, I've had so many jobs fall through because of an agency not representing me either at all or not well. I knew if I could talk to the family myself I could give them peace of mind and assure them of my capabilities. When you go through an agency a Nanny speaks with so many recruiters and placement people that they're often getting represented by someone they've never even spoken to before applying to a specific job. It's a huge problem and needs addressing but the families pay the agencies and not the nannies so the nannies fall by the wayside in that regard.

However, agencies are great for their requirements. Depending on the agency the nannies have to get/update vaccines, have multiple interviews, take quizzes or exams, speak to at LEAST 3 or 4 references, have FBI background checks...etc.

Downsides to agencies are they can be quite expensive for the families.
Adventure Nannies, BAHS, Nanny League... Those are some decent agencies to look into if you can afford it.

I would stay far away from White House Nannies. They do not care for the safety of their nannies and do not seem to communicate very well.

I hope you find a Nanny to help you!

I had good luck on sittercity, but you have to put in the time to look through many profiles.

This Site is great. I found my nanny here. You can also try the neighborhood's board. Great sites too.

We found ours on DCUM!

If you have a neighborhood listserv, I'd look at those.

Only care.com or through an agency.

If using care.com, word your ad carefully outlining exactly what you want and the hours/schedule.

Care is interesting in that nannies can search ads based on salary and distance from your house.

If you use any of those sites you’ll need to pay for an independent in-depth background check. You’ll also need to plan to spend a ton of time screening candidates.

Here is the process:

Determine your all in childcare budget. Figure out your hourly rate range, including overtime and the 10% of the yearly pay that will cover your employment taxes.

Write an in-depth job description. Include all duties, pay, and benefits.

Write up the description of your dream nanny.

Find initial screening screening questions, interview questions, and questions to ask references.

Place your ads on these sites. Be prepared for an avalanche of responses, 95% of which you’ll discard. ****If you discard all of them, re-evaluate budget and offer more money. Repeat as needed until you have about 20 possible nannies.

Do initial phone screening of about 20 candidates. Discard at least half of them. If you discard all of them, see **** above.

Interview remaining 5+ candidates in-person. Choose top 2 candidates. Pay for background checks. Call all their references after googling the references to verify they are legitimate. ****If background checks are failed or references are fake, start over again with ad responses.

Make initial offer to top choice. Negotiate, then write up detailed employment contract. Sign contact, and if job doesn’t start within a week, offer retainer pay. Ask friends with successful nanny/parent relationships for tips on succeeding with your nanny. Dump friends who claim their nannies are also housekeepers. Follow advice of friends who respect their nannies and have open communication with them.

Good luck!

Hi all- I am pregnant and looking to hire my first nanny. What are some of the better sites to use? Care? Urban sitter? Sitter City? Others?