Interview Questions for a Nanny

My return to work date is suddenly fast approaching which means it's time to figure out childcare for all three kids. We love Noah and Ava's daycare, but they don't have room for Levi for a while, so we are considering all options, and one of them is hiring a nanny. There are pros and cons for both a daycare and a nanny, but I don't want to get into the details here why we might prefer one over the other in our current situation. Instead, I want to focus on questions we are planning to ask during a nanny interview. This is beyond the basics of safety, first aid training, background check, hours, pay, etc. and is supposed to help paint a picture of how the nanny would handle communication with us, how they would spend time with the kids, how they would set and enforce rules, and how they would handle difficult situations. 

Do you have questions for us? What are you looking for in a family? 

How would you describe your role as a nanny?

Give me an example where your normal approach didn’t work. What did you do instead? What did you learn from it? 

Tell me a mistake you’ve made and what you’ve learned from it. When/how did you tell the parents about it? 

What are your favorite child development resources?

What's your approach to discipline? Give me an example where one of your nanny kids wasn't listening. How did you deal with it? 

I have a few basic rules that they need to follow. What are your main rules they’d have to follow?

What do you envision lunch time to be like?

Give me an example of a really challenging situation. 

Tell me about a situation where you approached the parents for feedback or input. 

What are your favorite places to take the kids? What are your favorite toys and why?

How will you keep us informed about what you and the kids are doing?

What do you think is the biggest challenge having 3 kids aged four and under?

Tell me about a situation when you've had to say no. Were you able to successfully set your boundaries? 

Tell me about something you're really proud of. Why is it so special? 

Give me an example where you weren't happy with something and you had to address it. 

How would you plan a typical day? 

What’s the hardest day you’ve ever had as a nanny and what did you do to handle it?

What do you like most about being a nanny? 


I know some of these are tough, and some of you readers might recognize my style of interviewing with questions about specific examples, but I find that these questions would give me the best real life picture of what I would be able to expect from the person I'm interviewing. I wouldn't always ask all questions, but I find it a helpful list that allows you to really dive into every day scenarios. 

There are a lot more questions in this article, many of them very specific and helpful: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/helen-moon/nanny_b_2147549.html

What am I missing? If you've ever interviewed a nanny, what questions did you ask?