By Dara Yates 2021.01.02

Hiring a nanny in Los Angeles requires much care…and diligence!

There are many aspects you’ll want to cover when screening candidates before you can be assured that you’re hiring the best person to care for your children—and practically become part of the family. Our recommendation is to use a reputable Los Angeles nanny agency for this process, but even if doing your own search for a nanny, there are some tips that make this process most effective.

What’s Special About Los Angeles’ Nannies

While nannies in other cities may consider watching children to be an every once in a while babysitting gig, in many nannies in Los Angeles have made childcare their passion and profession. These Los Angeles nannies are there to not only care for your children, but also to contribute positively to their development intellectually, emotionally, and physically. Their focus is to be there to help parents foster children’s growth into well rounded, remarkable individuals.

Los Angeles nannies generally come with a long list of accomplishments and impressive resumes. They are able to engage your children both academically and engage them in many enriching activities. With Los Angeles’ great climate year round, families tend to look for nannies who can get the children outdoors and participating in many outdoor activities. That means that you’ll want to look for a nanny who’s comfortable on the go in and ready to take your children to explore the many outdoor activities LA has to offer.

With that, it is important for most families to find a nanny who is a licensed and insured driver with a picture perfect driving record. It is of the utmost importance that your nanny is not only able to transport your children, but to transport them safely!

Another thing to consider in Los Angeles is that the city has a high demand for nannies, as well as a higher median income than the rest of the United States, which makes the typical Los Angeles nanny’s pay rate more expensive than pay rates seen in many other areas of the country, or even other areas in the state of California.

All that said, here are a few reasons that Seaside Staffing is the best domestic staffing service in Los Angeles to partner with as you search for your family’s perfect nanny.

A Very Thorough Nanny Background Check

Finding the right fit in a childcare professional is critical when looking for a nanny for your family.

To ensure said right fit, our nanny interview process is extensive and includes a thorough check into all candidates’ backgrounds. We take this process very seriously in order to ensure that we are placing a qualified, upstanding nanny in your home.

As a Los Angeles nanny agency, we have unique experience in performing these thorough and comprehensive checks.

Our nanny background checks include many aspects such as DMV reports (to make certain of the exemplary driving record mentioned earlier), a social security trace, and a county criminal record check. These resources give us an overview of whether the candidate has any criminal background–down to a traffic or jaywalking ticket. These checks can be difficult to perform on your own, so having a Los Angeles nanny agency as your partner helps to streamline this process using our proven hiring practices.

To get an even better understanding of your nanny’s character, we also perform a thorough check into the candidate’s social media across the web.  In today’s social media landscape, this is often one of the surest ways to get an idea of how a person conducts themself. At Seaside Staffing Company, we hold all nannies to the highest standards as we believe all nannies should be role models to the children for which they care. It is important to us that we are sending you candidates with a strong moral compass!

Seaside Staffing Company also requires all potential nannies be registered with the Trustline registry. Trustline is a database of in home childcare professionals that have cleared criminal background checks in California. With a Trustline registration, the candidate’s fingerprints are registered with the DOJ, the FBI, and California’s Central Childcare Index. Should anything occur that a nanny is flagged with any of these agencies, we will be alerted as they are automatically kicked off the Trustline registry.

It is of utmost importance that all nanny candidates are equipped to handle an emergency should one arise. For that reason we ensure all nannies have an up to date CPR and First Aid certification.

Lastly, it’s important to gather high-quality references. We recommend at least three high-quality references, although having six is ideal. We personally reach out to all references and provide families with documented copies of these reference checks as well as the contact information of the references.

Personality Fit for your Home

Even after finding someone who has a clean background and great experience, it’s important to make sure that the person is a great fit for your home in terms of chemistry and personality. As a Los Angeles nanny agency, we provide a personalized consultation with you and your family so we can get to know you and get a better understanding of what type of personality may be the best fit. We want to be sure that the candidate suits your specific needs and can easily find a place within the unique dynamic of your family.

Nanny Contract Negotiations

Finding a nanny with a good background and all the essential skills is such a great feeling for a family, but that is not the end of the nanny hiring process. Seaside Staffing is the perfect partner to lead you through the next step: contract negotiations.

These negotiations include salary, payment terms and more. Using our vast experience in this area, we help familiarize you with the norms of the industry. For example, all nannies in the state of California are required to be paid hourly rather than a salary. Most professional, career nannies also look for vacation and sick days to be built into their compensation structure. All of these things should be covered in the contract between you and your nanny. This contract or “Nanny/Family Agreement” should also clearly state all the duties you’ve both agreed the nanny has is expected to perform, and should outline specific expectations and details of his or her position.

The contract with your nanny should also include any pertinent information regarding any medical benefits which may be offered. For some positions, these benefits will include health insurance or a medical stipend. The offering of these benefits, of course, is entirely up to the family.

Onboarding Your Los Angeles Nanny

Lastly, after officially making and offer and hiring your nanny, you’ll want to make sure he or she has all the information needed about your child or children in order to ensure success. After all, the nanny’s success means success for your family! We advise providing a welcome packet to streamline this onboarding phase. It should include emergency contact information, dietary needs or restrictions, allergies, and anything else you think is important for the nanny to know.

Hiring a Los Angeles nanny requires great care and attention to detail, and an understanding of what kind of person can best meet your family’s needs. If you’re considering hiring a nanny, we can help you to get started right away. Our team is eager to help you on your search for the perfect fit!