How to Successfully Interview a Nanny with These 4 Types of Questions

One of CanadianNanny’s most popular articles, How To Master The Nanny Interview, provides advice for potential nannies, but what about you? The interviewer? What strategy can you use when interviewing a nanny? In this article, we’ll take a look at some techniques that you can utilize when interviewing a potential nanny.

In the article, ‘How to Conduct a Job Interview’ on Inc.com author Janis Walker is quoted as saying “There’s actually a lot of preparation that goes into a good professional interview… most people can’t wing it off the top of their heads.” There is a strong possibility that you don’t have much experience interviewing others!

Let’s Look at Some Interview Tips to Help You!

The Inc.com article leads into the subject “Know What You’re After.” Sure, you want a nanny, but the candidate that you envision, what kind of experience do they have? What type of background does your ideal candidate have? What are your educational requirements? Do you think she will get along well with your children?

You Have to Ask the Right Type of Questions

The article recommends well-designed questions that fall into one of 4 types.

The General Question

Even though information is listed on a nanny’s resume, this doesn’t mean it is legit. Ask the candidate questions about their experience to test their reaction and if they can actually explain what they did at each position. Inability to clarify themselves may speak on resume falsifications.

Hypothetical Questions

Questions based on a situation might indicate how the nanny would react to a certain situation. For example “What would you do if the dog went missing?” These type of questions help you understand how the potential nanny thinks. `

Stress Questions

These questions will put the candidate on the spot and hopefully force them to provide a positive answer. “Why should I hire you? You have experience with children but you don’t have much experience with bulldogs!” Hopefully, the nanny will point out the positive experience she does have, perhaps with another type of dog or other pets.

Behavioral Questions

Instead of asking direct and straight forward questions, these force the potential nanny to clearly indicate when they have used certain skills in the past. For example, “Can you tell me about a time when you worked with difficult children? How did you deal with them?” These questions can also be useful because the interviewer can verify the candidates response with references.

Asking questions that fall into these 4 categories will give you insights into the true character of potential nannies and help you really uncover the caregiver that is the best fit for you and your children.

Nanny Interviewing Resources

Are you preparing to conduct Nanny Interviews? Check out these Nanny Interview Tips, you’ll want to avoid these Common Nanny Interview Mistakes and be sure to browse our helpful Nanny Hiring Guide it includes tons of sample Nanny Interview questions, Employment Contracts, Reference Check Forms, LMIA Application forms and much more…

Will you be doing a phone interview? Check out these helpful Nanny Phone Interview Questions

Good Luck!