The best nanny interview questions
Plus: when to listen to your gut
Hiring a nanny or babysitter can feel like a pretty big deal. You have asked your friends for leads, read through countless profiles, and selected a few standout candidates to interview. But what questions do you need to ask when interviewing a potential nanny?
You want to make sure the caregiver you hire has the right experience for your family’s particular needs, but also that they’re a person who you can trust to do what’s best for your children, even when something unexpected comes up. You want to learn as much as possible about who they are, but you only have limited time and multiple candidates to interview.
To reduce any potential stress in the hiring process, we have developed this in-depth list of the most important interview questions to ask a nanny or babysitter candidate to give you peace of mind - and make you feel confident about hiring the best caregiver for your family.
Start with common interview questions
Before you get to know your nanny candidate better, try to get a solid sense of their relevant experience. A great way to start the conversation is to ask a candidate why they love working with children. This eases you into the more black-and-white experience questions and can often give you a great sense of the candidate’s personality when it comes to working with kids.
Here are some suggestions for interview questions you may want to ask a prospective nanny about the basics:
Nanny interview questions: relevant experience
How long have you been nannying?
Why do you love working with kids?
Tell me about your previous experience with my child’s age group.
Do you have experience with siblings or working with multiple children at once?
What is your schedule like, and how much flexibility do you have? Do you foresee any scheduling conflicts?
Do you have much experience interacting with or overlapping care with parents, parents who work from home, and/or families with other household staff?
Are you willing to help out with child-related household tasks (such as the children’s laundry, tidying up after playtime, meals, etc.)?
What is your style of discipline? How do you handle conflicts, disagreements, sibling arguments, or behavioral issues?
What has been your experience working in a home where another parent is present, whether a stay-at-home parent or a parent working from home?
Do you have experience working in our neighborhood or are you familiar with the area?
Nanny interview questions: comfort levels and flexibility
Are you comfortable commuting with kids, taking them to various activities by subway, bus, or car service?
Are you comfortable driving with kids and do you have previous experience driving as part of a position?
Would you be comfortable caring for additional kids during playdates, carpools, etc. if that information was given to you in advance?
How have you communicated with parents in previous positions (text, e-mail, phone), and are you comfortable with our preferred methods?
Are you comfortable helping with homework?
Are you comfortable cooking or preparing food for kids? What is your signature dish?
Are you able to travel with us on vacations or overnights?
Would you be willing to care for my children if they are sick? Would you be comfortable administering medication if necessary?
As long as Covid-19 continues to be a part of our daily lives, it’s important to know your comfort levels and make sure anyone working in your home is on board as well. The interview is a great time to mention any adjustments and precautions your family is taking and what you expect from a nanny.
Read more about Covid-19 provisions to include in your job contract.
Nanny interview questions: personality and interests
What are your hobbies and interests? How do you spend your time when you’re not nannying?
Do you have any special skills (languages, arts, etc.) that you’d be open to teaching to my kids?
Do you have any pet or food allergies that we would need to know about?
Interview questions for a nanny for an infant or baby:
Tell me about your experience with infants/babies.
Do you have experience caring for infants who have a difficult time taking a bottle?
What is your approach to establishing a sleep schedule?
If applicable, do you have experience working with new parents?
What is your experience with pumping and/or supplemental feeding?
Are you comfortable with our methods of sleep training, play, and/or feeding? What are your preferred methods?
Dive into your nanny’s details
Having relevant experience is important when it comes to caring for kids, but it isn’t the only factor to take into account. As a parent, you know that unexpected and unplanned situations arise all the time when it comes to caring for kids, whether it be missing a bus, rescheduling an activity, or a diaper blowout at the playground with no spare clothes.
By asking your candidate how they have handled unexpected situations or conflicts before - or how they would hypothetically handle it in the future - you can get a sense of how they think on their feet:
Can you tell me about any emergencies or accidents that happened while you were taking care of children, and how you handled those?
Can you tell me about a conflict that came up with previous employers or the kids and how you addressed the situation?
Have you ever worked for a family that had a different method of discipline, routines, or parenting style than you? How did you negotiate that?
A nanny interview is a two-way street
It’s important to remember that not only does a nanny candidate need to be the right fit for your family, your position needs to be a good fit for this candidate as well. If a candidate is juggling other endeavors and really only has part-time availability but interviews for your full-time position, there’s a high risk they will not stick around in the long term. This is true even if they love your kiddos or seem to be a great fit in other ways.
Try to get a good sense of what the candidate is ideally looking for and leave space during the interview for the nanny to ask their questions as well. Make sure the candidate knows the schedule and general job outline either ahead of time or by the end of the interview.
You can help the conversation along by asking questions like:
What kind of position are you ideally looking for?
What has been important for you to learn about a position or a family when you’ve been interviewing?
Is there anything in our job description that gives you pause or that you would like us to clarify?
Trust your gut, too
At the end of the day, the nanny-employer relationship is a special kind of professional relationship. Your employee works in your private home and is an integral part of your child’s daily life, so it’s important that you feel comfortable with each other. By making an interview feel like a conversation rather than just a list of questions, your gut instincts can get a feel for your rapport with the candidate - and that’s an important factor too!
Consider scheduling paid trials with your top candidates to really get a sense of how they interact with your kids, their ability to pick up on your routines, and that they really are as punctual as they said in the interview. Seeing your kids’ excitement at the end of a trial can be what really solidifies your choice, or can convince you of a right fit when the interview made you think a candidate didn't quite have the perfect experience.
Have you discovered any magical questions that get the most out of a nanny interview? Tag Smart Sitting in your Facebook and Instagram posts so we can share the insight.