What Wording In An Advert???

Penny-Pincher!!

Afternoon All

I posted 2 weeks ago about being accepted for Direct Payments. Its only for domestic help at the moment, but hubby has been doing everything around the house etc (he is my FT carer as Im disabled).

Basically, we were awarded help a few months back but have had nothing but problems with our local care trust who supplied the domestic help (2hrs)Different cleaners weekly, not turning up, terrible cleaning, being messed around, fag breaks, etc etc. So we were told about DP and were accepted last week.

A few posters said that it would be easier getting in a cleaning/domestic firm weekly so that we dont have to worry about tax & NI etc. Cheapest round here is £8.00 p/h (contacted 5 companies)and they still cant guarentee the same cleaner weekly or cover holidays/sickness etc :eek: This price apparently includes £2.00 ph insurance

Anyway, I contacted the direct payment co-ordinator who came to our house and sorted this for us, and she recomended advertising for a Self-Employed cleaner locally in the paper. We wont then be liable for any Tax or NI. She has recomended paying via cheque so we have a record of payment from new bank account to cleaner, keeping copies of statements and to get the cleaner to sign a receipt weekly. This way nothing falls back on us and we have proof of payment etc :j Also, she has said that average cleaner is between £4.75-£5.50 an hour, so we can get 3 hours a week rather than 2 but will offer £6.00 an hour.

I have never advertised for anything like this before and would like some pointers if possible. It has to be as short as possible as each word is £1.75inc VAT, but want to cover as much as I can in the advert.

I want to make sure I put in Self-Employed, 3 hours, hourly rate, looking for someone who is hard working, reliable and honest. Would like someone with experiance and references. Dont want anyone too young.

Also, what questions would be good to ask when they come round for an interview? Im quite nervous about this..lol. Anything else i need to bear in mind?

Thanks

Penny-Pincher!!
xxx

mountainofdebt

Personally (!) I'm not sure that I would bother with saying that you want someone hard working, reliable and honest as people are not going to say that they aren't - and you are also asking for references! Would you prefer a non smoker...if so I would put that in the advert.


As for interview questions I think it boils down to experience related questions ..and I would also check up the references before letting them start. Do you want them on set days/times for example if so I would ask them questions related to their ability to keep to this (obviously some flexibilty is nice on both sides) It might also be a good idea to get hubby/ a good friend in on the interview....sometimes another person can pick up on something that you might miss.

Murtle

If you want them to have experience and references, I'd suggest

"Must have relevant experience and references"

Rather then, Dont want anyone too young.

Depending on the kind of age you are looking for, start the ad with Mature, self-employed.....


So something like

Looking for, mature *non-smoking*, *female*, self-employed cleaner for 3 hours per week rate negotiable. Must have relevant experience and contactable references.

Just a suggestion - good luck!

ps bits in * * are words you can use, or add what you want.

M

Penny-Pincher!!

Morning

Well Ive done it and goes out on wednesday :eek:

It was soooo expensive! The ad we decided upon was:

self-employed mature cleaner needed, 3 hours, referances, £6 per hour, and my number.

This cost £36.66 :eek: At least its done :rolleyes:

I am trying to sort out what things to ask/say to them when they start calling on wednesday. These are some things I have thought of, but im sure there are many more.

Cleaning to be done on friday between 8.30am-11.30am or 9-12.
Female
Reliable (very important to me)
Non-smoker (do you think this really matters?)
Hard worker & thorough (Im very fussy/particular about my cleaning!)
Any jobs they wont do?
Self-employed position
Paid by cheque weekly and will need them to sign a receipt
Have drafted up a cleaning rota which is very detailed
Maybe a couple of bits of ironing if time
Do they have refs?



What else do I need to ask? This is quite daunting

Thanks

Penny-Pincher!!
xxx

misty

I would def make sure you ask for references AND follow them up. I did cleaning in private houses for myself whilst at Uni and I don't think one person followed up the references including people who gave me a key for when they were out.

I think personally other than that you should go on gut instinct - I could generally tell who I was going to like and who was going to irritate me.

Also, be realistic about what you expect to get done in the time - some people expected miracles and others gave way too long for tasks. Also, I preferred it when people told me what they wanted doing and then left me to get on with it - rather than explaining in great detail exactly what way they wanted something doing.

I would ask if they are doing any other work and how your job would fit in with it and if they can assure you they would be reliable. Explain at interview that you will have to let them go if they let you down.

Also, in future you could try advertising in the newsagents window - much cheaper (15p a week here) and you'll get someone local. Also many of my subsequent jobs came by reccommendation - do you know anyone who has a cleaner who might want a few extra hours?

Savvy_Sue

It's up to you whether you specify a non-smoker or not, personally I wouldn't, although if they were reeking of fags when they arrived for interview I'd be most unlikely to employ them.

I WOULD say that because cigarette smoke makes me feel very ill they may not smoke while they're working in my house, not even in my back garden.

Some cleaners like to blitz through drinking coffee as they go, and some prefer to blitz and have a quick break part way through, so you might like to ask about that. I know I couldn't do a full 3 hours cleaning without a 10 minute coffee break in the middle so it doesn't seem unreasonable to say "If you want to stop for a break please do", just don't get drawn into a 30 minute chat session!

I agree that it would drive me round the bend if someone told me to clean everything in a particular way, they may even have a better way (not hard in my case!) The important thing is to stress that you do like things done properly, that you would rather ALL the tiles were clean and sparkly right into the corners, even if that means not having time to clean behind the radiators this week.

Also, I think you have been wise not to say you only want a female cleaner in the ad. If it was for personal care, that would be a different matter, you could claim an exemption under Section 7 (I think) of the Sex Discrimination Act. But be careful what you say if any chaps phone up to enquire about the job.

jo_b_2

If you place an advert in the local Job Centre, you can then hold any interviews in a private room at the Job Centre free of charge. This applies even if you don't actually recruit directly from the JC.

May be too late for you now but if you did need to re-advertise in the future, it might be handy to know. It is just useful, if you don't want to interview people within your own home without knowing their credentials etc.

There are some useful ideas about interviewing people for posts paid for by Direct Payments HERE

Interview questions and tips are about halfway down the page.

Savvy_Sue

jo_b wrote:

If you place an advert in the local Job Centre, you can then hold any interviews in a private room at the Job Centre free of charge. This applies even if you don't actually recruit directly from the JC.

I think you will find that if you place an advert at the Job Centre you will have to be fiercely politically correct in its wording. They will certainly advise you, and I have no experience of advertising your kind of job with them, but they are very picky about what you can and can't say when you try to place an advert with them! They did not seem to want to believe, for example, that our charity had an exemption under the Sex Discrimination Act, and we certainly couldn't ask for anyone with a sense of humour.

But that's a very useful tip from Jo - you may well not want complete strangers coming to your house for a first interview, even though you will want them to see your home before confirming the appointment, I would imagine.

Good luck, anyway!