Getting your first nanny job

Landing that first, important nanny job takes more than a love of children. Whether you’ve already worked or trained in childcare or not, you’re going to be competing with experienced nannies so you need to present yourself as professionally as possible. Here are 5 tips to get you started:

 

Find out parents’ expectations…and meet them

Most parents want a nanny to have at least a DBS check and a paediatric First Aid certificate. A lot also want to see some kind of basic training which will allow their nanny to register with OFSTED so they can be paid with childcarer vouchers or under the new tax-free childcare scheme. Parents in your area might also want a nanny to have a driving license, especially if you’re outside a major town. If you see that parents are wanting a qualification and you don’t have one then think about putting your nannying plans on hold and going to college or taking on an apprenticeship in a nursery.

Get experience

It sounds obvious but all experience with children outside caring for your own/family’s/friends’ children helps, whether it’s helping at Brownies, swimming club or babysitting for your neighbour. Experience means references, and it also gives you lots of material to draw on at interview.

Talk to agencies

Nanny agencies may not be able to place you right away if you’ve never had a nanny job before but there’s always a chance they’ll get a mother’s help job or weekend shared charge role in and think of you. They’ll also be a valuable contact and may be able to give you some more specific pointers on how to get started.

Consider compromising

A highly paid, full time, standard hours, sole charge job with separate accommodation is unlikely to fall into your lap. Most first jobs involve compromising somewhere, but do it well and you’re in a great position to move on after a year or so. Work out what you’re happy to accept in terms of pay, hours, parental involvement and accommodation and you’re more likely to get your foot in the door.

Spread the word

Get your mum, your best friend, your college tutor, your barman and your driving instructor to help by asking round or mentioning that you’re interested in nannying or babysitting work. It’s even better if you know any nannies (and you can always ask to shadow them) because they’re well placed to hear of nannies who are leaving their jobs or families who might be on the hunt!

 

Above all stay positive and don’t give up – your persistence and perseverance will pay off. Good things come to those who wait!

New additions to the family

Is keeping your nanny during maternity leave a luxury or an essential? Unless you’re going back to work very soon after the birth, most people would say it’s a luxury and one that they would struggle to afford. But chances are you’re going to want your nanny back when you go back to work since she’s put in time bonding with your older child(ren) and knows your house, your area, your routines and your preferences. So how do you deal with this?

The legal situation is that your nanny has a job under their original terms and conditions until you make them redundant. So they will be expecting to stay on doing their usual hours and receiving their usual pay during your maternity leave. There are big advantages to keeping your nanny – you know that you will have time to rest and focus on your newborn, your older children won’t have their routine disrupted and you have someone that you know and trust who can care for the new arrival while you spend time with your other children – but we know that the cost can make the impractical.

In this case you need to renegotiate your nanny’s terms of employment. You might want to keep them on part time, or investigate the possibility of a nanny share based at someone else’s house, but it’s vital to discuss this early on with your nanny. You might find that they’re happy to take a break for a few months to go and do a ski or summer season abroad but have a secure job to come back to, or that they’re happy to reduce their hours as long as they can find another job. You may equally find that they’re just expecting things to carry on as normal. As awkward as it might feel to have this conversation the sooner you get this out in the open the better. She will be feeling just as unsure about her future. Hopefully your nanny will respect your timescale and if you want her to commit to staying until after the birth so she can care for your older children while you’re in hospital then make that clear from the start, and consider offering a bonus to tempt her away from any offers that require an earlier start.

Remember that making your nanny redundant at the start of your maternity leave, while it will save your money in the short term, means that you are committing yourself to finding a new nanny at the end of your maternity leave which is a substantial investment of time and money at a point when you want to be making the most of your time with your children.

All the best for the rest of your pregnancy!

Baking with children

The return of the Great British Bake Off has got us all in a bit of a bakey mood and what better activity to fill those occasional wet summer days than a spot of baking?

Baking is great for children. It incorporates key skills such as literacy (reading a recipe and identifying ingredients) and numeracy (weighing and measuring quantities, or doubling a recipe if you’re feeling greedy), and introduces children to scientific concepts (mixing, melting, solidifying and why does it do that?), healthy eating (yes, really), and food hygiene. All that mixing and pouring, spooning and decorate works those motor skills to, so it’s not just about having a tasty cake for your afternoon snack, although that is obviously very important.

You can start baking with children from a very young age, as soon as they can hold a wooden spoon they can get involved in the process albeit mostly by banging on a saucepan but they’re seeing, and smelling, and learning, and it gives you a lot to talk about. Obviously it gets a lot more interesting, and messier, when they can start stirring for themselves, and even more interesting, and messy, when they can start weighing, pouring and spooning. But then they learn the important life skill of Clearing Up After Themselves.

If you’re a baking novice, never fear! You can learn along side the children, so here are some Really Easy Fairycakes to get you started and then you can graduate to Mary Berry GBBO standards. Happy baking!

 

Frances Norris is a former nanny and mother of two, whose children aged 3 and 8 months are in training for GBBO 2028.

Nannies and contracts

This post is designed to help nannies understand contracts. You can find a post aimed at parents here!

Why do I need a contract with my nanny family?

A contract or some form of written statement is a legal requirement within 2 months of starting a job. It’s also protection for you because it means the terms of your employment are agreed and written down, and your nanny insurance may need you to have a contract in place before it will cover you.

 

What goes in my nanny contract?

As a minimum:

Your name and your employers’
Place of work
Start date (and end date, if a fixed term position such as covering another nanny’s maternity leave)
Job title
Weekly working hours
Details of the salary – including when and how often you will be paid
Details of the  holiday entitlement
Details of the  sick leave entitlement
Details of the pension (it’s a good idea to list arrangements for the future if your employers have their staging date)
Notice period
Probation/trial period (if there is one)
Information on disciplinary procedures
Details of sackable offences

Many nanny contracts also include:

Job description and duties, benefits, details of live in accommodation (if applicable), arrangements for using your car and mileage payments (if applicable) and a confidentiality clause.

 

Where do I get a contract?

It’s your employer’s job to provide you with your nanny job contract. If they are using a payroll company or an agency they may have a template provided. If not, you can show them the example contracts from the nannyjob.co.uk site.

Becoming a maternity nurse

Maternity nurses, or maternity nannies, are newborn specialists who work with parents for the first few weeks of a new baby’s life to help the adjust to parenthood and implement a good routine. They usually work 24 hours a day, 5 or 6 days a week, and an experienced maternity nurse can earn in excess of £1000 per week. They are self-employed and get work from agencies, advertising themselves on sites such as nannyjob.co.uk and via word of mouth. Jobs are can last between 4 weeks and 6 months so maternity nurses are always keeping an eye out for work, attending interviews and planning ahead. Maternity nurses also need to keep an eye on their accounts, keep track of expenses and submit their own tax returns.

Many families request specialist qualifications such as MNT’s Maternity Practitioner, NEST Postnatal Carer or BabyEm’s Maternity Nurse Training courses. Other courses which cover breastfeeding, postnatal depression or multiples to name just a few can also be valuable additions to your CV. Most course providers recommend that you have substantial experience with newborns before studying to become a maternity nurse so you can match the theory you learn in the classroom with your practical experiences. This experience will also give you valuable references when you are trying to get your first maternity nurse booking. Trainee maternity nurses often charge much less than their experienced colleagues in order to gain experience, work with families expecting their second or third child or take on part-time day or night work.

A maternity nurse needs to be cheerful, flexible, organised and able to cope on very little sleep. It’s not just about working with newborn babies, the goal is to involve the parents from the start and leave them feeling confident and able to look after their baby on their own when you leave, but it can be a rewarding progression from nannying into an exciting new career. If you are interested in finding out more, why not ask your questions on our community area?

Filling in the gaps

Sometimes nannies lose touch with their employers, or they may have left under a cloud and not feel comfortable relying on that as a standalone reference. To stop it being a case of their word against hers, nannies will probably give you contact details of someone who can corroborate their story.

If they were placed by a nanny agency the agency should at least have a record of the placement date, and whether they received any complaints about the nanny. Bearing in mind that agencies do have to respect their client’s privacy you may not be able to find out the finer details but it should be enough to help you decide whether the nanny is telling the truth or whether they are trying to cover something up. Equally a nanny will frequently turn to the agency that placed them when they encounter difficulties. Ask the agency direct questions: ‘did this employer ever raise any concerns about this nanny with you?’ or ‘did the nanny ever come to you for advice on dealing with problems with these employers?’. However, the agency is unlikely to have had substantial involvement so they may also only have the nanny’s word to go on.

A private placement is more problematic. The nanny may have kept in touch with friends or teachers from that job, especially if it’s more recent, but again they’re only likely to have heard one side of the story. Where a reference comes back very negative and the nanny insists that their ex-boss is being unfair you might want to know whether they’d complained about it at the time. Your prospective nanny may have consulted external organisations such as their insurance provider or a professional association, or sent emails detailing their side of the story. It’s not foolproof but seeing this kind of evidence may help you make up your mind.

A solid employment history is very important for nannies, and both employers and nannies tend to appreciate that, so will make efforts to maintain contact and at least civil if not cordial relations. At least by offering an explanation a nanny is demonstrating that they understand how important it is and avoiding a large unexplained gap which may set alarm bells ringing.