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1.)
Short cuts will
only hurt you. Your outcome will only be
as successful as the process that laid its foundation.
Creating a systematic process is a necessity. You might regret
not having a work agreement, or making sure you are tax compliant
2.) Assess your needs. Now is the time to
truly determine what position you are looking to fill, including: hours,
skills needed, duties to be preformed, etc. Be sure you are creating a
true picture of what the position curtail to the best of your knowledge,
without being too idealistic. A picture painted looking through rose
colored glasses will only frustrate you in the future, and make it hard for
you and your nanny to work as a team.
3.) Decide what you can realistically accomplish on
your own. What will you
need help doing when it comes to: finding candidates, screening,
interviewing, hiring, being tax compliant, and employer regulation
compliant? Keeping in mind, if you choose to do everything yourself,
you will spend and average of 60 hours completing this process. If you
choose to utilize an agency, this number can be reduced to as little as 5
hours.
4.) Start the recruiting process. If you
choose the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) method, you will need to place an ad,
evaluate/eliminate candidates, and screen the remaining prospects.
Using an agency will bypass these steps as they will already have been
completed for you ahead of time.
5.) Interview. Conduct a very basic phone
interview (approximately 5 minutes) to get a feel for each candidate, and if
they are a possible fit for your family. Then schedule an in-person
interview (30 minutes -90 minutes) in which to go through more detailed
questions and scenarios, to determine if a candidate is a match.
Follow up with the candidates you are most interested in to notify them they
are on your short list of possible candidates.
6.) Check references. If using the DIY method,
you will need to call each reference to get a feel for the candidate's
reliability, personality, and on-job performance. If using an agency, you
can simply follow up with their references to ask any specific questions you
might have about the candidate's personality or skill set. It is best to
only call the references of candidates you are seriously considering, so as
to not over burden other busy families, or burn out a caregiver's valuable
references.
7.) Extend a conditional offer of employment.
Once you have decided on a candidate, contact them to make sure they are
still available and interested in your position, and offer them the terms of
employment.
8.) Draft or purchase a work agreement. After a
conditional offer of employment has been accepted by a candidate, it is time
to put all of the details of the position in writing. This will ensure that
you your candidate are on the same page. Start off on the right foot towards
a great partnership.
9.) Background check. If you are not using an
agency, you will need to hire a background screening service and acquire the
information they need in order to investigate the candidate on your behalf.
Be prepared, there are many different kinds of companies in this field and
they offer a large variety of services. Each company will offer different
packages with different verifications at different prices so ask a lot of
questions and make sure you are comparing apples to apples. The higher
quality of services is often highly priced.
10.) Walk the nanny through his/her position.
Take the time to provide your new employee with an orientation including: a
tour of the house, location of supplies, list of contact numbers, and house
rules.
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