Singer Charlotte Church made the headlines recently for placing an advert for a nanny, which blew her cover in under one hundred words. Her self-penned advert stated that a ‘well-known singer’ was looking for a nanny to help with tasks such as ‘washing, shopping, nappies and two dogs’ and that both parents in the ‘VIP family’ were musicians. Once the location – Wales – was confirmed, it left very little to the imagination and soon the press got hold of the advert and the news that Ms Church is expecting her third child. Clients often advertise privately in the first instance but then move to an agency when they realise that this is the only way to attract a crop of quality candidates and save a huge amount of time and effort. Here are a few things to think about, whether you are a nanny about to start working with a VIP family, or if you are a potential new employer with privacy concerns.
Non-Disclosure Agreements: NDA agreements are common practice now even before candidates get to interview with some clients. For the as-yet-uninitiated, a Non-Disclosure Agreement is a legal agreement where the owner of confidential information needs to disclose information to another party (in this case, their nanny or other household staff) and wishes the information to remain confidential. A non-disclosure agreement cannot protect information that is already in the public domain or becomes publicly known. The type of NDA normally used by employers with their nannies is a one-way agreement – where one party or person is disclosing information and the other party agrees to keep it secret.
Pitfalls of Private Recruitment: Several websites enable nannies and employers to find each other without the use of an agency, but within these largely unregulated arenas both nanny and employer are at risk of entering into a poor relationship. Responsibility falls to the employer to carry out lengthy background checks: • Check original documentation (qualifications and written references) • See and make copies of all ID (passport, driving licence and ideally a utility bill with current address) • Obtain DBS check • Verbally check any references they from previous employers
For the nanny, finding work through an agency brings a good deal of protection, a wealth of advice, and plenty of admin support. Clients too are vetted for suitability; contracts and terms (including NDAs) are negotiated through the agency, and nannies are matched carefully and intuitively to suitable clients. With longer-established nanny agencies such as ourselves, often there exists a long-standing relationship with the employer family, so nannies put forward for interview know they’ve already passed a vital stage in the selection process.
Where the care of ones children is concerned, working with a reputable nanny agency will save a family precious time, as well as ensuring that the nanny they ultimately appoint holds all the requisite qualifications and certificates. For a nanny looking for their first job or an experienced nanny seeking a new position, all agency-advertised jobs come with the added bonus of the agency’s broad experience, and the inherent, priceless seal of approval that comes with being agency-verified.
Looking for a new job? Check out our vacancies page now, and keep an eye on our Facebook page for all new appointments as they come in.