Frequently Asked Questions for Nannies Who Care - for childcare in Sarasota and Brandon, serving Pinellas, Pasco, Hillsborough and Manatee, located in the Clearwater and Tampa area

How long does it take to place a nanny? Once you fill out the family application and sign our family contract we immediately begin the search. Most of the time we can begin referring nanny candidates to the family right away once the nanny is contacted and shows an interest in the position. If we do not have prescreened nannies then the process can take an average of 30 days. This includes recruitment and the background process. (Top)

Is there a fee to the nanny? No all the nanny has to do is make the effort to be interviewed by us and fill out the nanny application. (Top)

Do you provide support after the placement? Yes, we provide support indefinitely. You can call us before, during, and after the placement. We want you to be totally satisfied with the services we provide. Like any business, we know you can go somewhere else if you are not happy. (Top)

Why should I use Nannies Who Care over another agency? We certainly will not say anything bad about any other agency. All we can say is what we feel are the good points. First of all, we have a very good reputation and have been doing this since 1989. Much of our business is through referrals, so we must be doing something right. Secondly, we have a second to none background process of checking out nannies. Check out the family info page on our web site and also primary services tab for additional information.

Another reason for our success is that we charge a very reasonable fee for our services. We do not have the overhead of a franchise nanny agency and therefore can charge a lower rate. Compare the services we offer with others and see for yourself. We charge a rate that reflects the enormous amount of time and resources needed to complete a placement.

We offer a wide variety of full service as well as on-call nannies should you need them.

Our website is a very valuable tool for both the families and the nannies. We list our nanny jobs on the website so many nannies constantly check this list out for jobs of interest to them. It is also a way for families to get exposure to more available nannies than they could otherwise. The more experienced nannies use our agency for the same reason the familes do. It is very convenient, saves time, and safer. (Top)

Do your on-call nannies have the same qualifications as your placements? Absolutely, these nannies do the on-call for a number of reasons. Most are either part-time nannies who work with another family and wish to work extra jobs, or are nannies that just want to work with flexibility. All go through the same process for our placements including their CPR certification. (Top)

How much notice do I need to use the on-call service? If you are a registered family with us then you could conceivably give just a few hours notice even on the weekend when we are closed. This can be done if you have the number of one or two babysitters who have sat with you before. Although we request a 24 hour notice, most of the time we can fill last minute requests.

Hotel families can not do this. To insure they get a nanny, they should give a few days notice of arrival. (Top)

If you did not use Nannies Who Care, inc. to find a nanny, then you would have to typically follow the steps below. Sometimes you may find a nanny through a referral but still would not know much about the applicant without thoroughly checking the applicant's references and completing the applicant's background check. If you did not know anybody then consider the following scenarios. If you find a referral, then your costs would be everything below on the chart except for the advertising costs. But if the referral does not work out then you are back to square one.

Step 1: Advertise for nanny - The most common approach would be to advertise in a newspaper. You would need to advertise for at least 2 weeks to insure you had enough phone calls to find only the candidates that would match what you are looking for. You will be getting lots of calls from candidates who are not qualified and have to screen them out. We screen out typically 75% of all phone calls.

Unfortunately you are missing out on a much wider choice of nannies. At Nannies Who Care, we get our nannies from a number of sources: referrals from other nannies, our website, from our yellow page ad, repeat nannies, and from flyers and marketing literature we distribute throughout the area to attract both families and nannies.

Step 2: Interview - Once you are satisfied with the phone interview, then you will need to invite the candidate to your home to meet with you and your children. Once again you don't know who this person is and will rule out many because of personalities and possible errors in the application (dates of employment, reason for leaving, etc.).

Step 3: Selecting a candidate: If you feel comfortable with a candidate then you will start the background process which should include a Florida criminal state wide check and also a Florida drivers license check. If the nanny has lived in Florida less than 7 years then you should check their previous state(s) for criminal(state-wide) as well. Next you will want to contact all of the candidate's references. Since you are probably going to call these families or businesses who employed these candidates then you may get some resistance to fully disclosing their background. Many families and especially businesses will not give out any detailed comments about a previous employee if they are not a business such as Nannies Who Care. Many of these phone calls will be out of state which will be an additional cost depending on how long you discuss the candidates. Nannies Who Care can not only get you reliable and detailed feedback but can also get in most cases the candidate's medical release from their physician. You would not be able to do this as an individual.

While you are doing this background check, there is no guarantee that the references will check out and you will have to incur the same cost all over again for the next candidate of your choice. Also there is no guarantee that the nanny will hang around long enough before all of the references come back. The candidate may find another position that she/he likes better while this process goes on.

Step 4: Guarantee?? There is no guarantee that it will work out. If it does not then you will have to either look at any candidates you have previously interviewed and hope that they are still available or you will have to advertise again and incur the cost all over again. Nannies Who Care guarantees all nannies will work out depending on what area you live in, up to 4 months. We have a constant flow of candidates so we can act fast to get you a nanny should it not work out with the first one.

Other considerations: What happens if your nanny is sick, on vacation, or is not available when you need he/she? Nannies Who Care provides nannies available on-call when you become a client.

Below is a sample chart of advertising costs associated with finding a nanny on your own in various areas. This does not include the many hours of your time for this process. This also assumes you will be successful with the first nanny you choose, otherwise these estimates will double. This also does not include cost associated with in getting the criminal, drivers, and social security checks, nor does this include the cost in verifying employment and personal references.

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Approximate advertising cost

Note: the following is only your advertising cost. This does not include any background cost you would incur such as criminal, drivers, social security verification, or any of your time checking out their references. We strongly recommend you thoroughly check out each nanny candidate.

Compare this preliminary cost to what we charge for similar services and you will find we can do it for less money and aggravation.

	Newspaper Ad (1 week)
Tampa	$120+
Sarasota/ Bradenton	$125+
St Petersburg/Clearwater	$45.00

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How Nannies Who Care does it!
The most popular question we receive from families who call us about our services is how we go about finding a nanny and what kind of background check we do. In other words, you want to have peace of mind when selecting your nanny. Well the following is the process we use to put you at ease.
Step 1: Recruitment of Nannies:
Referrals from other nannies. Many of these nannies have used us again after their previous position was finished. Nannies know how supportive we are in following their career and advising them.
Our Web site - We make available job listings and online applications for convenience.  We attract nannies to our web site inquiring about positions.
Yellow pages - We attract many nannies from our yellow page ad knowing we can offer them more choices.
Advertisements - Nannies not only see our direct employment ads, but also see our advertising in various publications. We do spend a lot of funds and resources to attract nannies from all over the country.
Step 2:   Initial Telephone contact:
We accept on average only about 25% of all nanny applicants based on our telephone interview. This interview has about 20 questions and it is the time to evaluate how much the nanny applicant truly wants to be a nanny.
Step 3: Nanny Application:
Once the nanny passes step 2, we have the nanny fill out an extensive nanny application that not only outlines her credentials, but tells us exactly what she/he is looking for in a family position.
We accept different levels of childcare experience. Nannies with extensive childcare experience receive more compensation.
The family receives this nanny application before the nanny interviews with them for a position.
Step 4: Nanny In-person interview (not just a phone interview)
Upon acceptance of the nanny application, we then arrange for an in-person interview with the nanny. Doing this over the phone is not a very good way of evaluating a nanny so we make this a requirement with the nanny unless the nanny is a live in situation and out of state.
We make photo copies of the nannies social security card, drivers license, CPR certification card and any other credentials she may have including personal reference letters from families.
Nanny signs the I-9 form (legal status to work in US).
Interview questions designed around why the nanny applicant wants to work as a nanny.
Appearance of nanny. How does the nanny candidate present themselves.
Step 5: Background Process
Written questionnaire sent to all childcare and general employment references as well as personal character references. The previous family will describe if the nannies traits are as follows:
                Responsible/Irresponsible, Punctual/Tardy, Good/Bad attitude,
                Trustworthy/Not loyal, Friendly/Unfriendly, Cheerful/Moody,
                Conscientious/Careless
            They mail this questionnaire back to us for your review.
Criminal check - We check all states where the nanny candidate has lived for    the past 7 years.
Drivers license check
Social Security number verification
CPR certification - Nanny must have current infant & child certification.
We can also provide other services at the family's expense for the following:
                Credit report, Education verification, Drug testing, First Aid certification
Step 6: Family Process
Family fills out extensive application. This is used to find the best suitable nanny for what the family is looking for.
Family is contacted by phone to discuss nanny candidates. If family is interested, then we will send the nanny(s) application for further review.
Nanny interviews are then setup. Family saves a lot of time due to us narrowing the decision to a simple personality choice.
Step 7: Nanny Hired:
Once you hire a nanny we will provide ongoing support for you. We can help you with questions you may have about your nanny or any other issues you wish to discuss. We also provide a guarantee for your nanny.
We provide on-call nannies in case your nanny is sick or on vacation.
Payroll Questions - We will be happy to refer you to an excellent service.
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Don't be mislead!
The truth about licensed and bonded.
        What do other nanny agencies really mean by licensed and bonded?
        Licensed? - Florida does not have a license for nanny agencies, so their license is either an occupational license or it is for another reason such as for elderly companions or other services.
        Bonded? - I bet you are thinking the nannies are bonded, but they are not. These nanny agencies bond themselves giving you the impression that the nannies are bonded. Because nannies are not employees of the nanny agencies, they can only be bonded by the family. This is usually an extra $100 in cost per year. We don't recommend the bonding of the nannies, because we believe our extensive background check gives you better protection.
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What do nannies do? click here

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Are taxes required to be taken out by the family?

Yes, the IRS requires at least Fica(social security and medicare taxes) to be taken out of the nannies paycheck once you exceed $1400 in wages to the nanny (does not apply to short-term on-call service). We refer out to Breedlove and associates at www. Breedlove-online.com for additional answers. We do not charge you a setup fee!

Additional information on tax services:

Would you be interested in a service that would cost you approximately $2 more per hour, yet get the services and savings below?

Full electronic payroll service

            Includes direct deposit of nanny payroll check
            Includes quarterly and year-end tax reports

Save $$ by not having to use your own accountant

Tax savings that average $2300 per year

Same full-service with the same guarantees

example:
Tax break averages $2300 per year
Based on $10 per hour for nanny
        Full-time nanny   $400/wk (based on 40 hrs)
               taxes: approx $1,600 per year (fica & unemp taxes)
               savings: $700 per year
        Part-time nanny $200/wk (based on 20 hrs)
               taxes: approx $800 per year (fica & unemp taxes)
               savings: $1500 per year
** hourly cost will be approximately $12 but tax savings and write-offs bring this closer to $10
Call us to learn more......see contact us

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