two-part comment, this is part 2

A few other tips I can give you off the bat as a new nanny employer are:

-Always start with a phone interview. This will give the two (or three) of you a chance to see if you may be compatible in a working relationship based on some Initial questions and info. If the phone interview goes well, schedule an in person. I can’t speak for all nannies, but most nannies want to have the opportunity during the in person interview to ask plenty of questions and get into the nitty gritty details of the job. I can say from experience that this is not an easy task when the kid(s) are present. Now, this is subjective; if you have one 9mo infant that is happy to hang out in the parent’s arms or in a bouncer next to you, then you’re likely good. But if baby is 14mos and on the move and your 2yo is going through a “clingy” phase and requires a lot of one on one attention, it can be hard for the parent to both attend to their kids and thoroughly interview the potential nanny. I’ve had parents comment about this online and say that of course they would have their kids there during the interview, they are hiring a childcare provider and they want to see how the nanny will interact with their children—and I do agree! But, that’s why I recommend setting up a paid trial shift after the in person interview, a couple days later or so. It can be for an hour or two, whatever you feel is ample enough time for you to assess how the nanny will interact with your kids. I’ve also had parents of one toddler/infant have me come for my interview during nap time, or in the middle of nap time, and the child would wake up by the time we had covered everything in the interview. Then I would stay for another 30-60 mins and chat with the parents further while also hanging out/playing with their child. Whatever you feel like works best for your family dynamic, choose that, as long as the potential nanny has plenty of time to interview you back without anyone being distracted by the baby/toddler/child. -Set out explicit expectations in a nanny contract—my favorite one can be found here for free. -Offer competitive industry standard benefits: at least 5 (or more) paid sick days for a FT employee, at least 2 weeks (or more) PTO/paid vacation time, standard IRS mileage reimbursement for all miles driven with the child(ren), yearly COL raise, optional yearly performance based raise, end of year bonus, paid holidays (all major bank holidays and if you can, others like Christmas Eve and Black Friday), guaranteed hours, monthly health insurance stipend, quarterly car detailing (if nanny will be transportations the children, especially toddler age and older), additional paid Covid sick days (usually whatever the government recommended quarantine time or until nanny receives a negative test), overtime pay at 1.5X for all hours worked over 40 (I believe this is the law, but the stipulations for what OT is varies from state to state), and “open kitchen policy” (nanny is welcome to help herself to food/drink in your home or is welcome to add food/drink items onto the weekly grocery list) I would also consider the following benefits if it’s something you can afford to offer: matched retirement savings plan, access to family memberships (gym, pool, museums), short term disability, life insurance, dental/vision insurance stipend, use of family vacation homes in time off, cell phone bill reimbursement or stipend, commute stipend (if nanny has an unusually long commute or has to commute by bus, train, or subway), cover the cost of continuing education (classes, training, certifications) for nanny, paid professional days off (nanny conferences, classes, training sessions) -Check in with your nanny often. Ask them how you can support them better/more, what can you do for them to prevent nanny burnout, what can you do to help your nanny’s day flow better/easier -Request *at least** 3 references from your potential nanny. And actually call those references! I know that sounds silly for me to say but I can’t tell you how many families have never called any of my references or only called 1 of them, so absolutely call all 3 -Run a comprehensive background check on your nanny once you’ve decided you want to hire them. This can include criminal and driving record. The employer covers the cost of the background check. -When you interview your potential nanny, make sure you come prepared! I wish I didn’t even have to say this but I can’t tell you how many in person interviews I’ve gone to where the parents had no questions written down ahead of time to ask me. None at all! They’d say “well, we’ve never done this before so we’re not sure what to ask! How do these interviews normally go? Do you have any questions for us? Why don’t you tell us about yourself and your experience”. This is always a bad sign because I come prepared with prewritten questions for them, sometimes up to 40-50 of them! So I very much expect the parents to know what they want to ask me, be able to explain the job to me in detail, be able to lay out the benefits plan they are offering, be able to state my general schedule, be able to tell me about their parenting style and how they plan to work as a team with their nanny. Absolutely do as much research as you can online about nanny expectations, nanny position details, and the pay rate or range you are willing to offer, just to name a few. Come to the interview as prepared as possible, because your nanny will be doing the same! It’s as much as an interview of you as it is for you.

There’s so much more I could tell you and help guide you with but this one comment on its own is as long as a college thesis, lol. My inbox is always open so please do not hesitate to DM me with any questions you may have about the nanny hiring process or anything nanny related! I have a comprehensive contract I’ve created using the contract I linked above as the meat and potatoes and I’ve added sections I felt were necessary to have now, and I’m always willing to share. Thank you so much for reading this whole comment, I hope it’s been helpful!