Welcome to Nanny's & Granny's. You have just made the important decision to seek professional help in fulfilling your personal staffing needs. Most importantly, by choosing Nanny's & Granny's to assist you in your search, you have chosen a proven leader in the industry with more than sixteen years of professional training and placement experience. Because of this you can relax secure in the knowledge that a trained professional placement advisor is hard at work looking for that perfect nanny for you.
Understanding the job market is a critical part of the placement process. Let's get the bad news behind us! It is important for you as a client to realize that there is a nationwide shortage of professional nannies, the demand for professional care givers, far exceeds the supply. The good news is that by making the decision to screen through a reputable agency you have greatly increased the quantity and quality of nannies available to you.
Selecting the correct individual for your particular lifestyle is something that only you can do. Nanny's & Granny's would like to offer the following information and suggestions to help make the screening procedure as easy as possible.
A successful placement can be broken down to four components.
They are as follows:
Needs Assessment
Advertising and Screening
Personal Interviews
The Placement Contract and Support Services
Needs Assessment
A Needs Assessment is simply the way that a Nanny's & Granny's professional placement advisor acquires a clear understanding regarding the type of individual required to best suit the needs of a particular family. Different positions require different personalities, education levels, skill levels and salary ranges. In short, the needs assessment helps us to help you. In a moment, you will be asked to fill out a client information and reference form. Fill in all of the blanks to provide your advisor with as much detail as possible. Remember that the information that you give is the information that your advisor will be using to seek the perfect nanny for your particular requirements, so be as detailed as possible.
In addition to the client's preference form, you will be asked to answer a needs assessment questionnaire. Keep in mind, this is not a test, there are no right or wrong answers so feel free to answer as openly as possible.
After you have completed all forms, your placement advisor will help you decide the skill level and probable salary range of your future nanny. Do keep in mind that Nanny's & Granny's does not receive a commission from placed nannies. Therefore, when a salary range is suggested, Nanny's & Granny's has no vested interest in seeking higher nanny salaries, While it is often possible to hire a nanny at below scale wages, it becomes impossible to keep that nanny.
Our interest at Nanny's & Granny's is making certain that our clients and nannies maintain a comfortable, stable relationship. Our experience consistently illustrates that clients who attempt to maintain Nannies at below scale wages pay far more in replacement fees than it would have cost them to pay their nanny a suitable salary. Additionally, Nanny's & Granny's will only offer our extended replacement policy to those clients who follow our recommended salary guidelines. Salary guidelines are determined by several factors including, but not limited to: the number of children, their ages, the number of on duty hours per week, the housekeeping duties required and the current job market. Your placement advisor can help to balance your personal needs with the salary range comfortable for your budget.
Advertising and Screening
The most time consuming and frustrating part of the entire placement process comes under this heading. This is the area where your Nanny's & Granny's placement advisor really goes to work for you! It is common for the placement advisor to screen between thirty and forty individuals in order to find two or three qualified applicants. Each interview takes between one and two hours of direct contact with the potential nanny and an additional two hours of file maintenance and preparation. During this time your placement advisor should check in with you approximately once a week to give you an update on the screening process.
Clients often ask how long the screening process takes. An average turn around time is ten working days. However at certain times of the year, particularly between Thanksgiving and the New Year, placements tend to take longer.
Nanny's & Granny's encourages our clients to take time with the placement process. If you need immediate assistance, a placement advisor can place one of our Temporary Nannies at your disposal.
Temporary nannies can be placed for the amount of the suggested salary plus a $50.00 to a $70.00 weekly commission premium. Temporary nannies undergo a complete background check as well as TB screening.
Sometimes a client decides to offer a temporary nanny full time employment. Should this be the case, please contact your placement advisor so a date for a placement contract negotiation can be set. A commission premium remains payable until a placement contract is signed and on file in Nanny's & Granny's office and all placement fees have been paid to Nanny's & Granny's.
Clients are often curious about the various methods that Nanny's & Granny's employs to find qualified applicants. This agency employs a wide variety of advertising that includes the following methods:
It is during the advertising and screening process that clients often voice a feeling of frustration. Relax. This is a common feeling. As a client never experiences the numerous interviews that result in the rejection of unsuitable candidates and only sees those individuals who have successfully completed preliminary screening procedures it is easy to gain the impression that nothing is being accomplished. A reminder, finding the ideal individual often takes time, your placement advisor has a goal to make a lasting successful placement, not necessarily a quick placement. Sit back, relax and know that Nanny's & Granny's entire screening and placement staff is working full time to find just the right individual to meet your staffing needs.
Personal Interviews
The third step in the placement process is the personal interview. For our Las Vegas clients, primary interviews take place in our office located at 6440 West Coley Avenue. Your placement advisor will be happy to arrange interviews between the hours of 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. six days a week. Telephone interviews can be arranged for our out of state clients.
Experience has taught us that having a Nanny's & Granny's placement advisor present at all initial interviews provides an invaluable source of information in helping our staff to match client needs with potential nannies.
Under special circumstances, interviews may be conducted at a location of the client’s choosing. In such cases, the advertising and screening fee will be increased from $300.00 to $600.00 to cover the additional time, transportation and staffing required to meet these custom arrangements.
Generally, two to three interviews will be arranged for each office visit. Coordinating schedules is somewhat difficult so be certain to contact your placement advisor well in advance should you find it necessary to change an appointment.
Well-thought out interviews are the most productive ones. We encourage you to prepare a list of questions that you want to cover in the interview. The Potential Interview Questions & Guidelines sheet is designed to help in the preparation of this list.
It is important that our clients understand the individuals being interviewed are in different stages of the screening process ranging from very basic to completed files. Nanny's & Granny's recommends that all reference and background checks be completed before a nanny is permitted to begin work with a family. Additionally, we suggest that all nannies should have CPR Certification and provide a driver’s background check before going on duty. Should you wish your Nanny to begin work without completion of these requirements, you will be asked to sign a waiver releasing Nanny's & Granny's of liability in regards to these issues.
In addition to Background checks, Health Cards, CPR Certification, and a DMV Printout or a Non-Driving Declaration, Nanny's & Granny's offer references to other agencies for additional screening and testing. Examples of these services are as follows: HIV Testing, Drug Screening, Psychological Screening and Private background screening companies. Charges for these services range from fifty to several hundred dollars. Please contact your placement advisor for assistance in arranging these additional services.
After each interview, your placement advisor will ask for your impressions and a rating on the interviewees. Information gathered will be useful in helping to arrange future interviews. If you wish, you may download a Reference/Interview Sheet to help you compare those nannies that you interview.
Sometimes everyone gets lucky and the perfect nanny will be one of the first ones interviewed. If this is the case, we encourage clients to proceed with the final steps of the interview process as quickly as possible. Nannies are often interviewed with several clients in our office. Additionally, most nannies are registered with other agencies across the nation and are also going on private (non agency) interviews. While we want you to take your time, please be aware that the nanny you think is great is probably in demand with other families so once you've made up your mind, it is probably best if you act on your decision. Nanny's & Granny's suggests you contact our office to invite the nanny that you are considering for hire to a second interview in the more relaxed setting of your home.
Families often ask if they can "Try a Nanny out". There are no tryouts. Nanny's & Granny's regular 90 day and our extended probation periods are designed to make certain a particular Nanny meets the needs of your family. It is also a time for the nanny to decide if this is the job for her. All fees must be paid and contracts must be in place before a nanny begins work and the probationary period begins with the nannies first day of employment. If after the probationary period the nanny decides against the position or the client decides not to employ the nanny, your placement advisor will begin screening for a replacement at no additional charge.
Placement Contract and Support Services
Once a decision has been made to hire a particular nanny the final step of the process needs to be completed.
Nanny's & Granny's suggests the use of a written contract. A written contract helps to detail and clarify the working hours, living conditions, salary range and duties of the position. In addition, the contract will specify the amount of paid vacation, and the number of paid holidays, personal days and sick days the nanny is to receive each year.
In the contact the nanny agrees to perform certain duties for a certain number of children for a specific number of hours per week at a specific salary range.
For any contract to work, it must be fair to all parties involved. If a nanny makes extraordinary demands, the placement advisor will advise the family of this fact. If the family asks for services that are out of range of normal nanny services, the placement advisor will advise the nanny. Of course, whatever the nanny and the client agree upon is how the contract will be written.
Nanny's & Granny's is not part of the Nanny Placement Contract and serves only as a typing service. In addition, Nanny's & Granny's does not offer accounting or tax advice other than to advise that the government requires payroll deductions on all employees. Your placement advisor will provide a brochure to a payroll service that specializes in Nanny Payroll Deduction Services.
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