How to conduct a nanny interview and the questions to ask

When it comes to hiring someone to look after your children, there’s no such thing as being too cautious. Seeking out a nanny for your family can feel overwhelming, so we’ve rounded up some questions you should be asking your future GrandNanny.

There are three main things to consider when interviewing a potential nanny:

1. The fit with your family
2. Their childcare experience
3. Do your requirements fit with their requirements?

A bit of preparation before interviewing the nanny goes a long way…

It’s worth thinking beforehand about what you’re looking for. Note this down before you start the interview process, it will give you something to refer back to when you’re deliberating and help you make that all-important decision.

How to conduct the interview and questions to ask.

Firstly, tell them about your family and the role. This is someone that is going to be working for you in your home and you need to be able to get on with them. You need to feel comfortable giving them guidance and instructions and feel that you will be able to communicate easily with them. You need to feel confident that they will get along with your child(ren) and give you feedback. So try to make the nanny feel at ease to help you get the best out of them during the interview.

• Introduce your family, including the age(s) of your child(ren). You can tell them about any hobbies, interests you all have as a family, so that they can get an idea about who you are.
• Talk about the position, days and hours you require.
• The level of responsibility you expect.
• If you have pets, are they ok with that?

Next, you need to talk to them about their childcare experience and check to see if their experience corresponds with what you need them to do. For example, someone who has done some babysitting for family members has a different amount of experience from someone who has been a nanny for babies and children.

• Ask the Nanny to talk about themselves: how long have they been a caregiver; what is about the role that they enjoy; what they are looking for in their next role?
• Ask about their years of experience. Consider it in terms of: relevant age range(s) (Newborn/ Toddler/ School age); level of responsibility (sole or shared care); and, if relevant, in specialist needs.
• Ask what their view is on discipline.
• What kind of activities would they do with the children? What would a typical day look like?

Finally, you need to make sure that your requirements and their requirements match. It’s best to be really honest here – if you are looking for a certain number of hours a week that needs to match the potential nanny’s expectations. You will be employing your nanny on a part-time basis and they will accrue holiday so it’s good to talk to them about when they might expect to take time off and when that would work for you. If you want them to do extra hours on a regular or ad hoc basis it would be good to talk to them about that too and what your expectations are.

• Think about your routine e.g swimming lessons, school pick-ups, what will you need the nanny to do as part of their role?
• Discuss any medical issues relating to the children.
• Duties and responsibilities required as part of the role. For example, do you expect any housekeeping, cooking, ad hoc babysitting?
• How flexible is their time? If you needed them to do X would they be able to?
• Share your expectations upfront about the childrens’ screentime. Do you have boundaries that you want the nanny to make them adhere to?

Make sure you end the interview by asking the candidate if they have any questions for you. They are just as much interviewing you to work with the right family. 

Should I introduce my children when interviewing a new nanny?

Whilst you want to see if there is good chemistry between your children and the potential nanny we recommend holding fire on introducing them in the initial interview. If you think there is a potential match then you can arrange a follow up for them to meet or if the interview is going particularly well wait until the end to introduce them.

How to decide which nanny to hire?

Once you’ve completed the interview take 5 minutes to jot down any notes about the candidate, even better refer back to your criteria that you made at the beginning and see how the candidate matches up. Making a decision about childcare is always difficult.  But hopefully, these interview tips have helped you along. 

We wish you good luck and hope you find the right childcare for your family. Contact us to find a GrandNanny in your area.

Why mature and older nannies are the wraparound childcare dream.