The agency found her. What happens next is yours.
A good agency sources candidates, verifies work history and runs the background check. It cannot tell you whether this person fits your child, your parent or your household, and it is not there on day thirty, which is when most placements are actually decided.
As featured in
The line
Two different jobs. Only one of them is on the invoice.
Families often assume the agency fee covers the whole decision. It covers the first half of it, and the first half is the easier half.
Finds and verifies
- Sources candidates from its own pool
- Verifies employment history and credentials
- Runs background and driving checks
- Handles payroll and insurance, in home care
- Covers a shift when someone calls out
- Replaces a placement that fails, within a stated window
Decides and integrates
- Defining what you are actually hiring for
- Interviewing, and reading what the answers mean
- Reference checks that go past employment dates
- Choosing between candidates who all look fine
- The offer, the trial and the work agreement
- The first two weeks, and every conversation after
An agency answers “is this person legitimate.” Only you can answer “is this person right for us.”
The framework
Four stages, in this order.
Most families start at Match, looking at candidates, because candidates are what the agency puts in front of them. Starting there is why it goes wrong.
Map
Define the role, the hours, the duties and your Musts, Pluses and Deal-breakers before anyone is interviewed.
Match
Interview, reference-check and trial against that definition, not against each other.
Merge
The introduction, the first two weeks, the handbook and the work agreement. Where most placements are won or lost.
Manage
How you ask, correct and review, so a good hire is still a good hire in year three.
Before you sign
What to ask an agency.
Ask these before the fee, not after. A good agency answers all of them without hesitating, and the ones that do are worth paying for.
Five questions for a nanny agency
- How do you screen, and what do you verify yourselves? Some agencies run everything in house. Some resell a third-party report you could have ordered.
- How many candidates will I see, and how were they chosen for me? Ask what they matched on. If they can't say, they matched on availability.
- What is the replacement policy, and how long does it run? Get the window in writing, and find out what resets it.
- What happens to the fee if she leaves in month two? Replacement and refund are different promises. Know which one you have.
- Does your support continue after the hire, or does it end there? This is the one almost nobody asks.
For many agencies the work ends at the hire, which is exactly where the hard part begins.
Five questions for a home care agency
- How do you match a caregiver to a client, what do you actually ask us? Listen for whether the questions are about schedule or about the person.
- When the assigned caregiver is sick, who comes instead? The answer to this shapes your parent's experience more than the first hire does.
- How many different people will my parent see in a typical month? Ask for a number, not a reassurance.
- What is your caregiver turnover, honestly? Turnover in this industry is high everywhere. What matters is whether they'll tell you.
- Who do I call at nine o'clock on a Sunday night? A name and a number, or an answering service.
For an older adult, consistency of caregiver does more good than almost any other variable. A rotating cast undoes much of the benefit of having help at all.
What a session looks like
We do the part the agency doesn't.
Sessions run by video, on your timeline, alongside whatever agency you are already working with. Nothing here competes with them, it picks up where their scope ends.
Before the shortlist
Build the role definition you hand the agency, so they match on something real. Set your Musts, Pluses and Deal-breakers.
With candidates in hand
Interview structure and questions, reference calls that go past employment dates, and how to choose when everyone looks fine on paper.
At the offer
The trial, the work agreement, and the terms families forget until they matter.
The first weeks
The introduction, the handbook, and what to do when something isn't working : including with a parent who never asked for help.
Who you'd be working with
A therapist who has done this for twenty years.
- Clinical
- Licensed clinical social worker (LCSW), Columbia University MSW. Licensed in California, New Jersey and Oregon.
- Published
- Secrets of the Nanny Whisperer, Avery / Penguin Random House.
- Media
- Today, Good Morning America, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, CBS and TIME.
- Framework
- Founder of the Care Map Method™, Map, Match, Merge, Manage, used for both childcare and senior care decisions.
- Scope
- Nannies, daycare and preschool; home care, assisted living and memory care. Often for the same family in the same year.
One session can change the hire.
Whether you're choosing an agency, holding a shortlist, or two weeks into a placement that isn't settling, that's the work. Strategy sessions start at $189.
Coaching and consulting only. Sessions are not therapy, legal advice or tax advice. Wage, overtime, household employment tax and workers' compensation rules vary by state, confirm yours with a qualified professional.