Interviews?

[MrsMattie]

Hi all. I've had some great advice on this board recently, and am after some more

I put an ad on Nannyjob (looking for a 3 day a week, live out nanny), and have got 10 CVs that look decent. How many people should I interview? All of them? And what should the interview consist of? How long should it be? Should I do a proper 'questions' interview first and then if I like them, bring them back to meet the kids/have a trial? What is 'acceptable practice'?

God, this is hard.

I feel that you don't want to interview all of them... but you also don't want to discount most of them at this stage. I feel you need to narrow it down a bit.
You have 10 CVs that look decent - does that mean that you have 10 CVs that meet your requirements? If you can't narrow down by any other methods, do so by distance from your home... so you start with local nannies first.
Initially I feel you want to aim to interview 2 or 3 nannies - so you can make some comparisons between them.

As a nanny I always like interviews where I get to meet the children. Why? Because I feel that primarily the job is about them... they will have more contact with the nanny than you will (if you will be out of the home the majority of the time that your nanny will be working). So the interaction between the nanny and the children I feel is very important.
I prefer informal interviews - ones where I'm on the floor interacting with the children, whilst the parents observe whilst asking a question every now and then.
Interview length will vary... for someone who isn't gelling with your children you may only interview them for 20-30minutes. Whilst a nanny who is interacting well, may well be invited by your children to look around the house, the garden, help feed the chickens... all sorts of things, so the interview as such can last for hours!

I think the following is the offical Mumsnet Nanny Interview Questionnaire. You don't need to ask all the questions, some may be irrelevant for the job you are offering. Many of the questions you may already have the answers for, from the CV, intro letters. Questions will need to be varied to match with the requirements of the job.
I think this Interview Questionnaire was designed to be sent to candidates from abroad, to respond to via e-mail. However it may help you in terms of some questions to ask candidates.

Nanny Interview Questionnaire
Author: AtheneNoctua
This version: March 2008

Note: Questions will need to be revised to suit your circumstances.

Questions:

Normally our 5 year old goes to school full time (8:50 ? 3:15, M-F). Describe a typical day?s activities when school is not in session (i.e. summer break)?

Describe a typical weekly meal plan for the children (include examples for breakfast, lunch, dinner and any snacks you may offer them, keeping in mind that our 5 year old takes her lunch to school)

How would you describe your approach to discipline?

Do you have any degrees or diplomas in childhood education? Any degrees or diplomas in other subjects? If so, what subjects?

Why do you want to work in England?

If we travel as a family within the UK, would you want to join us? What about Europe? The United States?

Do you smoke? If so, how much?

Do you have any requests in terms of the accommodation we offer you?

Are you an au pair / nanny now? If not, why have you decided to become one?

What kinds of foods do you like to eat? (Please be specific and use as much space as you need.)

Do you drink alcohol? If so, how much?

How many hours do you want to work each week?

Summarise your experience with toddlers / young children.

Would you be willing to provide overnight care of the children (in the rare event that both parents are required to travel for work during the week)?

Do you have a driver?s license? From what country? How long have you had it?

Do you own a car in the UK?

What do you like to do in your spare time?

Describe your personality?

What qualities make you well suited to be a nanny?

What is your worst habit?

Do you have a boyfriend/girlfriend? fiancé/fiancée? spouse? If so, where does he live?

Do you know anyone in England? Friends? Family?

What is it about our particular nanny job that appeals to you?

Would you take care of the children if they were sick? (They do not get sick a lot, I only ask as a precaution)

Do you have a credit card? A UK bank account?

Do you play any sports? Which ones? How often?

Can you provide a reference from a previous au pair/nanny/nursery job? If so, please attach to this questionnaire and/or provide contact information of previous employer(s).

How many times have you been sick in the last year? What was the illness?

Do you have any children? If so, what ages? Where do they live?

What sorts of things would you include in each entry of a nanny diary? (If it is easier to attach a sample rather than describe it here, feel free to do so)

Summarise your views on discipline, schedules, and routines for young children?

Do you wish to obtain any additional employment besides being our nanny or be involved in any other activities outside of our employment (i.e. church activities, working out, language course, other studies, etc.). If so how much time per week would you expect to spend on these activities?

Are you available for a face-to-face interview in the United Kingdom? If so, when?

What is your salary expectation?

Are you in possession of a work visa for the United Kingdom? If so, what are the restrictions?

Are you able to travel to the London area by your own means?

When would you be available to start this job?

Our almost 5 year old attends a Church of England primary school (which is affiliated with the church we attend), and our almost 3 year old will begin the nursery there in September. How might you encourage their education and participation in the Anglican community?

We are offering a membership to Amida (health club) with this position, if you want it and will use it. Is this something you would be interested in?

As this is a full time nanny position for two small children, there will obviously be some light housekeeping involved (children?s laundry, keeping their toys tidy and organised, etc.) What housekeeping/cleaning duties are you not willing to do?

• End -

Nanny Interview Questionnaire, by AtheneNoctua

Another thread from a few months back, regarding nannies interacting with children during interviews.

Right - time for other's to give you their views

Thank you so much, nannynick. That's fantastic. You're a star!

Also helpful is advice I recently gave to KatyMac (albeit not recruiting a nanny) about making a table to compare candidates' 'key competencies' wrt number of years experience, qualifications etc etc etc - that might also help you narrow down CVs.

Depending on your child/children you may not want to be introducing them to 3 or more potential nannies - could be quite unsettling for them, especially if all the interviews are on one day.

As a nanny I have usually had a 1st interview and then if they are interested in me (and I am interested in the job) have been called back for a 2nd interview where I have met the children. Mum has asked all the important questions previously so is more able to sit back and observe the interaction between the children and nanny and can also ask any questions that she may have thought of since she first saw me.

Or if you have someone at home that could occupy the children elsewhere for the 1st part of the interview, I feel that could be useful. You can ask any questions and listen to the answers without the distractions of little ones, if you like the candidate you can then get the children to come and meet her and see how they get on. Or if you get the feeling while chatting that this isn't the nanny for you, you just conclude the interview without bringing the children through to meet her.

I completely understand what nannynick is saying about the job primarily being about the children, but over on the nannyjob chat board there has recently been a discussion on whether a nanny could work for a parent that she hasn't 'clicked' with - and of the 48 that answered 47 said no.

frakkin - a table is a great idea. With 10 CVs the key thing is to narrow those down to say the top 3 candidates... then they get first shot at being interviewed. If none turns out to be suitable... move on down the list. Narrowing down the CVs to the top 2 or 3 is the tricky bit.

Jobs in councils/Government tend to have:
Criteria you must meet
Criteria that is desirable

Candidates who don't meet the minimum criteria, don't even get a look.
Desirable qualities are then looked at - with candidates best matching those getting interviews.

All very useful, thank you.

I love MN! Where else could you get instant access to this sort of invaluable advice?

Thanks!

nbee84 - surely you would not have applied for a job for which you are not interested in.

I agree that the nanny and parents also need to 'click' - but if the nanny hasn't 'clicked' with the children, there's no point even seeing if they will 'click' with the parents. But hey, just my view.

The job could look great in an advert - but during the interview any number of things could come up, I could realise that their parenting views are very different to mine, they could mention that they want regular Saturday night babysitting, they could say that they don't want the nanny to socialise with other nannies, they could say that the grendparents come round at 2 o'clock every afternoon or any other number of things OR I just might not 'click' with the Mum.

Have you never been for an interview that yu just thought 'No, I don't want to work here'

My point about the nanyjob chat was that it is essential that the parent and nanny 'click' (as well as the children)

I also prefer to meet the parents briefly before the children OR (my preference) have a fairly extended phone interview and then just have the personal one by meeting the children straight off and discussing anything else.

I like phone interviews, they weed out the non-starters for me because, as nbee84 says, things can crop up!

i agree with nbee - age depending - normally will meet parents first and if we click and they/me like each other, then go for a 2nd interview and meet the children

it is very unsettling for children to meet lots of nannies if say older than 3, though with a baby is obv different

i would NEVER take a job where i havent met the children, though have 2 friends who have

i wouldnt discount nannies who live 30mins away,and only go for local nannies - though obv local nannies will have less to travel each day and less chance of getting stuck in traffic/being late

most of my employers have interviewed at least 8 people each time for jobs

nick, think nbee means that on paper job may be perfect, ie right age children, local, enough money etc, but once met parents/talked about disapline/going out etc then may feel the job isnt for her

i have done this, all seems fine, job ticks my wants then find out that mb doesnt want nanny to go out, or that they work from home and not in seperate office etc

God my spelling was awful!!! Facebooking while mumsnetting

I would take offense if an employer asked me how much alcohol I drank! Thankfully have never been asked that question.

However I have been asked how I am when I am premenstrual.

Agree with nbee. I wouldn't introduce my children until after I'd been able to have a proper chat with the nanny to make sure that I could communicate well with her and things seemed to be okay with us.There are too many things you need to know you agree on, it's way too chaotic with the children there to go through it all (or at least it would be in our house.)

And I agree it would be very confusing for the children. Recruiting this time around my daughter actually mentioned the other candidates name when the girl we ultimately hired was there! In a what happened to so and so sort of way. Embarrassing.

When I recruited my nanny I interviewed the candidates first 'properly', talking about their experience, approach to work and all that stuff. Then those I was very interested in I asked back for a further chat and to meet DS. Worked very well for us.

Thinking about it more, I have only actually had two nanny job interviews in the past 4 years, so baseing things on just those probably isn't sufficient.
You probably need more views from employers who interview lots of nannies before finding the right match, or from nannies who attend lots of interviews (but how good they are at matching themselves with a job may be questionable, if they are attending lots of interviews but not getting the job, If you get what I mean).

Narrowing down the 10 possibles to say 3 candidates I feel is what you need to do. Perhaps send them all questionaire via email, tell them all more about the job role, do mini phone interviews.

I go for lots of interviews - but I'm picky so I turn a lot of jobs down! In my defence working overseas everything has to be perfect so the slightest thing can put me off. I do allow a very long lead time (I've been looking since the beginning of this month for a possible move in September) and I interview families as thoroughly as they interview me. I chat with a lot of families informally to get a feel for the job and do a face to face interview with maybe 10. Last time I was offered every job I went for, this time success rate has been more mixed as I refuse to sign a 4 year contract so the baby jobs who want continuity (understandably) are going to other candidates.

ditto, i also go for a lot of interviews and got offered most

but i am very fussy who i work for and to me the job has to be 100% right and i have to click with mum and dad

and as i choose well,i tend to stay in jobs 4/5yrs and be happy - unlike many friends i know who chop and change a lot

Having been in childcare for 24 years now I have had quite a lot of interviews. Most of them for nanny positions, a couple for nursery's/pre school and a few when I was childminding. It is really about us interviewing the parents as much as it is about them interviewing us. I have a strong belief in continuity of care - and by that I don't mean a year or so. An ideal senario would be to look after children from birth to at least school age. So it pays to be picky thorough to ensure that the family and I are going to work well together as I'm likely to work for them for 4+ years.

When I started nannying my first job lasted 2 years and my 2nd only 2 months, but my other positions have been over 4 years, with 8 years with one family being the longest.

So, the advice you are getting from nannies that have had lots of interviews is not "(but how good they are at matching themselves with a job may be questionable, if they are attending lots of interviews but not getting the job, If you get what I mean)." to quote nannynick but because we have been nannying for a number of years and are being professional in making sure that the families and ourselves are well suited.

In the interests of accuracy I'll remove myself from nbee84s statement about nannying for a number of years I've only been doing it for 5 but as stated my reasons for being picky are slightly different!

I'm sure other nannies who go for lots of interviews have been doing it for many years though - particularly blondes and nbee - and their experience is well worth listening to!

I also think there's something to be said for going for more than 1 interview when you're looking because you do want to make sure it's a good fit on both sides and you learn just as much, if not more, about yourself by going to interviews which don't work as going to interviews which do. Not that I'm suggesting you interview no-hopers just to find out what you don't want but when an interview doesn't go the way you hoped it's good to look at it objectively and analyse perhaps why it didn't work. That may tell you what to look for/avoid next time.

I've been asked how much alcohol I drink in interviews before and agree they should know. If your working with kids, you can't come in with a hangover.

have never been asked how much i drink

and tbh as long as i show up to work on time and sober then it is none of my employers business what i do out of hours