Caribbean Nesties
Dear Community,

Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.

If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.

Thank you.

Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.

Nanny Interview Questions

We're in the process of trying to find someone to watch M for a few hours after school.  Since we want him to still get to go to the pool and get his tutoring, a lot of the person's time would be spent driving and/or waiting for him, but there would also be about an hour or two that they would be interacting with him more like a typical nanny.

I've got all the basic interview questions, along with reference, background, and driving record checks, but what would you want to know of someone before you trust them with your child?  I will ask about how they would handle an emergency, but I feel like that's just a canned question that may bring a canned response.

If you were me, what would you ask?

Re: Nanny Interview Questions

  • I'd ask some canned questions.  You never know what they might reveal.

    How to handle emergencies?

    How to handle bad behavior/refusal to obey?

    image
  • I would give them some hypothetical situations that could arise, and ask how they'd deal, rather than ask a generic emergency question.

    I'd also ask them, in past jobs, what kinds of challenging situations have arisen and ask them how they'd evaluate their response to that situation. 

  • I do have discipline questions on the list, as well as whether or not she'd enforce our rules and stick to our guidelines.  It just all seems like...not enough...to really get a feel on whether the person is really trustworthy.

    I'm notoriously bad at first impressions, so I'm hoping the fact that we've e-mailed back and forth with a few candidates and are doing a phone interview followed by at least one in-person meeting with M before making any decisions will be enough for me to get a more accurate feel for the person's true qualities.

  • You should ask her if she cried during Beaches.  If she says no, she's either a lying liar or she is a robot with no emotions.  Either way, you probably don't want her watching your kid.  Well, I guess it wouldn't be too bad if she was a robot, but only if she could do neat stuff like plug things into her butt.  And butt plugs don't count.
    image
    3 out of 4 dead babies agree! pepsi is better than coke! - EdithBouvierBeale
    Lordy. Grow some balls and stop lurking. It's like stealing from the internet. Jesuschrist. -- AudreyHorne
    I hate love and marriage. I got married so I could destroy these things from the inside. - NoisyPenguin
    It's a good thing my circle of trust is as giant as my vagina. That only leaves a couple people out. - Cali
  • I bet this is Groomz' idea of a great nanny:

    image 

    image

    Husbands should be like Kleenex: Soft, strong, and disposable.
  • #1 CPR training.  They should have a certificate from where they got the training.
  • I agree with what Kay said and with the canned questions as well. but really, I understand what you are looking for and there really is no way to know with just an interview how someone is. Getting references and just picking the best you can is all you can do.
  • you could aways check www.isawyournanny.com

     

     

  • Thanks, everyone.  We have a few interviews lined up for tomorrow, so we'll see how it goes.

    Groomz, I wonder if Alice is available.  I least I know she wouldn't run off and try to indoctronate my kid or anything.

  • Also ask how long they plan on staying with your family if hired.
Sign In or Register to comment.
Choose Another Board
Search Boards