10 Questions to Find Your Perfect Nanny

Finding another ‘you’ is not a simple task. Most often than not, your passion for your job drives you into needing a little extra help. From there, you should be assured that your nanny is not just able to take over in your absence but also understand your parenting style and household rules.

 

Nannies are there primarily to give essential care to your young ones when you’re not around. Upon taking part in most of the formative endeavours of your child, you need a friendly assessment to gauge their skills, background, and education.

 

How do you know they can be trusted? How do you know your kids will be safe under their care? How do you know who’s the right person for the job in the first place? Here are ten questions to ask when interviewing your prospects to guide you in choosing one for your kids.

 

 

  1. Questions regarding personal identification (Ex. What’s your name? How old are you? When is your birthday? Single, married, divorced?)

Of course, an applicant’s identity is fundamental to acquire, getting them background checked, no criminal records, is the name the same with all the documents they presented?

Also, check if they fit the requirements considering their age. If they’re too old and they have to take care of a baby, there might be a little challenge there. If below 21 years old, and it’s their first time to earn a lot of cash, there might be a learning curve and a risk of losing them on a whim of a better opportunity.

Another factor is where they live, are they close by to be able to pop in and out. Have they grown up in your neighbourhood or area? You may want to consider someone who has grown up in your city and knows the neighbourhoods and shops well. For example, if you live in Sydney, then all the good parks, kid-friendly communities and sayings come from job experience as a Sydney nanny.

 

 

  1. Have you had any training or experience in taking care of kids? If so, is it professional or self-learned? From taking care of your own or others’ kids?

With this question, you can gauge if the applicant finds taking care of kids challenging. It’s also an opportunity to know a little bit of how her disciplinary measures are. Your decision whether to hire a particular applicant or not greatly relies upon this question since you should be paying somebody who knows how to do the job, not to train from zero.

 

 

  1. How long were you employed last, and what made you leave?

Your applicant’s answer will give you the answer as to what kind of worker he/she is. The answer will tell you what drove the applicant to quit if it’s due to lack of salary, incompatibility with a job description, or something personal. The way they respond will reflect their willingness to learn, how badly an applicant needs the job, and how humble they are in perceiving tasks.

 

  1. Kindly describe your educational background.

You would want your kids to learn a thing or two every day while you are away. So it would be a plus if your nanny could assist you in forming their brains and assisting them in small learning tasks like doing the assignment or learning a few household chores.

 

 

  1. What other languages can you speak?

Nowadays, some applicants may have finished a course or have earned a diploma, but choose to be a nanny for the experience. It wouldn’t hurt at all if they knew how to communicate with the kids effectively. While nannies are expected to bond with kids smoothly, they should be more on the proactive side rather than the reactive side. This is allowed by communication skills.

 

 

  1. Are you taking any medicine for an existing health condition such as diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, or hypertension?

 

YSandry, a retired nanny sharingwisdomou need to know these since the safety of the kids should be ensured at all times. Nannies always have skin-to-skin contact with the kids. Or sometimes, their behaviour could be unpredictable that could provoke frustration, exhaustion, and anger. Some pre-existing conditions may get aggravated or may pose a threat to their physical health. This, usually, maybe backed up by the health record they have in hand.

 

 

  1. Besides taking care of kids, what other household chores do you know? Are there other skills that you know besides providing residential care?

 

This may help you understand what kind of dedication, commitment, and experience your applicant could bring to the table. If all that it is for her to offer is being a nanny, then that’s something to consider.

 

 

  1. What is your expected salary?

 

If your applicant mentions of their daily, monthly, or per day rate, you may gauge what their purpose is in taking the job. How they gauge their worth could support signs of selflessness or greed. Give them a chance to explain at this point how they see their worth by allowing themselves to justify the rate. And if ever they would charge overwhelmingly, you know what to do.

 

 

  1. What is your religion, or what faith do you practice?

 

Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Atheism, nannies come in all forms, and are their beliefs will affect the way they guide your kids into understanding what’s right and wrong. They would most likely be the Jiminy Cricket every day while you’re away. You may have opposing views which could lead to a clash. To check if you can work side by side for the kids’ welfare, you may present a situation to his/her then leave it with an open-ended question. They could write down their answer or tell it to you directly. Check penmanship around this time as sometimes, there’s psychological interpretation at each stroke. Take note of the spelling too. It could reflect their educational attainment through this.

 

 

  1. Do you have any questions for me?

 

This question somehow shifts everything from being serious during the interview process to something conversational. Since this gives the applicant a chance to be heard, it gives them a notion that open communication and mutual respect is in place.

 

 

Depending on how urgently you need a nanny, you may saturate candidates accordingly. Hiring from a professional nanny recruitment agency, your candidates may all seem fantastic. If you feel there’s a tie to break because you just need one, yet you earned two prospects which make the decision process a little bit hard, try to present them scenarios so that you could figure out their ability to prioritize, handle situations, and manage decision-making opportunities, considering they’d be doing this with minimal supervision from you. Also, you can add your questions to these generic ones for some specific skills you’re looking for, such as extra qualities like having first aid training or if they sing.