nanny job – Page 2 – Nannyjob blog

Childcare is Tough! Stay Energised with These Top Tips!

Being a parent is tough! Being a nanny is tough! Working in a nursery is tough! Raising a child is one of the most rewarding, but also one of the most challenging things you could ever do. The trouble with constantly taking care of the needs of your child or young charges is that it’s easy to push aside your own which can quickly lead to burnout that can affect both you and your children.

Try these top tips to help you take care of and re-energise yourself:

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Taking Care of Yourself: Tips for Child Carers

The job of a child carer is a demanding one; mentally, emotionally and physically. We love our jobs, working with children is exceptionally rewarding, but if we’re not careful, we can suffer from stress, burnout and exhaustion.

We’ve put together some top tips to help keep you healthy and in tip-top shape to ensure that you and your charges receive the best care!

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Make your nanny profile shine

At Nannyjob we know the essential information parents need to make a decision – location, experience, availability and what kind of job you want – so make sure these details on your nanny profile are accurate. If they aren’t, then you won’t show up when parents search! Here are some other top tips for making your profile stand out from the crowd.

The first question to ask yourself: what do parents want to know about you?

Be specific because when you’re too vague about location or availability then parents won’t bother to contact you if they don’t see what they’re looking for, or something similar, on your profile – you can select multiple regions but you probably don’t want to select all of them, particularly if you’re looking for a live out job!

Make sure the details on your profile make sense – your total years of experience should be equal to the number of years as a nanny, as a nursery nurse and in other childcare (which includes teacher or nursing). If you say you have more than 5 years experience but none as a nanny or as a nursery nurse or in childcare then how can you have more than 5 years relevant experience?

Select your job types carefully. You may be genuinely happy to work as anything but remember people will contact you based on what you say you want to do.

Add a photo! It makes it easier for parents to connect what you write to a real person if they have an idea of what you look like.

Use appropriate paragraphs and punctuation to make your description easy to read.

If you have any restrictions (for example you’re looking for a Monday and Tuesday job because you already have a job the other days state this early on.

If you’re looking to work in an area where you don’t currently live, say when you would be available to move and start work.

Give details of your qualifications and experience, as well as talking about the personal qualities which make you a great candidate. Remember that this section is all about what you can do for the family, how you interact with children, what you like to do in your job and how you use the knowledge and skills that you’ve gained. Make sure you really tailor it for a nanny job. Your interests, hobbies and family background are less important than skills which are relevant to childcare and show real passion and enthusiasm for your work.

Above all, be yourself!

Nanny references

Writing a nanny a reference can be tough. It usually means your childcarer is moving on and whether it’s your choice or theirs it’s often an emotional time. A glowing reference will help your nanny find a wonderful new job and show them how much you appreciate the job they’ve done for you.

Writing a nanny a reference can be tough. It usually means your child carer is moving on and whether it’s your choice or theirs it’s often an emotional time. A glowing reference will help your nanny find a wonderful new job and show them how much you appreciate the job they’ve done for you.

A good reference is about a page of A4 long. It often takes the form of a letter and includes your contact details so prospective employers can contact you. It should be written in the first person and split into easily readable paragraphs, each with a theme, for example your nanny’s day to day duties, their attitude to work, any particular skills they have and times they’ve gone above and beyond. You might find it helpful to refer to previous annual performance reviews when you sit down to write.

Give plenty of detail about your nanny’s current job and how that has evolved over time. If your nanny started when your child was a baby and they’re now at school you have 4+ years of very varied duties to cover! Don’t assume that a new-to-the-nannying-world prospective employer will know what ‘usual nursery duties’ or ‘daily care’ involves. Expanding on these shows what your expectations of your nanny were on a day to day basis, and of course you should comment on how well these expectations were met.

Providing specific examples will also help a prospective employer build up a complete picture of your nanny. Perhaps your nanny helped your child overcome shyness or transformed a fussy eater? By giving details of how they accomplished that you can demonstrate their approach to the children in their care as well as showcasing a positive impact they’ve had on your family.

Think about the kind of skills or attributes you really appreciate in your nanny. If your nanny is very organised or an excellent time-keeper then mention that in their reference. If the children are always laughing when you come home in the evening or they always have something they created that day to show you then share that with prospective employers. Bear in mind when writing a reference that your nanny may not always work as a nanny, or even in childcare, so highlight two or three highly transferrable skills.

A trickier task is writing a reference for a nanny who has been less than satisfactory. In this case a brief reference confirming length of employment and duties with an invitation for prospective employers to contact you will be more than sufficient.

Expect to be contacted whether you give a positive or neutral reference. Prospective employers will want to both check the veracity of your reference and ask detailed questions of their own. Be factual and honest – if they ask whether you ever needed to use a disciplinary procedure and you did then you should answer the question fully and truthfully. If that was the cause for terminating the nanny’s employment you are allowed to share that. If it was resolved satisfactorily use it as an example of how your nanny took your feedback on board and improved their performance.

Writing a reference is one of the kindest and most lasting things you can do for an excellent nanny and it will serve them all through their career, so it’s worth taking the time to do the task fully and well.

Nanny review

Although a performance review can also be helpful at any time if there are problems with your nanny carrying out their duties they should not be neglected if everything is going well. A performance review is a chance to praise your nanny and let them know what a good job they’re doing.

It’s a good idea once a year to sit down for a more formal meeting with your nanny to review their performance, your children’s development and plan the year ahead. You may like to do this on the anniversary of them starting work with you, at the start or end of the school year or the start of the calendar year. We’ve put together some questions you might like to consider or ask your nanny to think about before the meeting so you can sit down prepared.

Many nannies expect a pay rise, or at least a pay review, at their annual review. If you don’t want to discuss finances then let them know in advance that the meeting is solely about their performance and you’ll set aside another time to discuss pay.

Schedule the review for a time when there are no children around. Children can be a distraction and it’s especially important that you are able to be honest with your nanny if either of you have concerns about the children or if you have something negative to say.

We hope you find these questions helpful in facilitating communication with your nanny about their performance and your needs!

The year just gone:

Is the nanny able to do everything on their job description? Is there anything they are doing which is not in their job description? Does the job description need to be modified?

How has your nanny coped with the workload? How do they feel they have coped?

What have been your nanny’s strong points this year? What are areas for improvement?

Have there been any problems? How were they resolved?

Are the any developmental concerns about the children?

The year ahead:

Are there any foreseeable changes to duties?

Are there any activities it would be good to introduce? How can the children’s development be stimulated?

Do any strategies for behaviour management need to be recapped or reviewed?

Are there any areas where your nanny would like to refresh or update their knowledge?

What are the goals for the year ahead? (These may be for the children, the nanny or you e.g. potty training, ensuring all laundry is up to date on a Friday night, ensuring the kitchen is tidy on a Monday morning)

Is your nanny’s salary competitive and a fair reflection of the job’s demands?

How You Can Help Your Nanny Family Save Money

Good childcare can be expensive and some families might find themselves struggling to balance the cost of their other living expenses.

As a nanny, you can help to ease the burden for your nanny family by looking for opportunities to save them money.

Here’s how you can help!

Coupons!

Couponing is HUGE, and people everywhere, particularly large families are hunting down coupons in a bid to save money.

The idea of cutting out coupons and vouchers might seem somewhat tedious, but it doesn’t have to be. The next time you’re sitting down while the kids are watching a movie or taking a nap, have a quick look through magazines and newspapers, cut out a few coupons that apply to you and save them for later.

Follow these top tips to help you stay on top of the couponing game:

Subscribe to your local paper – Check that the papers include coupons that are relevant to you and if the saving exceeds the cost, subscribe to one or two so that you can start building your coupons.
Check store policies – Does your local supermarket accept more than one coupon per transaction or item? Find out what each shop you visit allows so that you can save time and take advantage of every saving opportunity.
Save the junk mail – You know the wad of leaflets pushed through the door on an almost daily basis? Some of these will include coupons or special offers from your local shop or supermarket. Look out for them!
Pick up a magazine/leaflet – As you finish your weekly shop, look for a leaflet or magazine containing store offers and coupons that you can take with you. You’ll be able to plan your next shop in advance to coincide with new deals or sales.
Pay attention to expiry dates – There’s no point having a purse full of out-of-date coupons that you have to search through at the checkout in the hopes of finding one that’s valid. Try to use coupons sooner rather than later, and do a weekly purge of any that have expired.
Plan ahead – Use your coupons and information about sales or special offers to plan your shopping trip in advance. Make a list and stick to it so you know beforehand exactly how much your shop will cost and what you’ll save.
Look online – You can find a whole host of coupons online. Be prepared to spend a little longer searching for coupons you can use, but the savings will be worth it!
Follow your favourites brands on social media – Some brands will only post their best offers to their loyal social media followers so be sure to follow, like and connect with them on all platforms to stay up-to-date with the latest deals.

Loyalty Cards/Reward Schemes

Most shops and online retailers now have loyalty schemes that reward you with points or discounts when you shop. Things like the Sainsburys Nectar, Boots Card, even the Costa coffee card and many more can help you save money on things like; the weekly shop, clothes, pharmacy, soft play centers and fuel.

If you shop somewhere on a regular basis, it won’t hurt to ask if they have a loyalty card.

Multi-Buy Deals/Special Offers

Multi-buy deals and special offers can really help you in the long-term, particularly when they’re for frozen food or non-perishable items. Think about the future when looking at multi-buy deals and remember that spending a little more now could save you money next week.

Find the Freebies

There are plenty of online retailers and companies offering freebies of new products in exchange for something small. Some want reviews of their products, others simply want to spread the word. Some might want your email or home address for marketing purposes, so check the T’s & C’s before you sign up!

Shop Smarter

Resist temptation – When you start collecting coupons, or building points, it’s easy to fall into the trap of buying things you don’t really need. Just because something is buy-one-get-one-half-price doesn’t necessarily mean you should buy two, if you don’t need two. Don’t be tempted to buy something you don’t need and won’t use, just because you have a coupon.
Shop around – Don’t be afraid to shop at different places. Just because you can get everything on your shopping list from one shop, doesn’t mean that you should. Other shops may offer certain items cheaper or have offers/coupons that you can use to bring your overall cost down.
Consider cheaper alternatives – There are many different brands of items to choose from when you shop. Take a simple tin of beans for example. There will usually be at least two different brands of beans at your local supermarket. Compare them see what you might save by switching to a different brand or a home brand and give it a try.

Use our top tips to start saving today. Apply them to your own spending as well as your nanny family’s and you’ll both be saving money in no time.

If you have any money saving tips you’d like to share, get in touch in the comments!

Why You Shouldn’t Micromanage Your Nanny

Many of us are familiar with the frustration that comes along when your boss or manager constantly breathes down your neck telling you how to do your job. It’s undermining, infuriating and annoying, and if done often enough, it can make you hate your job.

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Now imagine how your nanny feels when you tell her exactly what time she needs to put your child down for a nap, how many grapes he can eat, which games she should play with him, even what shape to cut his sandwiches. Sound familiar?

Your nanny is good at her job. You checked her references, read her resumé and can see she knows what she’s talking about. Bear in mind that a great many nannies have more experience with childcare than most parents have at simply being parents. She’s been doing the job a long time, it’s her life, her passion, and you need to learn to let go of the reigns a little and trust her judgement.

It probably won’t be easy, especially if you’re a new parent, it can be difficult to relinquish control to someone new and to put faith in them being able to care for your little one the way you would. However, if you don’t do this, there’s really no point in hiring a nanny in the first place and all your micromanaging will result in a frustrated nanny, a tense relationship between you and your nanny (that your child will probably pick up on) and you’ll find yourself feeling tired and on-edge, when you should be more relaxed and confident that your child is in capable hands.

That’s why we’ve put together our top tips to help keep your micromanaging to a minimum:

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Social Media for childcarers

Social media can be a great personal and professional tool. It enables you to keep in touch with family, friends and organisations that you’re interested in (like us!), get ideas and share your own thoughts and ideas with others. But what if you’re sharing more than you think?

Privacy and safety aren’t just concerns for high-profile families. Everyone should be aware that sharing information can be detrimental to children’s safety and it’s particularly relevant for nannies, who often have a lot more freedom during the working day to use social media, and may use it to organise spontaneous nanny meet-ups or share photos of day out. But it also means increases the risk of child abduction or images being used inappropriately. Armed with information from social media sites an abductor could identify a child from photos, find out their name, age, places they go and maybe their likes and dislikes, and even pass themselves off as a trusted friend, convincing the child to come with them.

Some parents are happy for pictures and details of their children to be posted on social media sites. As long as the risks have been discussed and everyone has agreed boundaries of what is appropriate this is between the childcarer and the family. Photos and details should never be posted without express permission. If a family are happy for photos to be taken of a child but not happy for them to be shared then childcarers need to make sure any photos with their charges are safe. Agreements about social media should be written into a contract, or provided as a separate policy.

The safest thing to do is avoid putting photos, names and places on social media sites. Once the information has been shared there is nothing to stop someone with access to it sharing it with others.

Keeping children safe isn’t the only consideration. Childcarers with open profiles need to be careful what they say as potential clients and employers could trace comments back to them. Sharing photographs of nights out is also risky, and many nannies refuse to have their employers as friends on Facebook for this reason. A timeline full of tweets complaining about children’s behaviour, while possibly light-hearted, gives a bad impression of a childcarer’s ability and commitment. Employers and agencies can easily search the internet and if they find something which reflects badly on a childcarer it will probably colour their opinion, which may mean losing out on a job.

We’re not saying you shouldn’t use social media at all – we love it! But we are saying be safe, and follow these tips:

– Check your privacy settings

– Think twice before posting comments about your work

– Don’t post photos, names or places on social media sites without verifying the security of the site and gaining permission

What are parents looking for when they are interviewing for a Nanny?

One thing every family wants when looking for a Nanny is that extra special person to take care of their precious children so whilst they are looking for someone with experience and energy there is so much more to it.
Want to present your best self at your next interview, check out these tips on how to be the best Nanny ever!

Want to present your best self at your next interview, check out these tips on how to be the best Nanny ever!

Act professional, calm, and always mature when in contact with the family, whether it’s face to face, phone calls or emails, the family will be scrutinising every thing you say and do for signs that you are / or aren’t the right person for them.
Be Honest – Parents are looking to ensure that their standards and idles are mirrored with yours, that you can handle situations with their children and that you are available when they need you to be. However, much you want a job, if it doesn’t fit with you then don’t take it thinking that you will make changes when you are working for the family. Trust is hugely important between a nanny and their employer and if you aren’t completely honest at interview or in communications prior to being offered the role then it might mean that the relationship gets off on the wrong foot.
Talk about your upbringing and your previous roles, show how it has moulded your beliefs and morals and made you the dependable, patient and person of good character that you have now become. Nannying is all about personality and interacting with the children and parents need to be reassured that you will take care of them in the same way they would.
Share your wisdom, new parents, in particular, are probably worried about some issue or other with their child by offering helpful suggestions they will see you as a team player and font of knowledge. By showing an interest and demonstrating that you are knowledgeable and can show initiative this will reassure the parents that you are good at your job. A good example of how to do this with parents of slightly older children is to present examples of how you turn activities into learning opportunities without children even realising, parents will love this!
Show respect and compassion, parents may want things done in a certain way because it allows them to be involved, for example bedtimes or routines around meals, if they work long hours make suggestions as to how you can help with maintaining good, healthy routines for their children whilst ensuring they spend quality time with Mum and Dad.
Whilst it’s important to be as communicative as possible for both the Nanny and the family about expectations it’s also important to recognise that things change over time and particularly as children get older, suggest ways of communicating with each other that shows you want to be involved in changes and that you know that regular communication is important.
You must be you; you are a Nanny because you love children, make sure that shines through, showing enthusiasm for your job will endear you to all families, at the end of the day they want someone who is happy to be around their children and for that happiness to reflect in their family life!

As we say @Nannyjob there is nothing more important than finding the nanny who will make a child happy. Highlighting these qualities will show any potential new family just how you’ll fit into their everyday life

Online Safety Tips for Nannies

Over the past few years, we’ve seen a significant rise in internet fraud, phishing scams and other ‘traps’ that aim to trick victims into handing over money, providing sensitive information or even putting themselves in physical danger.

To help you stay safe when applying for your next nanny job, we’ve put together our top online safety tips for nannies:

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