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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Employee Interview Questions?
Sprouts 06:11 PM 02-03-2013
I am in the process of hiring a new assistant , I have an interview tomorrow and need some good questions to ask....any ideas? Thanks
This is for a home childcare
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Starburst 08:50 PM 02-03-2013
Do you have expeirence working with children (and what ages)? Do they have references? Do you have a problem changing diapers/ cleaning up spit up (if you have infants and they say 'yes' you most likely will not want to hire them)?
Are you at least 16/18 years old?
Do you speak any other languages (Spanish, French, ASL)? (maybe they can help teach the kids or help translate for nonguardian picker-uppers)
Are you able to legally work in the US?
Have you taken classes on child care/ child development/ early childhood education? Are you currently enrolled in school now?
What is the disipline techniques they use for misbehavior (time out, ignoring, redirection, distration)? possibly give an example of misbehavior.
What hours are you available to work?
Do you have any CPR/1st aid training?
Do you have a driver's license/ car/ reliable transportation (just nice to know if you need them to run errands or pick up kids)?
Do you understand you will need to have to complete a background check/ TB test/get CPR & 1st Aid certified?
Do you have any special interest or hobbies (a possible craft or skill they can teach or do with the children)?
What is you philosophy on children/child care/ ECE? (hopefully they don't cop out and only say "Children are our future" )
What are there long term goals ("where do you see yourself in 5-10 years")?

I had an interview yesterday- for a mother's helper/babysitter and these are some of the things they asked me.

You can also go over their expected duties (changing diapers, help prep meals...), your rules (no chewing gum, no using cell phone to take pictures of DCKs...), expected behavior (no shouting or loud talking, no swearing ... ), appropriate clothing (closed to shoes, no cleavage/crack hanging out), your schedule, and disipline techniques you use at your daycare.

& pretty much the only things you legally CAN'T ask them:
Their age (you can ask if they are the minimal legal age to work but not a specific age)
If they are married or have kids
There sexual orientation
Their political beliefs
Country of origin or heritage (you can maybe ask them if they grew up around your area)
Their religious beliefs (may be different if you have a religious based program- ask licensor)
In most jobs you cannot ask them if they have a commited a crime/felony, so thats why you let them know they will need to get checked/fingerprinted before they start.
And I am not sure if you can ask if they smoke or not but you should tell them that smoking is not allowed on the premisis during daycare hours.
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Patches 12:34 AM 02-04-2013
You can't legally ask if they have kids?? How is she supposed to know if she will be bringing children with her to work?
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Sprouts 01:24 PM 02-04-2013
Thank you
The interview went well
i forgot to ask her strengths and weakness though...ah i can always email
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EntropyControlSpecialist 03:16 PM 02-04-2013
Originally Posted by Starburst:
Do you have expeirence working with children (and what ages)? Do they have references? Do you have a problem changing diapers/ cleaning up spit up (if you have infants and they say 'yes' you most likely will not want to hire them)?
Have you taken classes on child care/ child development/ early childhood education? Are you currently enrolled in school now?
What is the disipline techniques they use for misbehavior (time out, ignoring, redirection, distration)? possibly give an example of misbehavior.
What hours are you available to work?
Do you have any CPR/1st aid training?
Do you have a driver's license/ car/ reliable transportation (just nice to know if you need them to run errands or pick up kids)?
Do you understand you will need to have to complete a background check/ TB test/get CPR & 1st Aid certified?
Do you have any special interest or hobbies (a possible craft or skill they can teach or do with the children)?
What is you philosophy on children/child care/ ECE? (hopefully they don't cop out and only say "Children are our future" )
What are there long term goals ("where do you see yourself in 5-10 years")?

I had an interview yesterday- for a mother's helper/babysitter and these are some of the things they asked me.

You can also go over their expected duties (changing diapers, help prep meals...), your rules (no chewing gum, no using cell phone to take pictures of DCKs...), expected behavior (no shouting or loud talking, no swearing ... ), appropriate clothing (closed to shoes, no cleavage/crack hanging out), your schedule, and disipline techniques you use at your daycare.

& pretty much the only things you legally CAN'T ask them:
There Age
If they are married or have kids
there sexual orientation
their political beliefs
their religious beliefs (may be different if you have a religious based program- ask licensor)
In most jobs you cannot ask them if they have a commited a crime/felony, so thats why you let them know they will need to get checked/fingerprinted before they start.
And I am not sure if you can ask if they smoke or not but you should tell them that smoking is not allowed during daycare hours.
Saving for later. Thank you!
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MarinaVanessa 03:24 PM 02-04-2013
Originally Posted by Patches:
You can't legally ask if they have kids?? How is she supposed to know if she will be bringing children with her to work?
In the work field it is assumed that you will not be taking your own kids with you to work. At this point it would be the potential employee's responsibility to mention that he/she has kids and to ask if it is ok if he/she brought the kids to work with her and what rates his/her own children will be charged for daycare.

And that in itself is a good question to think about. If the employee has kids will the employee be allowed to bring their own kids to daycare and will they pay full-price, get a discount etc. I personally wouldn't allow the children of my employee's to attend my daycare (I don't have employees now) unless they paid full price (I don't give any type of discounts, not even a sibling discount but that's just me) because of the potential conflict of interest problem. I doubt anyone would want to bring their child to my daycare in that case since it wouldn't be worth it to them really.
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Starburst 03:51 PM 02-04-2013
Originally Posted by Patches:
You can't legally ask if they have kids?? How is she supposed to know if she will be bringing children with her to work?
It might be different in some states, or even some fields, but the new thing is now you cannot ask them anything too personal in an interview that can possibly be used against them as a form of discrimination; because if you don't hire them they can try to say that you discriminated against them. This is especually an issue for working moms because some companies might think that they wont focus on their jobs or put their families before their career.

I also added a few things I forgot to the list
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Abigail 12:21 PM 02-05-2013
I simply stated in my advertisement that I do not have any current openings if you need childcare and that eliminated prospects. LOL It was the truth too because I just filled my last spot.

If did not "ask" questions if it was going to be a requirement. I did a phone interview to get a feel for a person and see if they're easy to talk to or if it's awkward and just get to know them. Asking if they have childcare experience and if they've worked in a daycare before and WHY they want to work in a daycare.

The Hours and expectations are NONE negotiable, that is why I'm hiring. I get lots of examples during a second interview which took place in person. It was over an hour but very nice because I felt like I really got to know her. Then after I decided I really ilked her and discussed wages and anything I could think of then I asked if she was interested. Sometimes it can be overwhelming, lol. So I told her I would like her to come "job shadow" and let her know exactly what it would be like and I wanted to see how the kids took to her and see them play together and she got to meet all the parents who picked up that day. She didnt do diapers or anything that isn't allowed. She has been here a month and is working out just great! I'm super thrilled with how I did my first "professional" interview. I never did have a paper of questions either except for on the phone interview when I was nervous, ha ha.

Are you doing more interviews or hiring the one you met already?
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Sprouts 03:13 PM 02-05-2013
Were there any other questions you asked during the phone interview? Did you ask them to bring samples of actvities they have done?

How's ur pregnancy btw?
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