10 Mistakes For Nannies To Avoid While Providing References

When it comes to job placement it is necessary that a nanny avoids mistakes in providing references. A nanny agency’s effort in giving you proper placement would be hindered by your not giving them proper references that would facilitate placement. Here are 10 most common mistakes nannies make when they provide an agency with a list of references, and ways that you can avoid making them.

10 mistakes to avoid while providing references:  

1) Not providing complete contact information: It would not suffice to just provide the name and e-mail address of the reference; it would instead help to ensure that you provide a full name, phone number, a physical address and an email address for your chosen references.

2) Giving vague details about previous employment: It is best to inform the agency if you left the previous employment under questionable circumstances or due to bad blood developing with an employer; this would help bridge large gap in employment history and reference that could make you look worse.

3) Failure to ask permission of the reference: It is advisable that you seek the permission of a professional contact before giving contact information. Most people may not like their contact information being floating around, and won’t take kindly to the fact that you’ve shared it with others.

4) The use of obviously biased references: Giving a job reference of a mother or best friend who would give glowing reviews is undesirable as the agency as well as future employers would take it with a pinch of salt.

5) Not informing or forgetting to notify references of impeding calls: Since the references would not be prepared when the agency or future employer calls them they would not be able to give the right information about you. So be sure that everyone on your list knows that you’ll be sending out resumes, and that they should expect to be contacted.

6) Not giving crisp and complete information: If you give scattered and piecemeal information to the agency, there are chances that there could be confusion in making the information more cohesive. So ensure that you submit everything the agency asks for the very first time.

7) Giving the current employer as a reference: Never do it unless your current employer knows you are looking for another job.  This would damage your professional relationship; so ensure that the agency understands not to contact them until you have discussed the matter with them. 

8) Providing irrelevant references: This mainly applies to references from other industries irrelevant to childcare. Make sure that you have references that can actually speak of your experience as a childcare provider, even if professional references from past employers in other fields are more positive.

9) Providing references that are outdated: If you have not been in the job market for some time, it is harmful to provide outdated references. Try to keep your references as current as possible.

10) References should not be asked by agency: Ensure that you provide a resume with at least 2 references; resist the temptation to make the agency ask for references.

You would be perfect as far as references are concerned once you avoid the 10 mistakes.