Tips for interviewing a Nanny

Finding the perfect nanny isn’t just about securing childcare, it’s about inviting a new member into the heart of your family. In New Zealand, where diverse cultures blend and family values hold a place of importance, selecting the right nanny takes on an added layer of personal and cultural understanding. This article aims to guide you through the nanny interview process, providing you with the knowledge to ask the right questions, make informed decisions, and ultimately find a nanny who not only meets your childcare needs but also fits seamlessly into your family dynamic.

Parents often underestimate the importance of a robust interview and vetting process for a nanny. However, we always encourage parents to approach hiring a nanny as if they were hiring a worker or employee for a business in any other industry. That means understanding legal requirements in New Zealand, gauging personal compatibility and ensuring that your nanny has the skills and expertise to excel in their role.

Start with a list of your Family’s needs

Before going into the interview process, it’s important that a family has a clear understanding of exactly what they need from their nanny. Making sure that you are clear on these expectations is crucial for ensuring that you can tailor the interviewing and vetting process to a clear job description.

We wrote a recent article around hiring a nanny that provides some good tips for parents looking to hire a nanny. Included in this article is detail around building a great job description and documenting exactly what your family needs from a nanny. If you’re at the process of interviewing a nanny, you may have already built this but, before you interview, it’s a good time to make sure you’ve reviewed it and that it’s as comprehensive as possible.

When interviewing a nanny, parents should consider the following as a starting point:

Job Summary – Use your job description created through the hiring process and double check to ensure that this captures everything that you need from your nanny.

Documenting your needs – You can start with a bullet point summary of your family, your weekly schedule and the tasks and schedule required from a nanny.

Duties and Responsibilities – Be clear on the day-to-day tasks required from your nanny. Nannies tend to be detailed oriented, and often thrive on having clear structure, so making this as detailed as possibly

Qualifications – If your nanny requires specific qualifications to complete their role, make sure you know what these are. This will be important when you come to vet those qualifications. Examples of key ones that a nanny might need is ECE qualifications, first-aid certificates and a drivers license.

Experience - If your children are younger, you might require someone who has experience with infants or newborns.

Being clear on exactly what you need from your nanny will help tailor interview questions and reference checks to make sure that the interviewing process is as thorough, and fair, as possible.

Preparing for the Interview

Good nannies are highly sought after and difficult to come by. That means nannies are often interviewing parents, to make sure they are the right fit, just as much as parents are interviewing them. Preparation is key to any successful interview, so when it comes to hiring a nanny, it's no different. By preparing your questions ahead of time, you ensure that you cover all essential topics and assess the nanny's qualifications and fit effectively.

For many parents, it could be the first time they’ve employed anyone so being aware of what you can (and can’t ask) is important. For instance, it's illegal to ask potential hires about their marital status, religious beliefs, or plans for children, as these could lead to discrimination. Ensure you familiarise yourself with these guidelines to avoid potential legal pitfalls. Here is some examples of questions that you can’t ask an employee. 

Finally, create a warm yet professional atmosphere for the interview. Whether it’s in your home or a neutral place like a café, make sure the setting is relaxing and conducive to open, honest dialogue. For the first meeting, it can often be beneficial not to have the children there too so both the parents and nanny are relaxed and the curious kids won’t hijack the conversation!

List of Interview Questions for a Nanny

When interviewing a nanny, make sure you have a combination of skills based and scenario-based questions. A nanny role is ultimately hands-on so scenario based questions are important for understanding how they would handle certain situations when they are left in sole-charge.

Below, we’ve built a list of 20 questions that provide a good starting point when interviewing a nanny. It’s important to note that you should apply these to your own family and make it as relevant as possible to your own family, schedule and needs for a nanny.

Care.com also has a great checklist on interviewing a nanny. This is slightly more tailored to a US based nanny, but the key points are relevant to New Zealand too.

Experience and Background

• Can you tell me about your previous experience as a nanny?
• What age groups have you worked with before?
• Have you completed any formal childcare training or certifications?
• Could you provide examples of past childcare responsibilities or routines you’ve managed?

Childcare Philosophy

• How would you describe your childcare philosophy?
• Can you share how you approach discipline and setting boundaries with children?
• What do you believe is the most important aspect of childcare?
• How do you stay up-to-date with the latest developments in childcare and early education?

Emergency Handling

• Can you describe a time when you had to handle an emergency involving a child? What did you do?
• What are your first aid qualifications? When was your last certification?
• How do you assess and manage risks when caring for children, especially in new environments?

Availability and Flexibility

• What is your availability, and are you able to work on short notice if needed?
• Are you comfortable with a schedule that might vary from week to week?
• How do you handle unexpected changes in schedule or last-minute requests?
• What commitments do you have that might affect your availability in the near future?

Scenario-Based Questions

• Imagine one of the children has a temper tantrum at a park. How would you handle this situation?
• If you were to take the children on a day out, what kind of activities would you plan? How would you ensure their safety?
• Suppose you're cooking dinner and the youngest child refuses to eat what you’ve prepared. What steps would you take?
• During a routine day, how would you engage children of different ages to ensure they are all actively participating and learning?

Whilst the answer to the questions are always important, make a note of your nanny’s thought process behind each answer.

Assessing Nanny-Child Interaction

Involve Your Children in the Interview Process

A face-to-face interview with your nanny is always an important first step but one of the most telling parts of the nanny interview process is observing how a prospective nanny interacts with your children.

It’s advisable to involve your children in part of the interview, perhaps during a casual play session. This setup not only helps you see the nanny’s direct interaction with your kids but also allows your children to have a say in the process, which can be invaluable. Their comfort and the natural rapport they develop with the nanny are strong indicators of a good fit.

It can often be confusing for children to introduce them to a new nanny and they might not understand fully around what it will mean on an ongoing basis. So, before introducing your nanny, make sure that you’ve discussed it with the kids so that they understand why you are introducing them to a nanny and reassuring them that you, as parents, will still be there.

What to Observe During the Interaction

When observing the interaction between the nanny and your children, pay attention to several key elements:

• Communication Style: How does the nanny talk to your children? Are they patient and attentive? Do they make an effort to engage at the child’s level?
• Response to Needs: How does the nanny respond to different cues from your children, whether they're verbal or non-verbal?
• Engagement: Is the nanny proactive in engaging with the children, initiating activities, or playing along with the children’s ideas?
• Children’s Reactions: Very importantly, observe your children’s reactions. Are they comfortable and happy around the nanny? Do they seem at ease and open to engaging with them?

It can feel awkward observing someone interact with your children as part of an interview process. Try and make it feel as natural as possible and feel free to participate with your nanny as they play with the kids. It’ll help the children feel more comfortable and reassure your nanny as well.

The Value of a Trial Day

If the initial interaction goes well, consider arranging a trial day. This extended period allows the nanny to demonstrate their caregiving skills more fully and gives your children more time to adjust to the new person in their environment. It’s also a great opportunity to see how the nanny handles the daily routine, manages challenges, and interacts over a longer period, providing a clearer picture of how they will fit into your family's day-to-day life.

A trial day can be beneficial for both you and the nanny. It lets the nanny get a feel for your family’s rhythm and dynamics and offers you a deeper insight into the practical aspects of the nanny’s childcare approach. This step can be crucial in making a final decision with confidence.

It’s important to note that a trial day should be paid. Your nanny is effectively working for you and your nanny’s time needs to be properly remunerated. Make sure you discuss this with your nanny in advance. If you need assistance with how to go about paying your nanny, you can contact a nanny payroll specialist like Pay The Nanny.

Conducting Thorough Background Checks

Ensuring the safety and well-being of your children starts with conducting thorough background checks on potential nannies. Here are the essential steps to follow:

1. Police Vetting Check: A criminal record check will provide you with confidence that a nanny doesn’t have a criminal record. However, a police vetting check is a more thorough check that needs to be completed by an approved agency. It takes around 20 working days for the police vetting team to complete it. Get in touch with us if you require a police vetting check
2. Right to Work Check: Make sure that your nanny has the right to work in New Zealand. If they are an Australian or New Zealand resident, then make sure you obtain a copy of their passport. If they have a visa to work in New Zealand, make sure you obtain details of the visa. You can verify visas through Caresies or Visaview
3. Identity Verification: Make sure your nanny is who they say they are. At Caresies, we use Stripe, a third party provider, to complete ID verifications for all carers and parents. A Carer isn’t able to apply for a job unless they’ve completed their ID verification.
4. Previous Employment Verification: Contact past employers to confirm employment history, reliability, and reason for leaving previous positions.
5. Educational Credentials: If relevant, verify educational and training credentials through the issuing institutions, especially for qualifications related to childcare and first aid.

Importance of Checking References

If you’ve interviewed your nanny and they’ve passed all the relevant checks it can be tempting to skip the reference checks and get them working ASAP. However, reference checks are crucial in the nanny hiring process. New Zealand is a small place, so you’ll likely get some genuine feedback and insight on your nanny by completing reference checks.

Make sure you undertake a minimum of two reference checks. When speaking with referees, consider asking the following questions:

• How long did the nanny work for you?
• What were their primary responsibilities?
• How did they handle stress or emergencies?
• Can you describe their relationship with your children?
• Why did they leave your employment?
• Would you rehire them if you had the opportunity?

Legal Requirements for Background Checks in New Zealand

In New Zealand, it’s important to adhere to legal standards when performing background checks. The Privacy Act dictates that you must inform the candidate of any checks you intend to carry out and obtain their consent in writing. Ensure that all checks are relevant to the role of a nanny, and be transparent about how you will use this information. It’s unlikely to cause too many issues for your nanny, but it’s always good practice just to inform them and it helps make sure they are engaged in the process as well.

Furthermore, under New Zealand law, some checks, like the police vetting service, are only available to approved organisations involved in the care and protection of children. If you’re hiring privately, you might need to engage with an agency like Caresies or Dream to complete a vetting check on your behalf.

Engage a professional

At Caresies, we are an approve agency with the Police Vetting team, meaning that we can conduct vetting checks for childcare workers. We can also help parents complete both right to work checks and ID verifications too.

If you need a more thorough review, or want to complete peace of mind, we always encourage families to engage with Dream Nannies . Dream offer a private nanny vetting package and are able to interview nannies, completing vetting checks and provide employment contracts.

Conclusion

Selecting the right nanny is a big decision for any family, involving much more than just verifying skills and qualifications. It's about finding a trustworthy individual who can seamlessly integrate into your family life and uphold your values. In this article, we've explored the essentials of preparing for the interview, what questions to ask, how to observe interactions with your children, and the importance of conducting thorough background checks.

Remember, the process of finding the perfect nanny for your family should be thorough and deliberate. Take your time to understand each candidate's background, philosophy, and approach to childcare. Observe how they interact with your children and trust your instincts alongside the facts.

We encourage all parents to approach this process with patience and attention to detail. The right nanny can make a significant difference in your children's lives and your peace of mind. If you ever feel uncertain, revisit your notes, ask follow-up questions, or consider a trial day to ensure you make the best decision for your family.

To find more resources on childcare and nanny services, or to connect with qualified carers ready to meet your family's needs, register on Caresies.co.nz or get in touch with us.