Once you’ve decided that nanny care is right for your family, the next big question is usually the hardest one: where do you actually find a nanny? With so many free and paid options out there, it can be tough to know where to start.
In this article, we’ll walk you through the top four ways to find a nanny near you, from networking and local searches to national care websites and nanny agencies. We’ll cover what each option costs, what to expect, and a few important things to keep in mind along the way so you can choose the approach that fits your family best.
For more on the different child care options available to families, the costs of each, and how those options can impact your child, take a look at our companion articles on the cost of a nanny and the other resources in our nanny guides.
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Networking
The first option you’re going to want to try is networking. Friends, family and neighbors, put it out there to everybody that you are looking for a nanny. You will never know who you might connect with. This could be your dental hygienist at your dental appointment, this could be your older child’s teacher at school, this could be neighbors down the street or friends of friends.Put the word out there to everybody because you never know who might lead you to your next nanny.
Word-of-mouth referrals are great! So many nannies find a lot of their nanny jobs exactly this way.
Family members, friends and neighbors can refer nannies as well. Maybe somebody’s just wrapping up a job and they’re looking for their next position.
The one thing we will caution you about with word-of-mouth recommendations is, definitely do your own vetting process. Make sure you check those references and make sure not to skip the background check.
Consider this real-world example: a mom got a wonderful nanny recommendation from several friends within her small community, and then realized that none of these previous families had ever run a background check on this nanny.
When the mom ran a background check, she found that this nanny actually had a child abuse charge on her record! That’s why running a background check matters even when you have a really strong word-of-mouth referral. You can learn more about why background checks are so important on our background checks page.
Local Internet or Social Media Search
The second option for where to find a nanny is by doing a local internet or social media search.
Years ago, families looking for nannies often turned to Craigslist, and a lot of connections were made through the classified ads in the newspaper, both in print and online. Things have changed quite a bit since then.
Craigslist is still around, but we tend not to recommend that option too much because there are other options out there that we think are better, and also Craigslist can be a bit sketchy. If you do use Craigslist, make sure you communicate initially with that Craigslist generic email, and then if things feel like they’re maybe moving forward you can then share personal information. But, just be cautious with Craigslist because it can be sketchy from time to time.
Nextdoor is another great option for posting your nanny needs.
Nextdoor is a local social media resource that offers connections to neighbors that you don’t know of personally. Put up a post and ask your new “neighbors” for any leads that they might have.
You’re also going to want to check out Facebook groups in your area.
So, in order to find Facebook nanny groups in your area, you’re going to want to put your city name plus the word nanny and see what groups pop up.
Now if you’re in a smaller town a rural area or if you’re outside of a major metropolitan area, you’re going to want to use your closest big city plus the term “nanny”. Such as “miami nanny” or “denver nanny”. A lot of these groups are very large, they’re very far-reaching so the chances are high that you’re going to be able to connect with somebody close to you, even if you are little ways outside of a big city.
Make sure you check out Facebook groups, which is a great place to find a nanny.
So, all of the options covered so far are free options.
One more local search option is to check and see if there are any local nanny websites in your area.
If you’re in the Seattle/Puget Sound area, this site (Nanny Parent Connection) is a great resource for finding a nanny, learning about working with a nanny, everything nanny, all the resources that you need. And the cost for that starts at $24.99 for a one-month membership, and if you sign up for a year, it costs $8.99 per month. You can learn more about our memberships by clicking here.
So, just know that that’s a good option if you’re in the Seattle, Everett, Tacoma, or Bellevue areas.
The nice thing about Nanny Parent Connection as well is that you have a support system for your search! Anyone with a paid membership can reach out to our Search Team and receive personalized support, whether that’s reviewing a nanny ad, seeing if the rate you’re offering is within the market rates, or just help connecting with nannies as well.
National Care Websites
The third option you can use to find a nanny is by using one of the large national websites, Care.com, Sittercity, or Urbansitter.
Using Care.com is going to cost you $39 a month, and Urbansitter and Sittercity are right around $35 a month for a one-month membership.
While these sites can be effective for some parents, you might run into a problem we hear about from parents quite a bit called “ghosting”. This is where they message many nannies and they don’t hear back from anyone.
Some parents have good luck but more often than not we hear from parents about ghosting, and frankly, we hear about scammers from nannies. As you can imagine, some nannies out there are a little bit leery of using these national websites.
The biggest difference with these sites is that you’re not going to receive any type of personalized support, you’re kind of on your own for your search.
If you’re in the Seattle area, please keep in mind that Nanny Parent Connection is a great place and resource to receive personalized help with your nanny search and at a lower cost might we add!
Nanny Agencies
The fourth option (and most expensive) you can use to find a nanny is to consider working with a nanny agency.
Most nanny agencies are going to cost anywhere from $4,000 to $5,000 and on up to like $10,000 and beyond. Some families have paid as much as $14,000 for a nanny agency to handle their nanny search!
Depending on your exact need, the above figures are going to be a rough draft cost for working with a nanny agency. It’s a good option, of course, but it’s not accessible to all because the cost is so high.
Nanny Parent Connection offers a similar service to nanny agencies which we call our Concierge Nanny Search Service. Unlike many agencies, we’re able to run our searches anywhere in the country due to our extensive reach.
If you don’t want to run your own nanny search, you may want to tap into a nanny agency services. But if you don’t want to pay thousands or tens of thousands of dollars, we can run your search for you for about $2,000. Click here to learn more.
So to recap, there are four options you can use to find a nanny.
Option #1: You can network with friends, family or neighbors.
Option #2: You can do a local internet or social media search.
Option #3: You can use one of the big national care websites.
Option #4: You can turn to a nanny agency to run your search.
Whichever option you choose, take your time, trust your instincts, and never skip the steps that keep your family safe, like checking references and running a background check. The right nanny is out there, and the effort you put into your search now will pay off in finding someone your family can truly trust.