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Ten Tips: Find a Great Nanny Job

1. Envision Your Ideal Nanny Job: Do you have age group preferences? Do you have infant experience? How much cooking would you be comfortable with? Housework? Know your strengths and your limits.
   
   
2. Prepare Nanny Portfolio: This should include a brief introductory letter, your resume including work and educational background, any letters of reference and any certifications or awards you have earned.
   
   
3. Your electronic persona: Use a neutral email address and watch those MySpace and Facebook profiles! Grammar and spelling count! DON'T SHOUT ONLINE! Keep communications short and concise - respect the reader's time.
   
   
4. Locate available positions: Families looking to hire a nanny will list their job with a nanny agency (Click to Search Agencies), list the job online at sites like 4nannies.com, place newspaper advertisements, and even put up notices on supermarket, church and fitness club bulletin boards.
   
   
5. Contact families: Organization is the key here as you will presumably be pursuing several opportunities. Use your computer, a notebook, or just a notecard, but meticulously keep notes on the families, their situations, and your interview and follow up schedule. Listen carefully, and pay attention to way they write their position descriptions. You can find clues as to the family's style (laid back or highly structured), their expectations (primarily childcare, childcare and housekeeping, etc.), and their schedules (work from home, 9 to 5 schedule, shift work, much flexibility needed, etc.).
   
   
6. Interview: Keep your appointments, be punctual, dress appropriately, ask questions, show interest, and interact with the children as well as adults. Examine discipline and child rearing philosophies. Are they consistent with your views? Can you work with the parents as a team?
   
   
7. Negotiate the Work Agreement: A family job offer is not necessarily take it or leave it! Insist on being paid hourly and insist on a weekly guarantee. Educate yourself on what is usual and customary and what is not. Don't make an agreement you will regret.
   Red Flag: Family refuses to put the work agreement in writing.
   
   
8. References: The family SHOULD expect that you have work and personal references that are not your relatives. You should feel free to ask to speak to the current or former nanny or caregiver too - make sure they were paid promptly and fairly, and ask them if there was anything they wish they knew before they started this job.
   Red Flag: Family does not check your references.
   
   
9. Background Check: The family needs your signed consent to conduct a pre-employment criminal background check, including your full legal name, date of birth and Social Security Number.
   Red Flag: Family does not require a background check.
   
   
10. Finalize the Details: Sign the work agreement, obtain family emergency contacts and procedures before you are left alone with the children.

Other helpful information:

 Questions Nannies Should Ask
 Article: 10 Tips for Writing the Work Agreement  Article: So What is a Nanny Anyway?