How to Find a Nanny: The Club's Search-and-Hire Plan

To find a nanny, write the job down first: days, hours, duties and pay range. Then look in three places at once: referrals from other parents, local parent groups, and a care platform or agency. Screen candidates with a short phone call, interview the best three or four in person, and pay your top choice for a trial day with your baby. Check at least two childcare references, run a background check with the candidate’s written permission, and make the offer with a written contract. Most of the work is in the first step and the last two.

Give yourself more time than seems necessary. The daycare, nanny or family guide suggests starting roughly six weeks before you go back to work, and earlier where demand is high. A nanny search is the part of that plan most likely to run long.

Step 1: Write the job before you look

A clear job post filters out half the wrong candidates without a single call. Write down:

Days and hours, including the earliest start and the latest finish you’ll ever need.
Start date, and whether you need a few overlap days while you’re still home.
The children: how many, their ages, any medical needs.
Duties: childcare, and any child-related housework. Be honest if you’ll want errands or family laundry.
Driving: whether they’ll use your car, their own, or none.
Pay range, gross and hourly, and whether you’ll pay legally through payroll (you should; see step 8).
Must-haves: infant CPR, experience with babies under one, a second language, comfort with pets.

If two families are hiring together, this is also the moment to settle the nanny share details, because candidates will ask.

Step 2: Look in more than one place

Each source finds different people:

Referrals. Ask parents in your area whose nanny is moving on as their children start school. That’s the best lead there is: a nanny with a reference you can actually see in action.
Local parent groups. Neighborhood email lists, birth-class group chats and local parent social media groups. Post your job there, and watch for nannies whose families are recommending them.
Care platforms. Sites such as Care.com and Sittercity let you post a job and search profiles. You do the screening yourself.
Nanny agencies. An agency finds and pre-screens candidates for a placement fee. Ask exactly what their screening includes, and don’t assume it replaces your own reference calls.

Step 3: The ten-minute phone screen

The phone screen only checks for dealbreakers. Confirm:

They can work your days and hours, from your start date.
Your pay range works for them.
They have recent experience with children your baby’s age.
They’re comfortable with the duties and the driving.
They’re legally able to work in the U.S. and comfortable being paid through payroll.

If any answer is no, thank them and move on. You’ll want three or four candidates for in-person interviews.

Step 4: The interview

Meet in your home if you can, with your baby there for part of it. You’ll learn as much from how they hold and talk to your baby as from anything they say. Use the club’s nanny interview questions, grouped by experience, a typical day, safety, discipline, communication and terms, so you ask every candidate the same things and can compare them fairly.

Step 5: A paid trial day

Before an offer, pay your top candidate for a trial day, or a few hours, at the rate you’d pay them. Be home for some of it, but out of the room. Watch for:

How they handle a nap and a feed, your way.
Whether they ask questions or guess.
How your baby settles with them by the end of the day, compared with the start.
Whether they put the phone away.

A trial day also lets the candidate decide whether they want the job. That counts too: a nanny who chose you stays longer.

Step 6: References

Call at least two families the candidate has cared for, preferably with children of a similar age. Ask open questions and listen for hesitation:

How long did they work for you, and why did it end?
What were they best at? What would you have liked them to do differently?
Was there ever an emergency or a hard day? How did they handle it?
Were they reliable about timekeeping and sick days?
Would you hire them again?

The last question is the one that matters. A pause before “yes” tells you something.

Step 7: Background check

If you use a background check company, federal law sets rules for you as an employer. The Federal Trade Commission’s guide, Background Checks: What Employers Need to Know, says you must tell the applicant you might use the information for decisions about their employment, in a notice that is “in writing and in a stand-alone format”. You also need their written permission to do the check. If you then decide not to hire because of something in the report, the FTC says you must first give them a copy of the report and a summary of their rights, then follow the adverse action steps on that page.

The National Sex Offender Public Website, a partnership between the U.S. Department of Justice and state, territorial and tribal governments, is a public search you can run yourself. It doesn’t replace a full background check.

Step 8: Offer, contract and payroll

Make the offer in writing with the pay, hours and start date. Then put the whole job into a nanny contract before the first day.

At this point you become a household employer. IRS Publication 926, the 2026 Household Employer’s Tax Guide, says that when you hire a household employee to work regularly, you and the employee each complete Form I-9. The employee’s section must be done no later than their first day of work. You withhold and pay Social Security and Medicare taxes once you pay one household employee $3,000 or more in cash wages in 2026. Many families use a household payroll service rather than doing it themselves.

Step 9: The first two weeks

Plan for some overlap: a few days when you’re home but handing over, then a few at work before your official return. Write down the routines you’re handing over: naps, feeds, the soothing that works. Keep a short daily note going in both directions so small questions get answered before they become disagreements.

FAQ: finding and hiring a nanny

How long does it take to find a nanny?

Often longer than parents expect, once you add references, a trial day and the candidate’s notice at their current job. Start several weeks before you need care, and earlier in areas where nannies are in demand.

Is it better to use an agency or a care website?

An agency costs more but does the first round of screening for you. A care platform is cheaper and gives you more control, and more work. Either way, do your own reference calls.

How much should I pay a nanny?

It depends heavily on your area, the number of children and the nanny’s experience. Ask local parents what they pay, look at what similar jobs in your area offer, and never go below your state’s minimum wage. Pay through payroll, and agree a gross hourly rate.

Do I need to run a background check on a nanny?

It’s strongly advised. If you use a background check company, get the candidate’s written permission first, as the FTC requires. Treat it as one part of the screening, alongside references and a trial day.

What’s the difference between hiring a nanny and a babysitter?

A nanny is a regular employee working set hours, usually with a contract and payroll. A babysitter covers occasional evenings or afternoons. The search is lighter for a babysitter, but references still matter.