subject: Not Just Nannies Vancouver Nanny Agency [print this page] Live-in or Live-out -The first thing to decide when hiring a nanny is if you want them to live in or outside of your home. This will alter the pool of candidates available as some nannies are only interested in live-out childcare positions, while other narrow their focus to live-in positions.
Specific Requirements - The next most important thing to consider is your life style and the requirements that will create. Do you travel a lot? If so will you require a nanny that can travel? Are you able to drive your children to school and activities or do you need a nanny that drives? Are you comfortable with a nanny taking your children on public transit? Do you work from home or out of the home? Some nannies are better suited to work as a team with the mother than others.
Your Child - Your children may have special interests or activities that you want your nanny to focus on. Most nannies prefer to work with children and families that have common interests or desire attention in a specific area, perhaps art or an instrument, a second language or even help with specialized schoolwork or working with a child that has special needs. Finding a nanny that can fit these needs is usually possible.
Reference Checks. This is probably the most critical part of your nanny search and placement. You need to make sure that a complete criminal and background check is done on any childcare candidate that you are considering. Reference of past employers should be checked as well along with driving records and any other pertinent information. A good Nanny agency will do this for you and the share the information with you, including contact information of the references so you can also check them or follow up to ask more personalized questions.
Responsibilities It is very important that you put careful thought into the exact tasks you want your new nanny to be responsible for. This is critical so that communication is clear from the beginning; it also ensures you will find a match that is interested in fulfilling all of your needs. Are you looking for just a childcare provider? Or would you like you nanny to provide assistance with light house work, errands, cooking or other tasks?
See if its a match - It will be very important to see how the nanny candidates interact with your children and entire family. Make sure you have set aside adequate time to get to know a potential nanny. Once you have narrowed your choices down, you will want your children to be able to play and get to know the nanny as well. Whenever possible it is best to arrange a short term trial period for a few hours or a day or even longer so you, your children and the nanny can truly get a feel of whether or not its a good fit.
