Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
$1200 a week minimum and upfront, plus your lost wages and rent as well as immunization costs. Make sure you get it in writing, signed and notarized but preferably have them cut you a check up front. They're moving to a country with fewer worker protections and it's going to be a lot harder to track them down for your pay if they decide they don't want to pay you. "Two weeks to a month" seems awful vague to ask you to commit to and sets off my cautious radar.
Also, think if this is really an "opportunity" or just a way to make it easier for this family with no long-term benefit to you. I mean, are you going to get to see Africa or are you just going to be chasing this toddler around some isolated compound or condo for a month? Will it really help you to have this experience on your resume if it means having no job when you get back to the states? Aren't there thousands of wealthy couples right there in NY looking for nannies?
Don't mean to be a downer. But think it all the way through before uprooting yourself for someone else's gain.
Normally agree with you coped, but this time I just don't.
The OP is a young woman with the opportunity of a lifetime!
Her airfare and accommodations are being paid for her to see a fabulous part of the world she will likely never otherwise see! She will be working, sure, but not 24/7! There will be plenty of time to see the sights.
It would be usury to insist on MORE money than she already makes in her current job. Getting just compensation for THAT job should be plenty enough to satisfy her considering all the other perks she is getting.
I do agree in getting paid up front and that she require the family to give her an open ended return ticket to hold on to .
Normally agree with you coped, but this time I just don't.
The OP is a young woman with the opportunity of a lifetime!
Her airfare and accommodations are being paid for her to see a fabulous part of the world she will likely never otherwise see! She will be working, sure, but not 24/7! There will be plenty of time to see the sights.
It would be usury to insist on MORE money than she already makes in her current job. Getting just compensation for THAT job should be plenty enough to satisfy her considering all the other perks she is getting.
I do agree in getting paid up front and that she require the family to give her an open ended return ticket to hold on to .
It might be an opportunity, but it's also a hardship. And that is what she should stress to the family. It is reasonable to expect extra money for traveling halfway across the world and uprooting yourself with the likelihood of losing a job back home. There is nothing usurious about it (that only applies to lending money, btw); quite a few professionals get extra pay for travel and hardship. She should consider herself no different.
It is really a rhetorical stretch to consider being at the family's mercy thousands of miles away from home a "perk." It's unlikely she will get to do much more in Cape Town than chase this kid around the house.
Coped, What are you going to do with a contract in South Aftrica? Or even in the U.S. , if she gets money upfront and gets paid 2x per week she has no exposure. They miss one pay period she has the back up, they miss another she walks fully compensated with ticket in hand.
You're right in this situation. I was just saying the attitude of "Well I know these people, so no need for a contract," is a dangerous one.
I think the big question is how the OP views the trip. Do you look at it the way coped does, as it's a hardship to travel across the world and uproot yourself? Or do you look at it like lovesMountains, as it's the opportunity of a lifetime to see a fabulous part of the world she will likely never otherwise see?
If it's a hardship and you really have no desire to go to South Africa, then it should require more compensation because you'll need more of an incentive to go there. If you think it will be a great experience that you'll remember for the rest of your life, and you'll have some free time check out the sights (whether alone, or with the family), then that should definitely be taken into account. And as for your job, can you talk to your manager to get clarification about whether you'll have a job when you come back?
Actually, I just re-read the first post and saw "I don't want to miss out on this opportunity" so I'm thinking you don't look at it like coped does.
I think the big question is how the OP views the trip. Do you look at it the way coped does, as it's a hardship to travel across the world and uproot yourself? Or do you look at it like lovesMountains, as it's the opportunity of a lifetime to see a fabulous part of the world she will likely never otherwise see?
If it's a hardship and you really have no desire to go to South Africa, then it should require more compensation because you'll need more of an incentive to go there. If you think it will be a great experience that you'll remember for the rest of your life, and you'll have some free time check out the sights (whether alone, or with the family), then that should definitely be taken into account. And as for your job, can you talk to your manager to get clarification about whether you'll have a job when you come back?
Actually, I just re-read the first post and saw "I don't want to miss out on this opportunity" so I'm thinking you don't look at it like coped does.
Yes. This is all true. But even if you do view this as an opportunity, you should also not tell the family that. Stress the hardship part with them to make sure you get ALL that they are willing to pay. You are doing them the favor here, not the other way around.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
