is this fair to a potential nanny

a friend of mine is a nanny and is starting a new nannying job. they have asked her to come for the interview

then they asked her to come a second time

then they asked her to come for 2 hours a 3rd time

and now they have asked her to come for 4 hours another time

i think all for them to see how she handles the baby and would care for teh baby which obviously is a hard decision for them and they want to know they have made the best decision but truly you can see alot just from one meeting with her and she comes with a huge amount of glowing references.

but all unpaid!!!!
what can she say

or if she really wants the job should she just go through with all this and hope this last 4 hours stint is the last request

they also tried to get her to agree to a lower price which truly isnt fair

what do you advise that she says

she is a good nanny and needs some help with what to say about these situations but she does want this job very much and would probably take it though resentfully even on the lower pay.

any hints please.

please do not tell me tht she should find out for herself. I hae made the decision to help her with this and am very interested in the responses. i am truly grateful for responses that actually give some practical advice that can be used.

sue.

I was recently asked to do this and it turned out I didn't get the job, I think the lady just wanted some free labour.

I would tell your friend to stand strong, they have seen her 3 times now, if they haven't got a clue yet then they are obviously slow and if they do want her they will see that all she is doing by asking to be paid is showing some self respect!

Hope she gets the job at the pay rate she's looking for!!!

If your friend is in the industry, maybe she should call on her contacts to see what is fair or not.

I'm in the industry. Have been a nanny and childcarer over the last 10 years.

From what I can tell, it's really hard to get a good nanny in the cities. So I would say to your friend to walk. I have never taken a job where they try to negotiate my pay rate down. If they start off the relationship this way, it is just going to get increasingly demanding, and they will continue trying to rip her off - I have seen it so SO many times.

I also feel that if someone can't decide to put their trust in me after a first meeting, then I will never fully have their trust, so I won't do it.

Tell your friend to cut her losses. Where is she? If in Sydney or Melbourne, I often hear of nanny jobs going down there, am happy to put her in contact.

thanks so much re nanny what do you feel is a fair rate

my friend has 3 decades of experience and qualifications and brings along alot of equipment saving the families alot of money is totally reliable .

she charges 20 p hour and there is no rebate she is not registered to get rebates but i dont beleive the family would get it anyway as they are already getting it for 3 days in childcare and their child will only be cared for for 2 days by my friend.

i beleive there are alot of good ones as each job gets alot of replies and my friend is excellent and yet she isnt offered many jobs after interviews because others may be registered or live closer, or younger,

so what do you find is the usual procedure for starting work or being orientated and learning about the baby and the job and letting the child get used to a nanny over time. would it be short unpaid visits a few longer paid visists or whatever it is its always paid.

thanks sue.

Well, DS starting Nursery he was allowed two up-to-2-hours free visits to settle him in. He only had one as it was a last-minute thing for me and the first visit DS wanted to join in and the second I left for about an hour and he didn't miss me at all. The next day I was at work again. BUT I'd hope that should I be employing a Nanny we could have a 2-hour trial so I could see if DS was OK with her.

Should I require a second, longer trial I would think that some sort of recompense would be in order.

20 an hour... I don't know about rates. But trying to chop you down too much shouldn't be on. I don't think that if you come to interview already having stated your rates that anyone has any ground to knock you down. I researched Nursery rates before getting DS into a Nursery because I wanted one nearby I could afford. If these people haven't done this for a Nanny then I wouldn't want to work for them.