WHEN North Albury’s Sarah Finlayson advertised in The Border Mail for a babysitter last year, about 50 people responded.
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"It was crazy, I had this huge spreadsheet," she said.
She could not have known her young family’s needs would inspire one of her successful applicants to create a Border childcare and cleaning business.
For Charles Sturt University student Lauren Butler, what began as a babysitting job has evolved into Regional Cleaning and Nanny Service for her and seven fellow students.
"It's pretty impressive what they've done,” Ms Finlayson said.
“At that stage she was going to do it just for some money while she was at uni and then it sort of just went from there.
"We were kind of the first ones and that seeded the idea, I think."
Miss Butler said the enterprise solved the students’ constant problem of finding jobs to fit in with university course hours. Many of the group were studying early childhood development and others had doubted whether they could combine employment and education.
"I think the girls have just proven them wrong by the amount of work they've done and the amount of study they've done," Miss Butler said.
“It's just booming and the girls are feeling so much better in themselves and their confidence has gone back up.
“It also adds to their course in a way because they're getting experience with kids as well."
The Finlaysons – Sarah, Justin and their two sons Isaac, now 5, and Jude, 3, – moved to the Border last year and since then the family has grown to include Alice, 4 months.
Ms Finlayson said she looked for a nanny rather than places in childcare centres.
"I prefer to have someone come into the home,” she said.
“That's what I've always had and that's what I like.
"There is a lot of trust, I think you just have to look at references and resumes and interview them and you kind of get a good sense.
"There's lot of agencies and things in the city that you can get, but certainly in regional areas it's not readily available, that type of care."
The federal government’s nanny pilot program, due to begin early next year, will explore this option further as future policies for care in the home are developed.
Miss Butler said the Regional Cleaning and Nanny Service had appropriate insurance and all the workers had police and working with children checks.
“Next year I personally am deferring my studies just for 12 months because the business has picked up so much that we weren’t expecting,” the owner/operater said.
