The first lesson of business

'I shall never forget the very first nanny I ever recruited. My agency had just opened. I was optimistic, confident and rather naive. I had placed ads in local papers and the first person to reply was Caroline (not her real name). On the phone she sounded very promising. At the interview she shone. Although she was not qualified, she had a sheaf of references showing lots of experience. Her eye contact was good, and she was smiling and enthusiastic. If she had a problem, she said, it was that she found it hard to say "no" and ended up doing more than she should. Her current job was not working out well, as the parents were going through an acrimonious divorce. The other local agency that had got her the job was not being supportive.

'After the interview I went to check the written references and tell my clients I had met a delightful nanny. Unfortunately I could not get through on either number of the two main employers, as they had both emigrated, so I wrote to them. The only two I could verify were from friends for whom Caroline had babysat.

'Then Caroline phoned to say she had handed in her notice. The couple she worked for had come to blows, almost hitting her as she tried to intervene, so the mother was going to take the children to live with her parents in Australia. Tearfully she begged me to find her work as soon as possible. But I could not do anything until I found a way to check her history. I phoned the other agency, who said they had placed Caroline with this family for a four-week supervised trial before the mother went back to work. She had been totally unsatisfactory and they did not wish to employ her. When I pointed out that the poor girl had been working under difficult circumstances, the agency insisted they had known the family for years and it was a happy marriage. And they said the mother's parents lived in Cambridge, not Australia.

'When I asked Caroline about this she burst into tears. She said that agency had never liked her and the mother was just jealous because the father found her so attractive. My clients kept phoning to know when they would be able to meet this wonderful nanny I'd told them about. I felt so embarrassed when I had to admit she was probably a total fraud.

'I seriously wondered if I should carry on with the agency. But I had learned two valuable lessons - to never get too enthusiastic until all the references have been checked, and to form a co-operative relationship with other local agencies. Though we are in competition we will always swap useful information and phone one another for advice.

'Since then I have recruited lots of great nannies with genuine references. One day I was phoned by an agency who wondered if I could place an excellent nanny who was being sexually harassed by her employer and needed a new job immediately. They'd written to Japan and Australia for references and would let me have them as soon as they arrived. The nanny's name was Caroline.'