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It's almost time for back-to-school, and nanny job interviews are ramping up. Many nannies are looking for a new role with the return of children to school.
During this time, I often see nannies asking other nannies in Facebook Groups about what questions to ask during interviews and what signs might be potential red flags, so I have decided to write a mini-series about these topics. I hope you will enjoy them.
I would say that the most important part of your job search as a nanny, as well as any employee, is identifying and reading job postings in a way that leads to success.
There are so many posts online that are scams, so many posts online that are vague, and so many posts that do not give the information you would expect to apply; here are a few examples.
These are just your typical vague posts, but as you can see, nannies comment that they are interested. My advice to anyone looking for a role is not to entertain these postings. I appreciate that it is hard not to respond when we are desperately looking. Still, I am saying this because anyone who does not put effort into a job posting for a nanny to look after their child/ren is not a great employer; I am generalizing, but hopefully, you get the gist.
As a nanny, my expectation of a job posting must contain the following information at a minimum:
Location
Ages and number of children
Hourly rate
Benefits
Description of duties
If there are any pets in the home
If there are any special needs ( allergies, medications, etc.)
If travel is involved
If you are going the non-agency route, please remember that most parents don't know how to post a job advert for a nanny, so they may not include all of this information in their posts.
Now that we have established that there are some good and some not-so-good posts, we should focus on professionally responding to the good posts.
If the job posting contained all the information above, you should have a general idea of the role. You should formulate your questions around the job description and your boundaries. There are some general questions that you can have at hand, but try to develop some questions about the actual job. For example, if the job description/posting states that the nanny must be a driver, ask questions about driving, how far the home is from the school/preschool/nursery school, etc. Do they expect the nanny to drive their car? If the nanny is expected to drive their vehicle, will the nanny get reimbursed for mileage and car cleaning/detailing? You get the picture.
When I refer to asking questions around your boundaries, you should ask questions about what is important to you. For example, if your boundary is that you need to leave at 5 PM on the dot, ask questions about the parents' schedules, how they handle being late, etc. This will give you an idea of your chances of leaving at 5 p.m.!
I will add that being late will happen, so if 5 p.m. is a deal breaker for you, you may need to rethink the kinds of jobs you apply to so you do not get frustrated and upset. Nannying is part of the service industry; the higher the pay, the more is expected of you. But this is a conversation for another post.
As the old nanny in the room, my advice is to plan and prepare for your interview, make sure you have a list of questions ready, know what will make you happy and what will frustrate you, understand your boundaries and how to communicate them and start doing so before you even interview. If all nannies took this approach, the industry would drastically change in professionalism and status.
Join me at Pro Nanny Path Academy, where I will teach you about job search strategies for nannies.
Next week, we will be talking about preparing for Interviews and using the STAR Method, which I share in the Nanny Society membership
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