Blog

Meet our Staff Members

Christine  joined Placement Solutions in 2015, becoming part of the recruitment department where she sources, screens and employs the best nannies and household managers for our families.

7 Things to Ask your Nanny/Educator Before you Engage Them

Things to consider when hiring an occasional or permanent nannies include previous experiences, dealing with issues and how do you discipline a child. 

Know the company that you are looking to work for…

You have secured an interview with Placement Solutions and you feel excited about the prospects of working for the agency as a Nanny or Household Manager. But a wave of dread comes across you, what do you really know about us? How do we differ from other agencies? What can we offer you? Are we the right fit for you? So many questions fill your mind…

Let’s talk Ethics…Soft Skills as important factor in your application

Working in childcare means working in an industry that is loaded with ethical and moral questions, values and opinions; even more so when it is in-home childcare. It can be quite easy to oversee what lies right in front of you. That’s why we as recruiters try to point out the important facts right from the beginning. And besides a screening of your ‘hard’ skills, such as knowledge of child development, skills in settling, nappy changes and activity planning, this also involves an assessment of your ‘soft’ skills such as communication skills and, you guessed it, ethical values and positions.

Interview styles - One approach doesn’t fit all

With the Nanny Pilot being in full flow the recruitment department faces lots of first times and novelties. We do have interviews in recruitment offices in small towns, interviews in family’s homes, interviews with children and dogs around; we have skype interviews and inductions and we can see nannies interacting with children.

Those different situations make it easy to see advantages and disadvantages of each and we thought it a great time to compare different interview styles.

Between invitation call and interview – Communicate, communicate, communicate

One thing that recruiters are continually asked is, what makes a good candidate. The answer to this would seem simple, one that has good experience, good qualifications and presents well. Whilst this is all true, there is also some other influencing factors that a candidate might not think about. It’s that time between having a phone interview and attending the interview that people sometimes forget about.

Don’t search for words at an interview – Follow (the) STAR

Working as a recruitment consultant myself I can tell you that we love behavioural interview questions. And we also know that they put applicants in a somewhat difficult situation. I recently read an article on a great method to deal with behavioural interviews and think it is a great tool for all of us to have.

New Year - New CV

New Year’s resolutions are not for everyone.  Nevertheless, the beginning of a new year is a great time to look back at where you have come from and, more importantly, to take a good look at where you are heading.

If one of your to-do list items for 2023 is a new job (maybe as one of our amazing nannies or Household Managers , a career change or finishing studies to start your dream career, refreshing your CV is a great first step.  The first impression any new employer will have is your resumé and of course you want your first impression to be a good one.

The do’s and don’ts of “dressing” for an interview.

Applicants sometimes forget or don't realise how important “dressing” is when attending an interview. In some cases it might be the difference between you getting or not getting a job. Although your experience and qualifications should speak for themselves, it’s the image that you portray that can also affect your job application. Employers may feel that if you dress poorly or inappropriately. This then will reflect on their business and as it does not portray the correct or desired image of the company, they will not want to hire you. Therefore, you need to dress for success and leave the ‘right’ impression not the ‘wrong’ impression.

What it takes to become a Placement Solutions nanny

One of the questions we get most often is “What does it take to become a Placement Solutions nanny?”

Without putting too fine a point on it, we believe our nannies are some of the highest quality, most professional in-home carers you will find in Melbourne.

Tips for Your Induction

So you’ve got your dream job and prior to starting you must complete an induction. It’s important at this time not to relax and think that what happens from here doesn’t matter. Just because you got through the phone interview, face to face interview and reference checking doesn’t mean that you can reduce your level of dedication. The induction is a time where potentially you are meeting your employers and perhaps  other employees  Providing them with a good impression is just as important as leaving a good impression on the recruitment consultants or hiring Manager, as these are the people that you will have the most interaction with and in some cases the people that will recommend you for jobs, provide you with feedback or even do your performance review. Therefore, it’s always best to maintain the same professional approach that you had at interview stage right through your entire career and all job related interactions.

5 common mistakes when writing a resume

So you have decided to start applying for jobs after being out of the market for some time, maybe you had children and stopped working, maybe you have been working with the same company for years and have decided you need a change.  Whatever the reason you need to write a resume and you just don't know where to start.

One thing that people start doing is talking to their friends about what to do and suddenly they get all these "great tips". Unfortunately their tips might not be based on professional knowledge but personal experience.  Therefore, we have put together some common mistakes that should be avoided.