How Do I Interview for the Right Nanny?
Finding the right nanny in a sea of endless possibilities can feel exhausting. With the right interviewing techniques, you can land the nanny of your dreams.
Conducting interviews can narrow down your list of the perfect nanny for your family. By asking the right questions, the nanny who is the right fit will become obvious.
Here is how you interview for the right nanny for your family:
What is the Role of a Nanny?
A nanny holds many roles and is a crucial asset to a family. Childcare is a complex role that can only be fulfilled by the most qualified.
The role of a nanny includes the following but is not limited to:
- Organizing and executing daily activities
- Offering educational projects
- Keeping the house tidy
- Preparing nutritious meals
- Basic household chores
- Ensuring a safe, positive environment
- Helping children practice good personal hygiene
- Collaboration with parents regarding activities, transportation, and schedules
- Fulfilling children’s emotional, social, and intellectual needs
- And more
How To Interview a Nanny
When you are ready to begin the interviewing process, it is wise to follow a specific strategy. This strategy can help weed out the nannies to not consider and expose the perfect nanny for you.
Here are the top tips on how to interview a nanny:
What is their experience?
It is vital to know the interviewee’s personal and professional experience. Begin by asking if they have provided childcare in the past. You may want to consider asking if they have children of their own as well.
Knowing their specific experience—including specialties—is imperative to select the right nanny. Ask how many years of nannying they have, with whom, how long they were with each family, etc.
CPR certification
Every nanny who is in the field should have a CPR certification. Anyone in childcare should be required to obtain and complete safety courses.
Your children are more important than anything. The right nanny should be able to handle themselves accordingly should an emergency happen. This includes needing to administer CPR. If they have not completed the training for CPR or first aid, you can ask them to do so.
Vaccines
Many families still consider asking for vaccine status as important. If you are a family who must have a vaccinated person in your home, you can feel free to ask.
Do not hesitate or feel worried asking about vaccine status—these are your children and can absolutely be a requirement. Ask if they have their flu, whooping cough, COVID, and additional vaccines.
Education level
You may feel more comfortable with a nanny with a formal education. This is a requirement in some families seeking a nanny for their children.
Inquire about the nanny’s education level. Ask if they completed their degree. If for some reason they did not, ask for additional information as to why—there could be a good reason.
Degrees and additional certifications
The next interview question to ask is regarding degrees and certifications. Ask what degree they received and if it is within the industry they aim to work in now.
Additional certifications can help you select the right childcare person for you. Examples of these certifications can include first aid, CPR, and more child-centered certifications.
Spoken languages
Many nannies are multilingual. Feel free to ask the nanny if they speak another language. Studies show children who are raised speaking more than one language have higher cognitive development and functioning.
Additionally, the language they speak may keep your native tongue in the home. Wealthy families typically opt for bilingual nannies from which their children directly reap benefits.
Household chores
Your next question can be regarding household chores. Ask about the nanny’s experience with household duties and what they feel comfortable doing.
Many nannies have no issue with doing laundry, light household tasks, cooking, and transportation for the kids to their activities. Let them know you are willing to train them on tasks they may not have completed before.
How they handle conflict
A vital interview question to ask a nanny is about conflict resolution. If you have multiple kids, when they fight, how will they nanny handle it?
You need to ensure your nanny knows the appropriate way to handle conflict in the house. When there are disagreements, the nanny may be required to step in.
How do they handle emergencies
One of the biggest fears of parents is something happening to one of their children. Ask your nanny how they handle emergencies.
The answer to this question will tell you if this is the right nanny or not for you. You must feel one hundred percent safe with leaving your children in their custody when you are not around.
Age group experience
Another informative question to ask a childcare provider is what age groups they are familiar working with. Many nannies have worked with all age groups, and some have only worked with select ages.
If you have an infant, you want a nanny who has experience caring for an infant—not just any age group. Each age group requires a different skill set, so this truly matters.
Special qualifications
If you have a specific situation in your home and need a nanny with special qualifications, ask. Many nannies have special training.
This training can include the following:
- Training to work with special needs children
- Youth fitness specialist certification
- Children’s nutritionist certification
- Foreign language certification
- Professional childcare and provider certification
- 2000+ hours of childcare work experience
- Passed NCP proficiency exam based on National Standards
- And more
Sample Questions
If you are still struggling to formulate the perfect questions to ask a new nanny-for-hire, have no fear! Here are some prudent sample questions you can use during your nanny interview:
- Tell me about a time when you were caring for a child and they threw a temper tantrum. How did you handle this situation?
- What have you done in the past to assist a child who refused to do their homework?
- How would you handle a child not listening to you or talking back to you?
- How do you ensure each child feels equally cared for?
- What did you do when you found out a child lied to you? What was the result?
- Are you interested in providing transportation to my children’s activities?
- What do you find most rewarding about working with children?
- What do you find most challenging about working with children?
- Why did you choose to be a nanny as a career?
Bottom Line
The bottom line is this: You must feel one hundred percent safe and certain leaving your children in the care of your nanny. Ask the hard questions. Don’t feel hesitant to ask about vaccine status, educational background, and their experience in the industry.
Providing hypothetical situations for your potential nanny is a great way to assess how they think. You will know by the end of the interview which nanny is best suited for you, your household, and your family.
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