4 Important Steps To Select A Nanny

Selecting a nanny is not always simple and straight forward; it involves 4 important and complicated steps.

The 4 steps to fix a nanny are: 

1.     Assessing your family needs: It is very important to first assess the needs of your family and know what sort of arrangement works best;  you need to decide if you want the nanny to work 5 days a week or on Saturdays also.   If your child has any peculiar needs like he/she is asthmatic or has bronchial attacks, it would be best to select a nanny that is experienced in dealing with those attacks. Next you need to decide whether you need a full time nanny or an au pair; au pair are useful if you have demanding jobs. You also need to decide if you want a young, energetic and enthusiastic nanny and an older and more experienced one. Next you need to decide between a proactive and independent minded nanny and one that works under strict instructions from you.

2.     Begin the search for a nanny: Your search for a good nanny could be either through contacting private nanny placement agencies who are professionals or through searching yourself by checking listings on various websites and through recommendation of friends and their nannies. Agencies promise serious background checks, while recommendations of your friends may not sometimes work as each family has their own peculiar needs. A nanny search for first-time mums in and around New York would be best served by agencies.

3.     Screening potential candidates: Fixing up the first nanny you come across is undesirable;it is best to get all details like specific start and end dates, family names and addresses and duties from the potential candidates. It is suggested that you take note of “mysterious gaps” in work history; these could be indications of the candidate is not reliable or hiding facts. You could then decide whether you want to have a telephonic conversation with them or meet them in person; telephonic interviews has the advantages of saving time, stress and also helps  eliminate those candidates you would not seriously consider. It would then be ideal to interview those candidates you find suitable and then talk to references given by them.  

4.     Interviewing your top choices: This last and important step is conducting a one-to-one interview with the selected candidates; it would be great to keep your children along in the room to note how the potential nanny interacts with them. During the interview pay attention to minute details as body language and ask specific questions to know everything about the candidate. You could ask more specific questions if the candidate has some special experience like dealing with twins or a child with Aspersers’ syndrome. It would be best to select a nanny that smiles a lot and warms up to your child/children.