Interviewing Your Nanny

Planning the Interview
Whilst it is important to see how the nanny interacts with your children, it may be distracting to have them present for the entire interview. Plan how the interview will be structured and when the children will be introduced. You can always insure that the nanny spends more time with children at a second interview.

The Structure of the Interview
An interview will normally take 45 minutes to 1 hr. A formal structure will make sure everything is covered and lead to a much fairer and more productive interview! You should try and put the nanny at ease from the outset by explaining how the interview will be structured, as she will then be more responsive to your questions. Below we set out a suggested structure:

• Tell the nanny about your family and children.
• Tell the nanny about the positions (see section below)
• Ask the nanny to tell you about herself with reference to the CV and have a number of questions ready (see section below)
• Ask the nanny if she has any specific questions.

Suggested Interview Questions for the Propective Nanny
Try to use open-ended questions that will prompt informative answers, such as questions starting with What? When? Why? How? Where? Or tell me about...This will avoid just getting Yes & No answers.

The following are some questions you may wish to consider asking. This is by no means a definitive list and is not set out in any particular order of priority:

Being a nanny
Why did you choose a nannying career? What do you think are the qualities needed to be a good nanny?

What do you enjoy most about being a nanny? What do you enjoy least about being a nanny?

Education & Development Activities
In view of our children's ages what areas of development would you be concentrating on and what sort of activities would be suitable? How would you plan a typical day? What are your favourite activities with children? How would you occupy our children during the day? What kind of equipment or materials would you need? Have you had experience of potty training and how do you go about potty training children (if applicable)?

Meals
What kind of food would you cook for our children? How would you think to approach planning menus and buying the food? If appropriate: Have you prepared a baby's bottle before? Used a sterilizer? Weaned a baby onto solid food

Discipline
What would you do with a child that threw a tantrum in the middle of a shop? How do you introduce good manners to children? [Discipline is an area that needs to be discussed up front to avoid any differences of opinion on how the children should be disciplined – as the parent you should be telling the nanny what you find acceptable or unacceptable in terms of disciplining your children]

Reading & Television
What sort of books do you think would be appropriate for our children? How often would you use the library? How do you feel about children watching television?

Coping with an Emergency
For example what would you do if a young child locked themselves inside the car? What would you do if a child was choking? When did you last update your first aid training?

Reliability
How is your time keeping? How many days sick leave have you had in the last year?

Personal Family Questions
Are you from a big family? Where does your family come from? Have you got a partner? What does he do for a living? If it is a live in position, how is the nanny planning on meeting up with her partner – did she intend for him to stay.

Reviewing the Nanny's CV
It is obviously important to ask the nanny to describe her previous childcare positions. Working through her previous work experience you may consider asking the following questions in relation to each position:

• How did you spend your days with the children?
• Was it a sole charge position or were their elements of sole charge
• Why did you leave?
• What did you enjoy most about the job?
• What did you least enjoy about the job?

You should also read through the nanny's written references, and raise any questions you may have in relation to those references. If the nanny has childcare qualifications, ask her to describe the course – how long it was for, whether she studied full time or part time, and what the course covered. In particular ask whether it involved her doing work experience and placements either with families or in nurseries.

Questions from the Nanny
Encourage the nanny to ask questions about you and the family set up, specific details about the jobs, routines, hours etc. Do not be surprised if nannies come armed with a list of questions to ask.

Bringing the Interview to a Close
Once you are both satisfied that the interview is over and that you have covered everything, bring the interview to a close. You will need to let the nanny know exactly what the next steps are.

If you want to offer her the job it is worth making this clear now as she will undoubtedly be attending other interviews and you may lose the opportunity of employing her. If she does want to take up the position then you can arrange a separate time for her to come back and have an informal second interview with the children and discuss the nature of the contract together.

However if you are unsure and want to see other nannies, then tell her that you will be contacting Tinies after the interview and that the agency will contact her to let her know the outcome.

Contacting Tinies
Once the interview is over please contact Tinies to discuss how you would like to proceed. If you wish to employ the nanny, then it is best to make an offer as soon as possible. Alternatively you may want to see other nannies in which case we can arrange that for you. In particular we would welcome your views and feedback on the nanny whatever the outcome.

Should you have any further questions which haven't been answered here, please don't hesitate to contact us on 0427 314 091 or via email info@tinieschildcare.com.au