Hiring an In-Home ChildCare Provider
This information is on hiring a nanny without an agency
Note: The terms childcare provider, nanny and candidate are used interchangeably
Before You Begin Your Search
Before you start searching online or telling friends and family you are looking for a childcare provider, it is essential that you figure out the specific details.
Basics: Write down hours a week you will need someone, whether the hours are flexible or not. How long the position will last: do you need someone for 3 months or is it an ongoing position for possibly years to come?
Responsibilities: Write down all the specific duties for the position and group them based on two categories: wants vs. needs. For example, you need a nanny that will prepare meals for the children but you would also like a nanny to do grocery shopping. It is important to keep track of what you are and are not willing to compromise on and that both parents are in agreement.
Qualifications: Write down all the qualifications your childcare provider must possess. As with responsibilities, some of these may be mandatory wheras others may be flexible. For example, it may be mandatory for your nanny to have 3 childcare references and a clean dmv record but you would also like your nanny to be fluent in a second language. Make sure you know what qualifications you are willing to compromise on.
Special Needs: Write down any specials needs your child(ren) may have and whether you require a nanny that has experience in that specific area or whether you are willing to train the right candidate. An example of special needs would be: colic, ADHD, asthma or anything else that requires special attention.
Describe your Family: Write down a paragraph or so about your family and the interactions they may have with the childcare provider. This includes the parents and all children even if the provider will not be directly caring for them.
Compensation: What can you Afford? It is recommended that you have a range of at least $2-$3 an hour so you can be more selective when choosing the right provider for you. Please also think about what types of benefits you are open to offering. For specific details on benefits and what you are and are not required by law to provide, please visit our Benefits page.
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Minimum Requirement Recommendations
The Nanny Forum recommends the following minimum requirements for any childcare provider that you hire to work in your home. Please be sure to see original documents and make copies for your records before hire .
Including a clean criminal record may sound like a silly requirement to include because of course it should go without saying BUT you would be surprised as to how many parents do not run a background check to make sure the candidate is clean. The Nanny Forum's recommendation is to have a criminal background check run after the interview but before offering the candidate the position. It is not necessary to run a criminal check on every person you interview as it will prove time consuming and costly. (For more information on choosing a background screener read the following section entitled: choosing a background screening service)
In addition to these minimum requirements consider any other minimum requirements your family may need. Will you need someone that drives their own vehicle? If so, get a copy of their auto insurance card. Do you require someone with a college degree? If so, ask for a copy of their unofficial transcripts. (Once you decide to hire someone you can then request they have official ones sent to your residence).
Make sure you stick to your guns with your requirements! Do not hire someone that has been unable to get a copy of their driving record to you; it is very easy to obtain one and if they can not get one to you it means one of two things: one, they are hiding something and hoping they can charm their way into the job and you'll forget about it or two: they're too lazy or lack the time management to physically drive to the d.m.v and get one. Either way, it's a bad sign!
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Choosing a Background Screening Service
The Nanny Forum recommends finding a background screening service before beginning your search. The reason for this is because it lessens the chance that you will decide to not run one. This happens a lot where a family interviews a nanny, gets a great feeling off them, their references check out great and they decide it is not worth the work involved to get them screened. Just remember, you can never be too safe when it comes to your children!
To find a criminal background check company, you will want to choose one that has at least one professional association and will work with individuals. (Some professional screeners will only work with companies). Please visit >NAPBS (National Association of Professional Background Screeners)for a list of professional background screening companies.
Criminal Checks: It is important to understand that a 100% thorough criminal backround check can not be run by just checking someone through an online database. Instead, this is how the legitimate companies work; first a social security trace is run on the individual; the results of this trace will give them a list of all the counties the individual has lived in for the past 7 years (you can not go back farther than 7 years). Then a criminal backround check will need to be run for each county that person has lived in to fully clear them. A person may come up clear for County A and still have a criminal record for County B. Literally, someone needs to go to the court house of every county to access this information. It is true that some background screening companies do have access to a national internet database but it will not include all criminal records. Just be smart and do not be fooled by a background company that says it will run a nationwide criminal check on your potential nanny and not explain HOW they get this information. If the company is claiming this then ask them the following: how will you obtain this information? Get a specific itemization of the process; do not let them skip over the details. If they simply say they run the person's social security number through an online database, you are better off looking into a different company.
California Residents: In California there is Trustline. Trustline is California's background check for in-home child care. It's easy to check if a nanny is registered; you simply call 1-800-822-8490 and ask! (You will need the nanny's social security number to check). A nanny can register for trustline for about $150 and inclusion of their fingerprints through livescan. Ink fingerprints are not accepted and you can call trustline for more information on locations near you to get this done. Clearance with trustline can take up to 2 weeks and we recommend that all California Nannies register with them and that all California families require it.
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Where to Find Candidates
Finding potential nannies and other childcare providers on your own can be time consuming. We have researched the following online resources for your convenience:
Before working with a background service company I highly encourage you to read the previous section on choosing a background service if you have not already done so.
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Interviewing
The interview process should be broken down into these 3 steps in order to save time and energy.
During the first part of the interview, give them a tour of your home while discussing the responsibilities. (These are responsibilities that the candidate will already know about since it should be included in your online profile, posting or initial email). Ask them how they feel about all the responsibilities and their willingness to perform them. Here is a few examples of questions to choose from during the interview process:
The list of possible interview questions is endless; just keep in mind that it is important to ask specific questions based on your unique family needs. For example, if one of your children is allergic to peanuts then you will want to ask how confident they feel handling an emergency-what would they do if your child had a serious reaction? Another example: if one of your children loves to read ask how important they feel reading to children is and how often s/he read to children they have cared for in the past.
**Remember, a childcare provider is working within your home and its very important you like the personality of the childcare provider as well as respect them as a professional in order to have a successful match.
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Screening Candidates
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Offering a candidate the job
After you have completed all the necessary screens and checks with positive results you are now ready to offer the candidate the job. You will want to write out your offer in the form of a contract to include the salary and benefits you are offering and the work you expect done in return. In order to make an informed decision on benefits to offer please visit our benefits page. There are certain requirements (like paying time and a half for any hour over 40 hours in a week) whereas others are optional (like providing medical insurance).
Click family/nanny contract for a contract you can modify to fit your needs
After you have written out a detailed contract you should call the candidate with your offer. Even if the candidate accepts the offer over the phone, ask them to review the contract (which you will email to them)and get back to you after they have read it. It is important that the candidate understands what you will and will not be providing as well as your expectations of all her job duties. Why? You want to make sure the candidate understands everything you expect and does not take the job without realizing all that is involved.
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Signing a written contract
This will be the contract you wrote up that the candidate has already seen through email. Make two copies and have the nanny sign both when she arrives for her first day of work; you will also sign both. You now have a signed contract which will prevent many future problems!
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Trial Preiod
It is important to have a trial period which should be included in your contract. A trial period allows the family or nanny to end the work relationship for any reason. The contract should not go into effect until after the trial period. (This way the family has no financial obligation to provide any type of severence pay if they decide to let the nanny go and in the same manner, the nanny is not required to give two weeks notice.
Length: Most trial periods are one to two weeks maximum.
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