Adventures of Our Nanny Search in NYC

Since I'm cheap and unwilling to pay the ransom that nanny agencies charge (a month to two months pay), we went the craigslist and word-of-mouth route. Yeah, yeah, I know agencies may have better, more qualified candidates, but we're happy to do the grunt work. We even looked at some daycare centers, which all have waiting lists until our baby's baby is born (all right - I'm exaggerating).

When we began our search, we were hoping that we might find someone who can teach our baby Chinese so she can speak with her grandmother when she grows up. We quickly found out that most of the candidates spoke little or no English, and their Chinese isn't even proper Mandarin. On top of that, hiring a Chinese nanny is becoming a fad among the super-rich, with one securing a salary of $70,000 after a bidding war [see BBC News article: "Chinese nanny state takes root in US"]

More important to us though is that we wanted someone who looked at the position as more than a job, that she would be excited to be an integral part of our family. We were disappointed by so many of the candidates we met, in spite of the ringing endorsements they have from their references. Often times, it felt like they're interviewing us rather than vice versa.

Here are some snippets from our interviews (our thoughts in bracket):

• "I don't have to give baths to the baby, right? [um, what kind of question is that?]
• "I speak two languages and I have lots of experience so I should be paid more." [hmmm, you don't speak either language without an accent.]
• At a daycare center: "The baby is sleeping on his tummy because he can roll over." [if the baby is too small to even lift his neck, how is he supposed to roll over?]
• "This baby rocker is no good. You're sharing a room with the baby? Why don't you have a rocking chair? You need one!" [let's see - what else can we get for you?]
• [Wow - your perfume is so strong. Are you going out or are you coming for an interview?]
• At the start of an interview: "What are the hours? How much are you paying? What do you expect me to do? That works for me." [Hello, we haven't hired you yet. And do you even care about our baby?]

After countless emails, phone calls and in-person interviews, we finally found a nanny who will take care of our little one as if she's her own - no chinese spoken though (we had three very good candidates we really liked). Mommy*drama can now go back to work without worrying about whether daddy*drama is keeping a close enough eye on the baby (while he tries to work at home).