Smarter Ardor
  • Blog
  • Smarter Living
  • Homemade Fun
  • About

Tips for Prospective Nannies

8/7/2011

2 Comments

 
Picture
Our family portrait in chalk, by Mirabella.
Searching for a nanny online is, to an unsettling degree, like online dating.  Having had the unfortunate occasion to have tried both now, I know what I’m talking about. Our beloved day care provider is retiring.  She is the only one who has ever watched our kids (for more than a couple of hours), aside from family. She is family.  She wants me to promise to let the girls stay with her one day a week after she retires so they can have "girl time."  Her daughters are trying to get her to pull a Brett Favre, but  I can’t count on it.

So,  I signed up for a free trial of Sittercity, an online nanny/babysitter search service.  This trial allowed me to create and post a job description and to see when people had applied, but not to actually read the applications.  Fine.  I guess, as in online dating, it’s not a terrible thing to know people had to pay to play.  So I paid (after finding an online coupon code, of course).

Whoa.  This enabled me not only to read the applications of the people who applied, but also to search for nannies that might meet my specifications, even supplying, in some cases, references, background check results, and reviews.  This is where it got weird. The profiles are pretty basic: a photo, first name and last initial, age, location, and basic certifications and credentials. From here, I began to establish my list of tips for prospective nannies:

1. Practice Photo Etiquette. You are trying to get a job, not a date.  And not a job dancing or waiting tables or posing provocatively, either.  You are trying to get a job caring for children in their parents’ absence.  There must be no cleavage, no seductive poses, no pouty lips, no risqué clothing, and never, under any circumstances, should you be wearing a bathing suit. Which brings me to,

2. Know your audience. Off hand, I’d say there’s a 95% chance the person perusing your profile is a woman, a mother, who is in the stressful and emotionally draining process of searching for someone to care for her child, a job she likely thinks no one is actually qualified to do.  In addition to that, the whole nanny and husband scenario is pretty done at this point.  You’re already at a disadvantage, perception wise.  Do not make it worse.

3. Learn to spell.  Really.  Or, at the very least, spell check.  If you tell me you are studying elementary education and can’t spell “church,” I will not hire you.  You can’t profess a love of learning and that you will teach my child to read and write if it doesn’t seem like you know how. Likewise,

4. No shorthand. This is not a text message, it’s a profile on a job site you had to pay to join.  Use punctuation, capital letters, and spell words out.  Be professional.

5. Don’t be gorgeous and 22.  Okay, this is only half serious, and it’s probably just me.  But while hiring a nanny is bound to make this next stage of our family’s life much more bearable, I do not relish it.  In our interviews, I have felt as if I am hiring someone to do what is actually my job.  The women we have interviewed have all been wonderful, professional, courteous, good with the kids, and sweet.  They are not the problem; I am.  And I can’t help but feel that if I walk into my house and see a young woman with my baby on her hip, wiping down the counter in my kitchen and laughing with my husband I might just turn around and walk out.  No one wants to feel replaceable, least of all in her most important roles.

This process was always going to be terrible.  It feels impossible to find someone great to watch my kids when I just want to be there and feel like I’m missing it.  The occasional email I would read aloud to Daniel that started, “Hi, I’m Gaby and I’m Brazilian” (that one got a raised eyebrow and a resolute “no, thank you” ) were funny, but this is a big deal.  This person will have a front-row view into our marriage, our family, our life.  It’s not always a pretty picture. I am not proud of my complicated feelings on the matter, and I didn’t intend to turn something that’s all about them into all about me. I’m not sure what the right way to go about this is, but not everything is better online.

2 Comments
Stephanie S
8/13/2011 08:21:58 am

I will be curious to hear more about your search. I have put off looking at daycare because I am dreading leaving Thomas with someone else (no matter how qualified they might be). The idea of a nanny definitely appeals, so I would welcome any tips you pick up as you go through the process.

Reply
Connie
8/14/2011 04:31:18 pm

I shouldn't have, but it totally made me laugh in hysterics when I read this. I have the exact same feelings about nannies! :) Hope that your search is going well.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    RSS Feed

    Picture

    About Me

    Christina | Virginia Beach
    Psuedo Yankee, city-loving former working mom of four finds herself home with the kids and transplanted to the somewhat Southern suburbs. Finding her feet while still attempting to harness the power of the passion of her youth for useful good.

    Picture

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    March 2020
    February 2020
    March 2019
    January 2019
    August 2018
    April 2018
    November 2017
    July 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    February 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    March 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011

    Categories

    All
    Anklebiter Anecdotes
    Bendetto
    Careful Feeding
    Charm City
    Complicated Joys
    Family Affairs
    Family Conference
    Festival Of Estrogen
    Grace For Moms
    Help Yourself
    Inanity & Insanity
    Looking Up
    Making It Home
    Mothering Missteps
    Moving Onward
    Music City
    Part Time Lover
    Part-time Lover
    Part-time Lover
    Soapbox
    Stumblings
    Su Casa
    The Village
    This City Life
    Wanderings
    Wifedom
    Worklife

    Links

    Grace for Moms

    MOPS International's Blog

    Amber Hudler

    Smarter Ardor.
    Copyright © 2011-2018.
    All Rights Reserved.
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
Photos used under Creative Commons from lungstruck, Orin Zebest, yaquina, warrenski, Jing a Ling, The Shopping Sherpa, Sir, Rony, orangeacid, adrianvfloyd, SierraTierra, benjaflynn, Homeandgardners, eye's eye, katerha, LivingOS, wolfB1958, andyarthur, Jeremiah Ro, alextorrenegra, ShironekoEuro, mabahamo, iMorpheus, openuser, kamshots, nickHiebert, VinothChandar, Yashna M, mike138, Dougtone, cogdogblog, x1klima