Why Hire a Nanny Agency?

The time has come to start searching for a nanny. You may have just welcomed a newborn to the family and are going back to work soon or you may just be looking for an extra set of hands around the house. Your instincts are telling you to go right to the caregiving websites or even your local Facebook group to start your search, but you’re finding that the candidates who are applying to your role have little or no experience, no background in early childhood, and/or didn’t read the description of your post entirely. It’s even more nerve wracking when you think you’ve found the one but then they don’t show up to their scheduled interview with you. You feel like the internet resources you once used or thought were reputable, is actually a waste of time.

The bottom line is, this is the internet and people don’t feel held accountable when making brief connections online.

Caregiving websites and Facebook groups can be great resources for families and nannies. However, professional career nannies typically prefer to work with agencies for several reasons:

1.     Agencies are selective in the families they choose to work with. Thus, a nanny can trust that the families that they get connected to are in agreement with the industry standards (i.e. providing consistent weekly pay, PTO, gas reimbursement, etc.) and looking for a long-term relationship.

2.     Like families, nannies also find the caregiving sites exhausting to go through. There are more scams on the sites than there were 5-10 years ago and sometimes, their profiles get shut down for no reason and without warning. A career nanny wants to find their best-fit family just as much as a family wants to find their perfect caregiver.

3.     The agency process is quicker and more efficient for caregivers than finding multiple families on the internet and trying to coordinate interviews with several prospective families, with the chance of nothing working out. Agencies will typically only send nannies on one, maybe two interviews and the odds are pretty high that one of these will work out for the nanny.

4.     Finally, nannies generally prefer work through agencies. They trust that agents know the industry well and that they will be realistic with prospective clients and candidates about what to expect when entering a position. Agencies facilitate the process, while ensuring that everyone is on the same page, from the start.

The agency candidate pool is different from what you may find on your own.

At Nanny Harmony, we interview all potential candidates face-to-face, and if at any point we feel a candidate does not meet our standards, they are not considered for future positions. Nanny Harmony also firmly believes in “quality over quantity,” meaning, only the top candidates that match a family’s requirements will be sent to interview with a family.

Each agency has their own unique process that allows families and nannies alike to have a seamless experience when finding their Unicorn Family/ Nanny.

All agencies have one thing in common: their dedication to amazing childcare and the nanny industry. This is what has families and nannies continuously hiring or working with agencies vs. online resources.