How did you all find your current position? I an currently a live-in nanny in North Carolina, and I found my position on gonannies.com...which was just one of the handful of nanny websites I was a member of during my job search. I'm just curious as to where/how you all found your current positions...were you on similar sites to gonannies or nannies4hire, or did you go through an agency? Those who went through an agency: would you recommend doing so?
Care.com and sittercity.com
ReplyDeleteAs long as you have a contract, make all of your expectations/boundaries clear, do background checks on your potential families and trust your gut instinct you should be fine using websites.
I've had 4 nanny jobs: 1st was from a newspaper ad, 2nd was nannies4hire.come, 3rd was craigslist, 4th was care.com.
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ReplyDeleteHey, I'm in North Carolina too! :-D And I found my current job on Care.com. I have had a few from there. Two from craiglist, and the rest through my network of families.
ReplyDeletei have had the most luck with care.com but sittercity seems good as well. I have tried agencies but was not impressed with them I like being more involved in the search.
ReplyDeleteI went through an agency. I liked it because I got a lot of info about the families that they might not have shared on their own.
ReplyDeleteI was looking on care.com and greataupair.com while I was registered with the agency, but to be perfectly honest, the people who contacted me through those sites were just not willing/able to pay me what I was asking.
There is a lot more paperwork when you go through an agency (I still haven't filled out my health forms and it's driving the agency crazy) but I thought it was worth it.
With the agency, I had 5 families call me for interviews in the first week or so. I know if this job doesn't work out, all I have to do is call the agency and I can probably have another job within 2 weeks.
I have found families via CL in the past, but they ALL have been nuts in one way or another so I do not recommend using this website. I find that families who pay are more willing to invest in their children, so using a childcare website such as sittercity.com or Care.com has better quality families.
ReplyDeleteI have never used an agency before, but I think these would offer the best jobs overall. Many of the agencies in my area are looking for certain qualifications that I am still in the process of meeting. After I meet them, I would LOVE to try an agency. I betcha the best families will use an agency since the investment is much higher than a free website or a paid childcare one.
Yeah as two cents said I definitely don't recommend using craigslist. As nannies we can use most features of care.com and sitter city.com for free- employers searching have to pay monthly fees to even contact us. I think someone paying 30$/month (that's Sitter city, not sure of care.com) is more likely to be a good and fair employer than someone advertising on CL.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with Two Cents and ArmyWife, that craigslist is not a very good way to find a job. There are too many scams on it since it is free plus a family that uses it to find childcare is one who is too cheap to invest a few dollars to find a good nanny/sitter. I avoid it like the plague. Of course, there will always be that one person who will say they found their dream family on craigslist and that is cool, but overall I would not use it to find a childcare position. I used to use it a few years back and I only ran into flaky families.
ReplyDeleteI live in a big city and it's easier and safer to work with an agency. The agency I'm with is very professional, and the jobs start at $18 an hour and go up to $25 for a family assistant/nanny, they also place baby (night) nurses, chefs, personal assistant, housekeepers, and caregivers. The first interview was 5 hours (with paperwork included), and they do a very deep background check. You must have some college, CPR, TB test, valid drivers, proof of insurance, 3 plus years nanny experience, and some reachable good nanny references. If all that is a go, they will send you on interviews quickly. It's easy to find long term employment, that will pay taxes and you get your pay check direct deposited at the end of each week. There's paid holidays, sick days and vacation time worked out ahead of time. They do a lot of the work for you, and it's been a much more professional experience overall than word of mouth, or local websites. The thing I really love is not having to bargain for pay, I always go into an interview knowing that the base pay and hours their offering will be enough to live on, but I also negotiate for a review and raise after three months.
ReplyDeleteMy first nanny job was through an agency. My current job, which is a postpartum doula job in another state, was through Care.com. All of my other jobs, were through word of mouth.
ReplyDeleteI don't prefer agencies because I make it clear what I'm looking for and they tend to ignore what I say and try to send me to interview with families I would not consider working for.
I have no complaints about Care.com. I'm very happy with my current family and it's a blessing that I found a postpartum doula job there.
I found my current position through care.com... the one before that I found on craigslist... the one before that I found through an agency. Been happy with all three positions.
ReplyDeleteCraigslist is a great website to use when you need to sell or buy something. I have found great used toys in excellent condition for my two sons on this website. However it is crazy to use it to find a babysitter on. Hello?!! Anyone can post an ad on it and there have been multiple people who have died responding to ads, so I would NEVER in a million years use it to seek childcare.
ReplyDelete@Britney: In my town, there are many young girls advertising their Nanny services on CL and it scares me to death. There have been numerous robberies via this website in my city, mostly for computers, etc. However, I think these girls are putting themselves in danger by posting pics since many of them are young and pretty. I would hope that they use common sense and meet prospective families at a coffee shop or playground. To go straight to someone's house who is a complete stranger is scary to me. I have a young friend who used to find jobs on CL before she discovered childcare websites, and she told me if she heard a child in the background during the phone call, she knew it was okay to go to someone's house. I think this is a very scary thing.....
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