Best Method of Hiring a Nanny

What method worked best for you to hire a nanny/helper?

  • Went through an agency

    Votes: 6 46.2%

  • Hired from friends/acquaintances' recommendations

    Votes: 6 46.2%

  • Hired directly through message board or advertisements

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Other (please explain)

    Votes: 1 7.7%
  • Total voters
    13
  • Poll closed .
C

canadienne

Registered User
Hi all,
When you hired a full-time or part-time nanny, what methods have you used with success? We are hoping that we might get a referral from acquaintances who move, but we might not get that lucky.

We are uninterested in hiring a cook or a cleaner, just an excellent caregiver. How did you locate the person who was best for your child -- or do you have warnings of what not to do?

Thanks,
c
 
are you talking a properly trained "western" nanny or a domestic helper?

you cannot really compare the two. a proper nanny costs $30,000+/month and a domestic helper's minimum wage is $3580/month.

if you are going for the former, you shouldn't have any problem whatsoever finding someone who will take excellent care of your children. if you are going for the latter, you most likely won't have trouble, but it is more hit and miss because most of the women are not trained in "childcare" specifically.
 
We use rent-a-mum.

Rent-A-Mum ? Family Care

+852 2523 4868
Email [email protected]
Shirley Robinson is the Owner/ Manager

The two women we use are native English speakers with childcare qualifications from FE colleges in England. I feel very confident and happy leaving my sons in their care.

My experience with overseas domestic helpers has been very mixed, both positive and negative.
 
yes, your post is a bit a confusing in terms of what you mean by "nanny." do you mean a DH?

if you mean DH - we got our helper through a combination of both - she had worked for a close family we knew, but then had to return to the philippines for personal reasons. we then had an agency bring her into hong kong.

i've seen friends hire both ways - agency and through referrals. both have their pros and cons. i have seen them be successful and also failures. i think it's kind of hit or miss and also have a clear understanding of what YOU are looking for and making that explicit right from the start in your search.
 
I've made enquiries about live out part-time qualified "western" nanny with rent-a-mum but was told they are few and far in between and will cost around HK$20k.
 
that's because you are looking for part-time... you can't get a work visa for part-time work.
 
Sorry, I just never use the word "helper" because I find it kind of demeaning. It's a habit I can't get into and my friends don't like it when I use the word "servant," so I've settled on "nanny" since what we are looking for is a full time caregiver. Anyway, we had thought we'd likely hire a woman from the Philippines -- you're right, we certainly can't afford a Brit or anything like that. (And I'm not a whiny banker who's exaggerating, ha ha, it's the truth that we couldn't afford an overseas person)
 
i don't find helper to be demeaning.... servant, maid yes.... helper, no...afterall, that's what they do. they help me run my household efficiently.

HOWEVER, my kids call our helper 'YAYA' which in Tagalog means nanny.
 
agree w/carang - i don't find the word "helper" demeaning at all and that is what they are hired for official - a domestic helper. my son calls our helper, by her name and calls other helpers "ayi" which is auntie in chinese and how they are referred to in all of my son's classes in HK and in SIngapore.

i think i would explore both routes of finding a helper. Perhaps first through word of mouth (see how many leads you get, talk to friends etc...) and then go to agency to help you with your search.
 
carang said:
that's because you are looking for part-time... you can't get a work visa for part-time work.
Click to expand...

Yes, that was the reason. But I was told sometimes 2 mothers who wanted to share a full-time nanny would work out an arrangement whereby one of them would sponsor the work visa.
 
work permits, be they for helpers or for others, are for one specific employer. anyone on a work permit must get special permission from immig if they want to take up other part-time employment.

it woudl be great if they made exceptions, but i honestly don't know if they woudl grant an exception or not.
 
Our first helper came with glowing recommendations from a friend, however, that turned out to be a complete disaster. For our current helper (our second), we interviewed a couple of helpers who were referred to us by friends, but in the end settled for a lady we interviewed through an agency. Touch wood, she seems to be working out really well.

Like Southside852 mentioned, there are pros and cons to both methods. My husband just said it was, to an extent, luck of the draw with both methods as one person's perception/opinion as to how good a helper is can be very different to our own expectations and some helpers may not come across well in an interview but in fact are very good (and vice versa).

Our current helper was actually the first lady the agency sent through to us to see, and we both liked her immeidately, but were so put off after our experience with our first helper that we interviewed another 8 helpers or so before we finally went back to the first lady and offered her a contract.
 
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