The main role of nannies is to provide full time and safe care for children.
In most cases the nanny works in the family’s home.
The job role may change and it depends on – the family requirements and the age of the child.
The nanny is responsible for many duties in order to give the child the best caring environment and development needs.
These duties may include: child’s activities, cooking, shopping, light housekeeping, schoolwork, laundries, helping children get dressed and cleaning up after the children.
Hours of work may vary from 2-12 hours.
This article provides interview questions for hiring a nanny.
Nanny Interview Questions and Nanny Interview Answers
How to Interview a Nanny?
The following are 22 important questions for nanny interview as an interview checklist for hiring a nanny:
1. Why did you choose this job?
2. Why were you interested to become a nanny?
3. What childcare experience do you have?
4. Describe your last childcare job: Where did you work before and why did you leave your last nanny job?
5. What are your qualifications as a nanny?
6. What are the ages of children you’ve worked with?
7. Do you have references? Can we contact your references for recommendations?
8. What do you do in days off, leisure time and after work?
9. What are the most challenging aspects of working with children?
10. Describe a typical day with a child: What are the day schedule and the activities you engage with a child of an (age)?
11. What are your philosophies on – discipline, nutrition and child rearing?
12. What sort of food can you prepare for the children?
13. What are you likes and dislikes in childcare?
14. Do you have any issues in which you do not like, with children, parents or pets?
15. Describe an unexpected/stressful situation you’ve experienced with children.
16. Have you ever had to handle an emergency? In emergency situations such as accidents or illnesses what is your standard procedure in handling the situation? Did you learn first-aid?
17. How would you handle a situation in which children: hit or hurt others, lie, cry, shout, yell etc.
18. How do you communicate information to the parents about: the day you passed with the children and other issues?
19. What other household tasks, aside from child care, can you take?
20. How would your last former employers (parents) describe you?
21. Can you provide us your: social security number, Gov id number, phone number, deriver license and other identity and qualification documents.
22. Do you have any questions to ask?
The Nanny interview: Tips on Answering These Questions
Families have different requirements and expectations when hiring a nanny. However, these are the commonly features that one should address:
Experience and skills for nannies
Parents are usually looking for an experienced nanny, or at least for a worker that has a relevant childcare experience. Therefore, tell the parents about your relevant background and experience working with children. Provide information on – your knowledge, qualities, skills and your strengths on caring children (of the related ages).
Why do you want to become a nanny?
You should show an interest, commitment and motivation for childcare. Tell about the fun and joy you have: working with children, helping them grow and seeing them develop more capabilities. You may also go into details about your approach on playing creative games with a child and other personal interactions that are so important for children grow. Don’t hesitate to tell about your greatest achievements as a nanny.
Your knowledge
It is important that you have a deep knowledge on different methods of childcare, such as: understanding and handling child behavior, important activities with kids and knowing about child needs like – nurturing, food etc.
More than that, you have to describe and explain your approach on these matters and why do you take this approach? You may also provide examples to support your answers.
Summing up
As know, parents are very sensitive to every aspect of their child care. However, over many other aspects of childcare, they acutely want to build a trust and therefore seeking a profile of: reliability, good communication skills, flexibility, sensitivity, multitasking, patience and kindness. If you have these personal characteristics, you just have to show these by all means.
And of course, show an interest in their child – don’t forget to ask questions about their child.
