Step one – define the nanny profile

When starting the nanny hiring process, the first and one of the most important steps is to determine what are the exact functions you wish your nanny to perform. Answering the following questions can help you start defining the nanny profile – how old is your child? Do you have more then one child? Do you need a live-in nanny or a live-out nanny? Do you need your nanny to drive your kids to school? Do you wish to include in your nanny’s duties some housekeeping tasks?

The more questions you will ask your self the better understanding you will have of what kind of person you are looking for.

Step two – find a good nanny agency

If you wish to find a good nanny fast you need to find a good and successful nanny agency that will be able to provide high quality candidates for the job. Nanny agencies specializes in screening and finding a variety of candidates with different profiles – from young and less experienced nannies to well experienced and professional nannies.

For example – a family may be interested in nanny hiring which is a teenage and has less experience then other nannies from the following reasons – her salary is lower, her duties and responsibilities don’t include driving the kids to school or managing house hold tasks and the fact she will be responsible for only one child.

Step three – the nanny interview

After locating and screening several candidates the next step will be interviewing each and every one of them. If completing a nanny hiring process without thoroughly interviewing her first will be a mistake. From an interview you can easily understand if the person in front of you is reliable, responsible, a warm caring person, has the right touch with kids, the persons life style and more.

Make a list of the questions you wish to ask your candidates and ask each one of them the same questions. That way you will be able to compare the pro and cons of each one and decide who you would like to hire as a childcare provider for your kids.

Step four – references and background check

Before actually completing the nanny hiring process you need to investigate and see a little bit more then the eye can see. Ask your candidates to provide you more then one reference so you could cross check with another person some important information about your nanny.

Another check which you shouldn’t skip is the nanny background check. From this check you will be able to learn more about your candidate’s history by checking the following records – sex offender, driving & criminal. You will also make sure once again that she is actually the person she says she is.

Step five – nanny contract

Now that you and your nanny found each other and it seems both sides are interested in working together, no matter how comfortable you feel with this person, it’s highly recommended to put everything you agreed upon in writing. Completing a nanny hiring process without a contract is quite risky. The contract goal is not to prepare a legal document you can use if things will get out of hand but to clearly define the relationships between the two sides.

Remember – a good contract is a contract you sign, file and never read again. If after a while you find your self reading the contract again and again then something is wrong with the relationship between you and your nanny.

By: Gill Lavi

About the Author: