College Nanny Jobs in Canada
If you are in university or college in Canada and are looking to earn some extra cash, nanny jobs are a great option for you. College students often only have classes two or three days a week; if this is the case, you can offer your nanny services to parents in Toronto for two to three days a week, or week-ends. College students also have free summers, and being a college nanny during the summer is a great way to spend your time. While some parents might need someone who is all year-round, or more full time, many are looking for part-time help with their children. Parents also like to hire college students as nannies, as they tend to be a bit cheaper than professional nannies and can also help their children with their homework.
To look for nanny jobs in Canada, a good place to start is nannyservices.ca, which is a website that connects people who are seeking babysitting, childcare and nanny jobs in Canada to employers. This free service allows you to create a profile and then search for potential jobs. If joining as a job-seeker, you will be asked to undergo a criminal background check and provide references. This assures potential employers that you are safe and trustworthy!
Before starting on your search for nanny jobs you should make sure that becoming a college nanny in Canada is something you want to do. There are, after all, differences between nannies and babysitters.
The main difference is that a nanny is way more full-time than a babysitter; some nannies even live in their employers houses! While this may be an option for you if you don’t want to live on campus, you can also consider being a live-out nanny, which is a nanny who helps with the kids during the day, but goes back home at night. If you find a family that only needs you to watch their kids for a few hours a day, you can suggest to them to do a nanny-share, which means they would recommend you to their friends, and you would be a few hours here and a few hours there. It’s a good way for you as a college student to earn a bit more money.
Then again, you might not have two days a week free from classes, and if that’s the case, babysitting might be more your thing. Babysitting can be every day with regular hours, every other day, etc. or it can be on-call. That means, whenever a certain family needs you for a few hours in the afternoon, or a couple hours at night, they will call you. Sometimes you will be available and sometimes not; with irregular babysitting jobs, there is not much prior commitment. Once you do commit to a particular job, you should do your best to arrive on time, and not to cancel.
Here are some questions you might want to ask potential employers when going on interviews for nanny jobs in Canada. Remember, just because parents are interviewing you doesn’t mean you don’t have a say! Just as parents want a safe, reliable, responsible nanny they can trust, nannies want families who are comfortable, respectful, put-together and safe. Here are some questions you can ask to ascertain these things:
1. What are the hours? If parents say they will be home at 10:00 pm, and instead come home at 10:15, that’s probably fine. But you don’t want parents who say they’ll be home at 10:00 and then come home at midnight! If a parent is running late, you should ask them to call you to let you know – parents are not the only ones who worry!
2. What should I do in case of an emergency? Make sure that the parents leave their phone numbers with you, and other emergency numbers should anything happen. You hope that nothing will, but in case it does, you need to be prepared.
3. What are my responsibilities? If you only want to babysit, and the parents want you to mop the floors as well, you’re going to have some compatibility issues. This doesn’t mean that either you or the parents are wrong; it just means you have different needs, and are not a good fit. Keep on your search!
4. How will I get home? Whether it is afternoon, evening or night (especially if it’s night!) and you don’t have a car, you want to know how you will get home after the job is done. Just because you are in college doesn’t mean it is safe to go walking through the streets at midnight. Make sure that the parents offer to drive you or call you a cab.
5. Make sure you feel safe. If either of the parents make you uncomfortable, do not take the job. You might want to earn extra income as a college nanny in Canada, but more importantly, you want to be safe. Parents might use a nanny cam in order to help them feel secure about whom they are leaving their children with; as a nanny, there are not many options for you should you feel threatened by your employer. If you do, you should quit and look for other nanny jobs in your area or around campus.
To look for nanny jobs in Canada, a good place to start is nannyservices.ca, which is a website that connects people who are seeking babysitting, childcare and nanny jobs in Canada to employers. This free service allows you to create a profile and then search for potential jobs. If joining as a job-seeker, you will be asked to undergo a criminal background check and provide references. This assures potential employers that you are safe and trustworthy!
Before starting on your search for nanny jobs you should make sure that becoming a college nanny in Canada is something you want to do. There are, after all, differences between nannies and babysitters.
The main difference is that a nanny is way more full-time than a babysitter; some nannies even live in their employers houses! While this may be an option for you if you don’t want to live on campus, you can also consider being a live-out nanny, which is a nanny who helps with the kids during the day, but goes back home at night. If you find a family that only needs you to watch their kids for a few hours a day, you can suggest to them to do a nanny-share, which means they would recommend you to their friends, and you would be a few hours here and a few hours there. It’s a good way for you as a college student to earn a bit more money.
Then again, you might not have two days a week free from classes, and if that’s the case, babysitting might be more your thing. Babysitting can be every day with regular hours, every other day, etc. or it can be on-call. That means, whenever a certain family needs you for a few hours in the afternoon, or a couple hours at night, they will call you. Sometimes you will be available and sometimes not; with irregular babysitting jobs, there is not much prior commitment. Once you do commit to a particular job, you should do your best to arrive on time, and not to cancel.
Here are some questions you might want to ask potential employers when going on interviews for nanny jobs in Canada. Remember, just because parents are interviewing you doesn’t mean you don’t have a say! Just as parents want a safe, reliable, responsible nanny they can trust, nannies want families who are comfortable, respectful, put-together and safe. Here are some questions you can ask to ascertain these things:
1. What are the hours? If parents say they will be home at 10:00 pm, and instead come home at 10:15, that’s probably fine. But you don’t want parents who say they’ll be home at 10:00 and then come home at midnight! If a parent is running late, you should ask them to call you to let you know – parents are not the only ones who worry!
2. What should I do in case of an emergency? Make sure that the parents leave their phone numbers with you, and other emergency numbers should anything happen. You hope that nothing will, but in case it does, you need to be prepared.
3. What are my responsibilities? If you only want to babysit, and the parents want you to mop the floors as well, you’re going to have some compatibility issues. This doesn’t mean that either you or the parents are wrong; it just means you have different needs, and are not a good fit. Keep on your search!
4. How will I get home? Whether it is afternoon, evening or night (especially if it’s night!) and you don’t have a car, you want to know how you will get home after the job is done. Just because you are in college doesn’t mean it is safe to go walking through the streets at midnight. Make sure that the parents offer to drive you or call you a cab.
5. Make sure you feel safe. If either of the parents make you uncomfortable, do not take the job. You might want to earn extra income as a college nanny in Canada, but more importantly, you want to be safe. Parents might use a nanny cam in order to help them feel secure about whom they are leaving their children with; as a nanny, there are not many options for you should you feel threatened by your employer. If you do, you should quit and look for other nanny jobs in your area or around campus.
