Pros and cons.
I have an interview tomorrow for a nanny position.
A friend of mine, who shall remain anonymous (we'll call her April), used to work with me until she left to become a nanny. She left in Sept and says she's been very happy.
Well, at that time, I signed up for various nanny agencies; however, although families have expressed interest, nothing has ever come of it. Either the hours they were offering didn't work with my school schedule, or the pay was too low, or they had a dog, or they lived too far away....I've kept my profile active, just in case something compatable too long, but I've assumed I'd just be at the preschool until I do my student teaching in September.
I got a call from a family over the weekend--a family who lives about 3 miles away. I talked to the mom for quite a while tonight, and so far, I really, really like her. There are three kids: a kinder who would be in kindergarten all day; a preschooler would be gone in the morning; and then a 2 year old who I would have all day. In the summer, of course, I would have all three "full time" (which is still a lot easier than the summer camp I did last year).
Here are the pros for leaving my current job and going to work for this family:
1) Only having to work for ONE family (according to "April," this is a big plus)
2) More money than I'm making now (granted, more hours, too, but that's not the point)
3) Many paid days off, as the father is a government employee and therefore usually gets at least one day off a month. I wouldn't have to work but would still get my weekly rate (I'd be paid a "weekly" amount rather than an hourly one)
4) A summer bonus
5) They're willing to accomodate my student teaching schedule in the fall; I could still do student teach in the fall of 2005, come back and work for my family the following winter and summer of 2006 and then begin teaching on schedule the fall of 2006 (assuming I found a teaching job)
6) 3 kids instead of 30
7) It works with my school schedule.
Here are the cons:
1) I'm leaving a job I like. WHAT IF I don't like nannying? Maybe I shouldn't rock the boat.
Mom pointed out that I'm leaving a "teaching" type job for a "babysitting" type job; however, in my opinion, I can still do the same things with these kids that I do with my preschool kids--I an still do reading stuff, teach them letters, numbers, colors, etc. I'd just be doing it at their homes instead of at a preschool. And I'd be working more one-on-one with the kids, rather than having a whole class of kids at a time.
So...I meet with her tomorrow after work, but it's basically to make sure 1) I like the mom 2) she likes me 3) I like the kids 4) they like me. If all goes well, it looks like I have a new job.
What do we think?
6 comments:
Jen- Just make sure the parents aren't insanely overprotective. I babysit from time to time, but I don't like to watch kids who have overprotective parents. I am not saying they shouldn't have rules, boundaries, etc...but just watch that. Otherwise, I think it is a great opportunity and with a 2 year old, you can teach him/her so much and use it on your resume too. I am sure these parents would make great references too, for future jobs. I think you will know for sure how you feel after the interview. that will make or break your decision once you meet these kids and the parents "officially." good luck and keep us posted!
I met with the family today. I loved the mom--we got along great. The two younger boys, 4 and 2, seemed to like me, too. They kept calling me "New nanny" (as in, "New nanny, come see my room!"). I met the older girl, 6, briefly after school. The mom seems to want to hire me, but she's running the obligatory background check--including driving record. We'll see how that goes, as I do have speeding tickets (like once a year I get busted for going 5 over on the freeways--not, like, 95 in a 30 or anything, so hopefully she'll still trust me to drop her kids off at school). No accidents, either. But that's the only thing, as I see it, that could hurt me.
I was telling her about the speeding ticket thing, and she said, "Well, you don't have any manslaughters on there or anything, do you?" I answered, "No, those should have dropped off my record by now" and she laughed (genuinely, I think), so she seems to "get" my sense of humor.
She wanted me to find out how soon I could get out of my current job and start with her, so like I said, I KNOW she liked me and everything...I'll keep you updated on this background check thing. I told Jeff that I'm leaving it up to fate/destiny/God. If I'm meant to leave my current job and go down this path, I'll be offered the job. If I'm meant to stay where I am, I won't be.
Well, it's 3 days later (Friday) and I haven't heard from her yet. Either she's waiting for my background check to come back still or my driving record was....unappealing to her.
Actually, she called Anne (my current director) for a reference today. I'm thinking waited to get the background clearance back before she started calling for references. Anne said she gave me a glowing reference and that it sounded like J. was going to hire me. So we'll see. (And no, it's not through an agency. There's a website that matches up families and nannies, but it's not an official agency.)
I talked to J, the mom, today for a little while--she HASN'T gotten the results from the background/driving record check back yet. So I'm not out of the woods yet. I told her that I'm good in residential areas, but I also "do a lot of freeway driving and I don't have cruise control." So at least the results won't be a surprise to her--it goes back 5 - 7 years so I wanted to say SOMETHING. We'll see...
Yeah, I got the job.
Post a Comment