How To Write A Great Nanny Advertisement – Working With A Nanny From A-Z Series – Ep.5

Happy Holidays! 🎁 It’s Laura back with the fifth episode in our series, “Working With A Nanny From A-Z”.

In this series, I am going to walk you through the entire process of working with a nanny. From deciding if nanny care is right for your family all the way through how to find, interview, hire and work with a nanny. Basically, everything you need to know from A-Z about the nanny world!

If you missed the first four episodes, click the images below to check those out:

In the first episode, I discussed the different child care options that are available to families.

In the second episode, I went over the costs of each of these child care options.

In the third episode, I touched on how these different childcare options can impact your child…specifically, the “individualization” of each childcare option.

In the fourth episode, we began talking about where and how to find a nanny. Make sure you check out this video as I go over my top four free and paid options for where to find a nanny near you!

In today’s episode, “How To Write A Great Nanny Advertisement”, we focus on how to advertise your nanny position effectively. I share my top tips for writing your nanny ad to ensure you hear from experienced, top-notch candidates quickly. I use these tips on a daily basis and routinely receive anywhere from 10-20 nanny applications for each position.

To check out the childcare budgeting video that I mentioned, click here.

Don’t forget to subscribe and “ring the bell” on YouTube so that you can be notified when the next episode in this series comes out.

Scroll down to check out the video and I hope you find it useful!

A transcript of the video can be found below:

Hi everyone, Laura from Nanny Parent Connection here. Welcome back to my “Working With A Nanny From A-Z Series”.

In Episodes #1 through #3, we covered “Is A Nanny Right For Your Family?” “Can I Afford A Nanny?”, and “How Different Childcare Options Can Affect Your Child”. In my last episode, Episode #4, we covered “Where Do I Find A Nanny?”. Click on any of the images above to watch those videos.

Today for Episode #5, we’re going to discuss “How Do I Write A Great Nanny Advertisement“.

So, there’s a big difference between just a nanny ad and a great nanny ad.

Just a nanny ad is probably going to leave people reading your ad with more questions than answers. I seriously see ads that are maybe three to four sentences long, that is not going to be a very effective nanny ad.

I routinely am told, when I advertise positions that the nanny advertisement was very thorough, and often applicants don’t have any additional questions about the position.

Writing a great nanny ad can mean the difference between the number of applicants, the quality of candidates, and finding a great nanny by your ideal start date.

The first thing you’re going to want to do is have a title that summarizes the nanny position

Often I include several words like “confident”, “reliable”, “warm”, “nurturing”, “engaging”, “playful” and “active”. Those are the types of buzzy words I like to put in my nanny ads. I also like to state the number of children needing care if that fits in, I like to say the general geographic area, keep it succinct, but also make sure it has that relevant eye-catching information. 

Once you’ve landed on a great title that summarizes your position, make sure you list your location next

This is going to be important to include. I like to include both the city and also the neighborhood area for any nannies trying to figure out if getting to that location is easy and reasonable for them. This can be especially important if a nanny is taking public transportation, or wants to walk or bike to her position for example. So make sure you include that relevant location information.

Next, you are going to want to list your ideal state date and also say if this is flexible or not

You want to speak to this a little bit because nannies are going to want to get an idea if they’re available by your start date, if they’re not but they love the position, are they going to be able to have that flexibility with the family potentially to make that work for them. So, make sure to include your ideal start date in your nanny ad.

The next thing you should list is the childcare schedule

You’re going to want to include the days of the week you need care in this section. Also, speak to any flexibility with that. So if this is a part-time position and it doesn’t matter what days of the week care happen, make sure to say that in the ad. If you have an ideal schedule, mention that! If the times are a little bit flexible, sometimes or all the time, make sure to mention that.

The goal here is to lay out everything about the schedule. Obviously, you can’t cover everything but speak to any flexibility that you have or on the other end of the spectrum, if you have no flexibility with the schedule, mention that as well.

This is really helpful because any nannies applying for the position will understand how that’s going to work with their own schedules as well.

The next thing that you’re going to want to list is compensation

I cannot tell you how many times parents will leave this information out, or they’ll ask me “gosh should I include that?”. Yes, yes, yes, yes, absolutely include this!
I have been told by nannies many, many times that they often skip over nanny ads that don’t include compensation information.

The reason? They don’t want to waste their time and they don’t want to waste your time either. They don’t want to go through an interview or connect with a family only to find out that the compensation doesn’t meet their requirements. So make sure you include that compensation information. That’s going to include your hourly rate, as well as if you’re offering guaranteed hours, any paid time off, paid holidays, accrued sick time, medical stipends, mileage reimbursements, anything like that.

By the way, if you’re still trying to figure out a budget for child care, make sure you click here to watch my video, “How Much Does Nanny Childcare Truly Cost?”.

One thing to keep in mind: if you don’t know how much paid time off, medical stipend amount, etc. that you’d like to offer, don’t feel like you need to add numbers for those compensation details to your ad. Simply mention that you are offering those things. You can “quantify” those down the road when you’re working out the details of the contract with your nanny.

One thing you absolutely don’t want to leave out of the compensation section of your job description is, if you plan to pay your nanny legally above the table as a W-2 employee, please mention legal pay in the compensation area.

I can’t tell you how many families I speak with who tell me “we were hiring this great nanny, everything was great, she was set to start the next week. However, we found out that she’s not legally authorized to work in the United Staes, or we found out she’s here on a tourist visa and therefore is not legally authorized to work in the United States.” 

Right before the nanny’s start date is the wrong time to find out your nanny cannot be paid legally.

So, if you plan to pay your nanny as a W-2 employee,  make sure you include that important piece within your advertisement.

The next thing that you’re going to want to make sure to include in your job post is the minimum commitment length

For many families, this is six months to one year. It’s standard to have a year long contract with your nanny. So make sure you outline the minimum commitment length you would like from your nanny for the position with your family.

Alright, we’ve talked about the parameters of the position, what you should have in that first section of your nanny advertisement.

Next, you should talk about your family

List your family’s interests, talk about your family’s personalities, especially the kid’s personalities and interests as well.

I love it when families include this information, and I always make sure to include it in the advertisements I create. The reason is, I’m hoping that when a nanny is reading through your ad, something about your family resonates with them. When you can find a nanny who is not only skilled and qualified but also a great personality match, that’s when the magic happens, that is when you get that awesome fit.

So make sure to include a little bit about your family’s interests, your child’s interests, personalities, that sort of thing.

Within this section, also include if you have any pets

It’s a bummer to find out down the road in the hiring process that the nanny actually can’t work with your family, because they have a dog or cat allergy, and they didn’t know about the pet beforehand.

The next thing you’re going to want to include in your nanny ad is a list of job duties

This could either be a summary or a detailed list. Make sure to include these job duties, so that the nanny can get an understanding of what the day-to-day might look like within your home.

The last thing you’re going to want to include in your nanny ad is a list of the skills, attributes and qualifications that you’re looking for in a nanny

This could include some buzzy words such as “warm”, “engaging”, “reliable”, “Lego master”, “outdoorsy”, “active” or “nurturing”. The list goes on, but those are just a few that I tend to use the most. You might want to make sure that you include that they need to have relevant experience, this seems to go without saying, but trust me on this one it’s always good to include a little more information rather than less. This could include relevant experience with infants, toddlers, multiples, etc. 

You’re also going to want to cover any driving requirements

You might want to say the nanny needs to have a valid driver’s license, with a safe reliable vehicle, with a safe and clean driving record. This could include making sure that your nanny is up to date on vaccinations, including COVID and annual influenza, which is especially important for any infant care physicians.

Also, most families are going to want their nanny to be CPR and First Aid Certified. Make sure to include any of those qualifications, any of those things that you hope to see within your applicants for your nanny position.

Alright, everyone, that is it for Episode #5, “How Do I Write A Great Nanny Advertisement”.

If you like this video and found it helpful, please click on the like button, ring the bell, subscribe to our channel so that you are alerted when more of these types of videos come out.

Make sure to check back with us next week when I am releasing a special holiday video!

Thanks, everyone. Take care, bye!