two new jobs!

Yay!

I just interviewed last night on the phone with a mom in town. She has two girls, 5 and 7.

She adores me already. She can’t wait to meet me on Thursday. She practically pushed me to charge more when she asked my rate. I said $18 and she said, “Is that for two children?” Silly me, I dont know why I didnt say $20 in the first place, I was thinking $20, of course I knew she had 2 kids, and it was rather nice that she prompted me to say more for 2. so I said, “Oh yes, it’s $20 for two,” and she said that’s great, that is the most they have paid and they are happy to pay me that since I have so much experience and training.

So I’m going to be doing Mondays and Wednesdays with the 3 month old baby girl, and Tuesdays and Thursdays in the afternoon with the two girls. Yay! Each job is 5-6 hours per day. That’s perfect, I can get some homework done each day, go to work, and it’s a beautiful schedule. I can still do library volunteering if they have an opening for me, and I can even schedule in days to go to the gym now.

I am so happy!

I had been hoping that there was a chance I could find a job soon enough that I wouldnt need to return to the crazy family. Especially since they said if I found a job sooner, I could of course leave them earlier if I needed to. So I just sent them an email (they are on vacation) and let them know I am booked Monday through Thursday, but Friday is open if they need childcare.

I did 3 interviews, and had to tell one family I am no longer available since I got two job offers already. amazing.

last summer was a lot harder, I sent out tons of emails every day, got a small percentage of replies, did a bunch of phone interviews, a few in person interviews, and it took weeks to find a job. usually I get a job right away, especially if I interview in person, but the market for nanny jobs was really bad in the summer.

I am grateful for the crazy family, they were so disorganized and such that they gave me tons of hours to work, and we called it my “cash cow” job. I didnt expect it to last forever, and with their crazy methods of child rearing, I really didnt want it to last very long. but since they needed me so much, we were able to fund the wedding and honeymoon nicely, and have savings left over for security.

The funny thing is, when they told me they had to let me go, they said they just couldnt afford me. and seriously, I’ve done childcare for 30 years, I’ve seen every kind of family there is pretty much, and this couple didnt need to have me work so many hours at all. they could have afforded me if they did things a bit more normally, like most families. they didnt need me there an hour early so they could take showers and get ready for work. most couples either get up earlier than their kids or take turns with the baby, or teach the baby to play on his own for a bit, while they get ready. When I suggested to the couple that they cut some of my hours to save money, they said they couldnt do it, they barely made it to work on time. They both could have also done what a lot of couples do – stagger their hours so that they werent paying someone to work 10 hour days, but have one parent go to work early, one parent work a bit later, and then give the nanny just 6-8 hours per day. They had really flexible jobs and could easily have done that, but they didnt want to. And to be honest, when I first started working for them, they really just were so overwhelmed that they didnt want to take care of their own baby. I’m glad I could help them, give them a break, and let them catch up on sleep and get a break from their baby. I totally appreciate that they needed that. very much so.

That’s what I am here for.

K and I are both thrilled. We’ve got more money security now that I’ve got set work, and a bit blown away that I got two jobs so quickly and easily, with very nice families.

the mom of the baby girl emailed me and told me she is so thrilled to have me as her nanny and is already feeling better about going back to work. Gosh, that just thrills me. I am so happy that I am helping her already, just on one meeting for half an hour she feels better about going to work. that’s fabulous.

Meanwhile, I am hoping to also be working on improving my work skills so that I can find regular work somewhere down the line. I’m attending a Grant Writing Workshop this week, and I’m looking forward to that. That should look really good on my resume. I’m looking for things like that, and ways to improve my computer skills so that I am eligible for office work eventually.

I also have a friend/acquaintance who I am hoping to sit down and chat with, get some ideas from her about what I should be focusing on developing skill-wise, and job hunting tips.

I’d also love job hunting tips here!

I am very grateful for my skills with childcare, and so grateful that I can find well paid work so easily – I am so grateful for that. And I think it is time to prepare for other kind of work. I’m happy I’ve got enough hours to have a good income and time to do schoolwork and develop some work skills. 🙂

ok, it’s a very blustery day out there, and I’m about to jump into all that wind. hooboy!

must run.