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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>How Do You Conduct Interviews? Present Policies? etc
DaisyMamma 11:30 AM 08-19-2014
I just had a family come for an interview. I'm usually pretty lax when it comes to interviews but due to recent questioning of policies from current families I decided to present my policies at interview, which I've never done.
Well family walks in and takes over right off the bat asking things and changing my whole "plan."
I didn't get the impression that they werent interested. It was super quick. Mom kept asking dad if he had more quesstions and rushed them out. That's fine,
But how do you keep the parents from steering the interview? I felt like they were interviewing me and I barely said half of what I had to say. Not one mention of any policy. I literally wasn't even given a chance.
I'm thinking perhaps I could do the first interview as informal and meet people and if they are interested they can come back to go over policies? How can they possibly decide if they are interested without hearing anything about any policies? Or maybe they are interested but then after finding out I get 20 paid days off per year they wouldn't be?! So that would be a waste of my time! Maybe send policies through email prior to the visit?
What do you do?
Email interview?
Phone interview?

I'm very aggravated right now. I needed a lot of yard work done and outside cleaning that I've been doing since Sunday and then of course I had to clean inside after neglecting it for outisde stuff. And I had to retype all of my paperwork because of a computer crash. If only I hadn't procrastinated on all of these things then I wouldn't have to do it all in two days! LOL
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DaisyMamma 11:51 AM 08-19-2014
Geeze I just realized my mom made egg salad right before they got here and my whole house smelled of boiled eggs. They probably thought it was Poopy Diapers
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Blackcat31 11:54 AM 08-19-2014
I give a tour of the facility then I sit down with them at the table, go over ALL my policies (page by page) making sure I STRESS the ones that are simply non-negotiable and then I ask them if they have any questions that I may not have covered.

I "steer" potential clients by greeting them at the door and after initial introductions I say "Well, why don't you come on in. I like to start with a tour of the place then we can sit at the table here and discuss policies."

If they try to ask questions that are policy related while touring I will say "We'll cover that when we sit down, and here is the bathroom......"

If they continue to ask I will say something like "I'm sure you are eager to finish up and make a decision...the interview part of finding care is always the hardest (add sympathetic smile here) but it's important that we go over this stuff so that there are no issues later if you should be enrolled here"

Basically, I just keep steering them back to MY agenda.

If they really aren't into it and I can feel it (or if there are red flags)......I have no issues just stopping and saying something along the lines of "What do YOU want to know about my program?"

Then I try to answer with a reply that I KNOW will move them out the door.

HTH
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Play Care 11:56 AM 08-19-2014
One of the things I do from the get go is greet them at the door and let them know how the tour/interview will be going.

So:

"Hi, I'm Mrs. K! It's so nice to meet you! First I'll give YOU the grand tour, then we can sit and discuss policies and such, then if you have any questions you can ask - I find it's so helpful to do it this way - often once I go over the policies it takes care of many of the questions!" BIG SMILE

Even with that I still feel as though I rarely get to highlight what should be highlighted.
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AmyKidsCo 01:12 PM 08-19-2014
My Parent Handbook is 65 pages long (each section starts on a new page so it's not 65 full pages ) so I don't go through all the policies. I usually email the policy book to the parents before an interview so they can look it over a little and come with questions.

I generally let the parents "run" the interview - if parents don't let you have your say it's often a signal that they could be trouble in the future. I actually prefer the parents who have a lot of questions to the ones who just stare at me not knowing what to ask.
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