Nannies from the Heartland, Inc

Frequently Asked Questions for Nannies:

1) Is there a charge for nannies to use your service?
2) How long does it take to find a job?
3) How many families can I interview with?
4) What is meant by a "one year commitment"?
5) What if a the placement doesn't go well?
6) Why should I want a written employment agreement with my family?
7) How can I get relevant experience if agencies won't place me without it?
8) Why use your agency rather than finding a job on my own?
9) Why use your agency rather than some other agency?

Is there a charge for nannies to use your service? Top of Page
Our service is free to nannies. The families hire us to find you. In fact, you can earn gifts and bonuses by working with us.
How long does it take to find a job? Top of Page
Many qualified applicants can have one or more job offers within a few days after interviewing with us. Usually the families want you to start right away, but often you will want to give your current employer a two week (or more) notice. Your job search may take longer depending on what you are looking for in terms of salary, hours, duties, number and ages of children, location, etc.
How many families can I interview with? Top of Page
We will refer you to as many families as you like, depending on availability. However, when you get a job offer, you should respond within one or two days. We can help you evaluate job offers, and we will respond to families on your behalf if you want us to.We encourage you to keep on searching until you get an offer that you feel good about.
What is meant by a "one year commitment"? Top of Page
In most (but not all) cases you need to be able to make a one year commitment. That is, at the time that you accept a job offer, it must be your intention to stay at least one year. For example, you should not be accepting a job in the spring if you plan to return to school in the fall. Note that some positions are designed to last less than a year. Most families would like their nanny to stay longer than a year, but asking for such a commitment is not realistic.
What if the placement doesn't go well? Top of Page
In rare cases, a placement may not work out very well. We encourage you to call us when you first begin to have some concerns. We will give you some ideas and encouragement for resolving them with your family. Your call will be treated as confidential.

Depending on the circumstances, we may be able to place you in a new job and find another nanny for the family. However, we cannot begin to help you to find another job until you have notified your family that you intend to leave.
Why should I want a written employment agreement with my family? Top of Page
We require our families to develop a written agreement with you. While we think it is in the best interest of both parties, nannies seem to have the most to gain. We have heard dozens of stories from nannies who left their family because of misunderstandings about the job. This is a rare occurrence with our placements because of the written agreement.

Some of the common causes for misunderstandings include: changes to the work schedule and/or duties; increasing requirements for the nanny to transport the children in her car without reimbursement for mileage; expectations for the nanny to be on-call on evenings and weekends; expectations for the nanny to work overtime without additional pay; expectations for the nanny to accompany the family on vacations where she works longer hours with no additional pay; or expectations for the nanny to take unpaid time off while the family goes on vacation.

Our fill-in-the-blanks employment agreement that we provide to families insures that most issues are discussed before they become a problem.
How can I get relevant experience if agencies won't place me without it? Top of Page
You don't necessarily have to have experience as a nanny to be placed by us. But you do need extensive experience with children. You have several options. One is to get a job with a day care center. That will help you to develop a track record as an employee while getting experience working with many children. Another option is to look for a job on the East coast, where families will often hire nannies with less experience than we require. We can help you with this option. A third option is to do volunteer work with children and do evening baby-sitting to gain more experience and references.
Why use your agency rather than finding a job on my own? Top of Page
Quite often, the best jobs are not advertised. Many excellent families work only with Nannies from the Heartland because of the assistance and privacy provided.

We screen our families and will only work with those that we believe will be good employers. This means they will treat you with respect, offer a fair salary and benefits package, and stick to a reasonable work schedule. We watch the classified ads carefully, and often see the same families advertising every few months. Such families have great difficulty attracting and retaining good nannies. If you mistakenly take a job with such a family and quit or get fired after a short time, it adversely affects your work history and makes it harder to get your next job.

Because of the extra effort and care to insure a good match, our nannies typically stay with their families for about 2 1/2 years; many stay for several years.
Why use your agency rather than some other agency? Top of Page
Most of the local agencies provide the same basic services for nannies and families. However, there can be significant differences in the care, attention, and thoroughness applied to each step of the process. While some agencies may match our efforts in some of the steps, none of them match us in all of them.

Ours is a full time, well staffed business rather than a part time, start-up effort. There are now six nanny placement agencies or sitter services listed in the 2007 Minneapolis Yellow Pages, three of which were not listed ten years ago. Of the current six agencies, only two (including us) were listed sixteen years ago. We have the experience and stability that you can count on to do the best job possible for you.

Mary O'Connor (owner of Nannies from the Heartland, Inc.) was the President of the International Nanny Association (INA) from 1997 to 1999 and served on the Board of Directors for ten years. Thus, professional nannies and successful agency owners from around the country and have demonstrated their trust and respect for Mary as a leader in this industry. Her extensive regular contacts with those colleagues are a tremendous source of knowledge and insight into this business. Mary is also a member of the National Association for the Education of Young Children, an active member of the Twin West Chamber of Commerce and a member of Twin Cities Professional Nannies. No other agency owner in the Twin Cities brings this degree of commitment, knowledge and experience to this business.

See our "Choosing an Agency" page for a list of probing questions that nannies and families can ask of agencies to help you choose one to work with.

Nannies from the Heartland, Inc. ** 5490 Balsam Lane No, Minneapolis, MN 55442-1805 ** (763) 550-0219 ** Fax (763) 519-0881

this page was last updated on July 17, 2008