This post is for families that are looking to hire an amazing housekeeper.
Today you’re going to learn all the steps you need to take to shortlist and interview for a nanny housekeeper position.
In fact, the same process helps us shortlist and interview the right candidate pretty much every time.
Let’s get started.
Step #1: Deciding Whether You Want To Interview a Nanny Housekeeper By Yourself Or Retain An Agency
After reading this post, it will be clear to you whether you want to do it yourself, or not. If time is not your enemy and if you’re lucky enough to find the relevant candidate from the first try, you might even save some money, compared to hiring an agency.
But if you’re unlucky enough and make a bad hire, this could transform into a negative experience and might end up costing more time and resources than what an agency would charge.
Another point is privacy. If you’re a high profile family of if you want to keep your name hidden, it’s best to use an agency as it serves as an extra layer between you and the public.
Step #2: Identifying Your Requirements; Drafting The Job Description
Looking out for a nanny housekeeper might sound very generic and could attract irrelevant candidates. Narrowing down your requirements will help you match the most relevant candidates for your family.
Here are some questions you might want to ask yourself:
- Is cooking required?
- Are there any special requirements, like allergies, pets, bioproducts usage?
- Any outdoor work required?
- Which hours the nanny housekeeper will be required to work?
- What is the ideal candidate? What qualities and values are you looking for?
- How much travel is expected?
- What is the typical work week? Is overtime expected? The candidate should expect unannounced overtime hours?
- Any rotation required?
- The duties of the employee will be expected to do. Routine and expectations.
- What experience do you require?
- What are the absolute requirements?
- What are the nice to haves?
- What would exclude a candidate from working with you?
- What English level do you require? Do you need her to be native in a different language, like Spanish?
- Do you have requirements regarding smoker or non-smokers?
- Is a driving license required? Is a car required, for transporting children?
- Do you require CPR or first aid certification? Lifeguard certificates?
- TBC tuberculosis tests? Other vaccines?
- Do you require specific training or certifications?
For example: The Chiltern College Certificate, Norland College, The Princess Christian College, Montessori qualified nanny and so on.
Step #3: Defining The Pay Package
Depending on the experience and your requirements, you need to allocate a market-rate budget, to retain an employee, for the long run. You would need to provide the same legal benefits and holidays as for any other employee. Bonuses, flexible working hours, live-in conditions, free food, free travel tickets are a few perks that would keep your nanny happy and motivated.
The guaranteed gross pay for a housekeeper nanny would start at about £25,000 per year. This would bring you a nanny with basic experience and no formal training.
A mid-level or more experienced nanny could earn around £37 to £45,000 gross per year and a supper nanny earn well above £50,000 gross, per year.
Step #4: Promoting Your Position
You want to put your job opening in front of as many people, as possible, to have as many options as possible and to recruit the best possible candidate.
You want to use all the job boards, to post on all the relevant groups and to even leverage international job portals and groups. It’s very important to create sponsored ads on various websites, magazines and newspapers. Even with today’s technology, word of mouth is very valuable so you need to look at that, too.
Step #5: Shortlisting And Interviews
After posting the advertisements, you will start to get a flow of candidates. You have to call them back within the next hour, otherwise, someone else will. The phone interview will confirm that all the minimum requirements are met and then an in-person interview with the nanny housekeepers is scheduled.
Step #6: Background Checks, References, Right To Work
You will leave your children and house in the hands-on the nanny housekeeper. You need to pay extra care when it comes to screening the employees. We believe that a DBS check is insufficient. We might say that the minimum is to get an extended DBS check, international background checks, including from the home country and also a credit check. Reviewing all the court orders, unpaid fines and license history is also relevant.
You also need to make sure the candidate has the right to work in the UK.
Step #7: Negotiation, Trial Day And Signing The Contract
When it comes to negotiating the wage of your nanny, you might want to offer slightly higher pay than the market rate, to keep her happy. In the end, she’s going to spend a lot of time with your children and might even cook for you so it’s relevant that you can rely on her for the long run.
A trial day is highly recommended to see if there’s the right chemistry with your children and to get to know her better. If all goes right, you can sign the contract and retain her.
Congratulations, you found the right nanny housekeeper!
Of course, the alternative for busy families would be to retain an agency.
Why Would You Use A Recruitment Agency And Not Do It Yourself?
- Because you don’t have access to all the hiring sources, groups and a constant flow of applicants
- Because you don’t remain anonymous
- Because you don’t look professional
- Because higher end agencies will follow several background checks, including in the candidate’s home country
- Because higher end agencies know exactly where to search, where and how
- Because higher end agencies will save you a major amount of time – for every placement, they physically meet with at least 10 candidates
- Because you don’t know all the laws and regulations of the industry
- Because you lack the training and experience needed to find and recruit people
- Because an agency would meet with the candidates outside of business hours and during weekends
- Because the costs of a bad hire in terms of time and money are several times higher than the fees of our agency.
HazeltonClive offers you a very safe, discreet, premium & truly bespoke household recruiting service. You get 12 months free replacement guarantee, proper background checks and experienced staff (including experience with celebrities and royal families).
Because safety, discretion and finding the right staff are the most important.
Call us at 0808-164-1321 and start hiring today #elitestaffonly!
