Knowing how to interview a nanny and what questions you should ask them can be a difficult task. As an expert household employment agency, My Household Managed knows how important it is to use an interview to find out as much as possible about the person you may be looking to hire. To make sure you have the best chance of finding a nanny that will fit your expectations and family’s needs, here are our 7 essential interview questions to ask when hiring a nanny.

1: Tell me about yourself

When hiring a nanny, you need to know that you will be hiring someone that will be a good chemistry fit for your family. Whilst you may not get the complete picture of a person, asking them to tell you about themselves will give them a chance to share what is important to them, how they came to be a nanny and what they enjoy doing in their spare time. It is also a great icebreaker to give your nanny the opportunity to relax into the interview.

2: Tell us about your experience - What was your relationship like with the parents of your last family? What did you like about the children? What did you find challenging?

Asking about a candidate’s experience will be key to knowing that you are hiring a well-qualified nanny. When you work with a household employment agency like MHM, we will have pre-screened candidates and only send candidates that we feel would be a good fit. However, it is still important that you ask about their previous experience when interviewing a nanny.

When thinking about your interview questions for a nanny, make sure you ask about the difficulties they may have faced as well. Everyone is likely to have found something challenging about a role, but it is how they portray this and how they overcome the difficulties that will give you insight into what they may be like as an employee. This also applies when asking about why they left their last job.

3: What type of activities do you like to do with the children?

No matter what age your children are, when hiring a nanny, you are looking for someone who can look after them and enrich their lives whilst you are not with them. Asking a nanny this interview question will elicit how well they have researched the role and how they might interact with your children. You should expect their answer to be very different if you have a newborn versus if you have older children. What’s more, if your children will be at school in the day, be sure to ask this question to find out what they will do with the children when they arrive home and whether the nanny understands the needs of your children dependant on their age. That is to say, if you have an 8 year old it may be that your nanny primary responsibility is to pick them up and take them to sports practice or playdates etc, but how will they build in downtime for your children or make sure that their homework gets done? Meanwhile if you have much younger children, how will they ensure your child has social opportunities with other small children and how will they help them explore the world around them on a day-to-day basis?

4: Why did you leave your last job? Why are you hoping to work with our family?

No matter what job your nanny has come from, be sure to ask them why they are leaving. It could be as simple as the childcare needs changed and therefore their previous family no longer needed a nanny. However, it could also be that expectations between employer and employee were not met or another specific reason. The actual reason may not matter as much as how the candidate dealt with it.

Similarly, ask them why they specifically want to work with your family. Again, it will show that they researched the role and also highlight some of their strengths and how the experience meets the criteria you are looking for. You may also want to ask about where they see themselves in 5 years’ time, especially if you have older children and your childcare needs may change as well. For example, could they see themselves working more as a family assistant or house manager if the childcare requirements lessen? This will help you ensure you are choosing someone to stay with your family longer-term.

5: What would you do if our child fell and banged their head?

When thinking of nanny interview questions, asking a safeguarding question is paramount. Obviously asking interview questions around safety will ensure that you can trust the candidate to deal with your children in an emergency, but also asking a situational question will show you whether the nanny you want to hire would solve a problem in a similar way to you. We recommend asking one safety question, and one general parenting/situational question. Other nanny interview questions like this that you may want to ask include:

What would you do if the doorbell rang whilst you were bathing the baby?
What would you do if our child hit another child in the playground (or was hit by a child in the playground)?
Are you trained in infant CPR/child first-aid? Have you ever had to use your training?
What would you do if the baby wouldn’t stop crying?
What would you do if my preschooler swallowed a Lego?

6: Are you willing to stay overnight/travel with us?

If you’ve been impressed so far and are considering hiring the nanny you’re interviewing, we always recommend asking logistical questions to make sure that there are no surprises once your nanny starts employment with you. These types of questions will ensure that there aren’t any mismatched expectations, e.g. if you would expect your nanny to stay late but they logistically can’t or won’t. Other logistical interview questions include things like:

Would you be willing to stay after hours at late notice if I get stuck at work?
How long would your commute be and how would you get to/from work?
For live-in nannies: would you ever want or need guests to stay over?
Are you happy to work in a household with dogs/cats?
Do you drive? Do you have a clean driving record?
Do you smoke?

When working with a household employment agency like MHM, these are the types of questions that we always ask candidates prior to sending them to interview, based on your requirements. This means that you are less likely to have a candidate who isn’t a good match for your family and helps you spend time asking the things you really want to.

7: Do you have any questions for us?

Once you have got to the end of the interview, make sure you give the candidate a chance to ask you and your family any questions that they may have. Their questions may have all been answered in interview so don’t worry if they say no.

Not sure where to start with hiring a new nanny, housekeeper or house manager?

My Household Managed takes a consultative and personalized approach to household staffing.

We help you hire domestic staff qualified to fit your unique needs, saving you time and providing peace of mind.

Let us help you find the best nanny, house manager, housekeeper or any other domestic employee you may be searching for and submit an application with My Household Managed.