Advice for Nannies During an Active Job Search
By Lisa Dozier
If you’ve been a nanny for any length of time you are surely familiar with the challenges of an active job search. If you are new to being a nanny, please take note of this advice.
What we do is very personal. We go into people’s homes. We see them at their most vulnerable. We care for the things most precious in their lives! Their children! They see us in scrubby clothes, with our glasses on because we haven’t taken the time to put in contacts or at the end of the day when we are covered in boogers and finger paint and spit-up and their child’s lunch. The point I am making is this: while we are professionals, this work is very personal. It is important to find a family whose dynamic we fit with. That can be a challenge when we are broke and just need to work. Here are a few tips to help if your search for your unicorn family takes some time.
Always have savings! It is best to have 8-12 weeks of income in savings, especially if you have a live-in position! We all hope for the best but things go wrong sometimes and if you are a live-in and suddenly find yourself out of work, well you are out of a place to live as well. I know this sounds like a lot but it’s important. It gives you the flexibility to take your time finding the right fit. But how? That’s a lot of money.
Here are a few tips:
- Tried but true… save your coffee money. That $5 a day for a Starbucks can add up and it likely only costs .18c to make your coffee at home. Of course, you deserve a treat, so maybe some afternoons, in place of that Starbucks run, you add a scoop of vanilla ice cream to your coffee and blend it at work:). Dust it with a little cocoa or cinnamon!
- Check your bank and credit card accounts for recurring payments and cancel services you don’t use! Do you go to the gym regularly, but you are paying $19.95 a month to belong to it? Instead, maybe add a steep hill to your stroller walk and cancel your gym membership. Do you watch all your streaming services? If not, cancel the ones you don’t use. I’ve ended up with digital magazine subscriptions I didn’t realize I had… it’s worth looking!
- Set aside 5-10% of each paycheck. It’s a small amount at the time but it adds up and really makes a difference.
- Take classes. There are always online courses to further your scope and often times there are courses locally. You don’t have to take terribly expensive courses (although some of those will do amazing things to boost your career and resume). Think outside the box, take a craft class at your local library or farmers market. Adding even little details like that can make your resume stand out as someone who is thoughtful about their work.
- Take temp work! This gives you some income to supplement your savings while you are looking. Temping through local agencies also builds your reputation. The agencies get to know you and your style of work. It often times expands your resume as well by getting you experience with different ages groups, family dynamics, and locations around your area.
The point is, if you put yourself in a good position, you can take your time to find the right fit for your next work family. Doing this gives you the opportunity to really know exactly what you want, communicate it well and take the time to really find it. This is important for us, for the family we work for, and for the children we help raise.
Lisa Dozier is an INA Credentialed nanny and trained NCS with more that’s 26 years professional nanny experience. She is the Chair fo the INA Blog Committee, a founding Admin of the Facebook group, Wild West Nanny Alliance and served on the organizing committee for the 2019 Southern California iNNTD. Lisa lives in Los Angeles with her three rescued dogs where she practices her Whole Family Approach to nannying with a focus on independence and good citizenship with her Littles.