During the interview process, watch how your candidates communicate with you. This is especially important with live-in nannies who will be living in your home and could become a member of the family.
Typically, a live-in nanny is provided with a private room and bathroom. They will also be provided with food, utilities, and, sometimes, a car.
Experience
A live-in nanny lives in the family home on a full-time basis. They provide care for children and perform housekeeping duties. They also typically prepare meals for the family. Interviewing candidates on their experience working as a live-in nanny is helpful to gauge whether they are capable of the job responsibilities.
Families need to be able to trust their live-in nanny to keep personal matters private and professional matters business. Interviewing candidates on their ability to establish and maintain healthy boundaries is an excellent way to assess this skill.
As a live-in nanny will be living in the home during her employment, questions about the family’s policy on overnight guests and visitors will be necessary to assess the candidate’s ability to manage household privacy. This will include how she deals with sibling conflicts and other household issues. Interviewers seek candidates who can make good choices and use common sense.
Personality
A quality live-in nanny must have a personality that fits well with your family. A nanny should be willing to take direction and work well in a team setting. However, she also needs to be independent and self-sufficient. She should be able to handle problems during the day, like a sudden illness of your child, unexpected events at school or classes, and surprise messes like crayon drawings on the living room walls.
Moreover, live in nanny jobs allow childcare professionals to immerse themselves in a family’s daily life, offering dedicated support and care in the comfort of their home.
A good live-in nanny is punctual and has strong time management skills. This is important because she will need to be ready at the door in the morning for drop off and pick up and may have appointments with children during the day, like music lessons or sports.
A good live-in nanny has a respect for privacy. She knows parents must be allowed time with their spouses, friends, and families separately from the nanny. She also understands the importance of maintaining her private space in your home, including her bedroom, private eating area, and personal possessions.
Communication
A live-in nanny will be expected to take care of the children she is hired to look after, but she will also need to communicate with the parents about their child’s daily activities and progress. This can be achieved by email, text message, or a phone screen call, but the best way to ensure that communication is adequate and the information is received is face-to-face.
Nannies often juggle many daily duties, from taking children to school or music lessons to cleaning, cooking, and even household chores. This can be very stressful, and the nanny must remain calm, organized, and focused.
Nannies are typically professional career nannies, and this is a job that they take very seriously. They will have to follow the employer’s disciplinary procedures and be able to communicate them.
Flexibility
If a live-in nanny is living in your home, they must be flexible. They will be juggling their own home life with their childcare duties. It may not work if they cannot adjust to this or meet your family’s needs.
Living nannies typically earn less hourly than daily nannies, but they should still negotiate fair hours and PTO. They will need a private bedroom and bathroom they can be in on their off hours, and they should be able to cook for themselves without disturbing anyone else.
They will need to be able to come and go when you want and stay late or come in early if needed. Caregivers who are not flexible will have difficulty fitting into your family’s schedule, which can be a huge stressor for everyone.
Nanny families often look for a live-in nanny to help them with various family tasks. A flexible nanny who can handle changing schedules and last-minute errands is a valuable asset to your family.
A nanny should also be willing to follow the house rules and respect shared spaces and common areas. She should also be comfortable sharing food and supplies with the family if necessary. She should also have a private living room and be allowed time to herself when off the clock.
Although you may have a set schedule that you expect your Live-In Nanny to follow, they need to negotiate a fair work agreement about overtime, on-call hours, and vacation days. A nanny who cannot do this will likely be happier with the job and may seek employment elsewhere.
Responsibility
A live-in nanny is an employee who is expected to meet specific responsibilities. These include cleaning up after meals, tidying areas that the children have been in (such as their bedrooms), putting away their laundry, and more. You’ll also want to ensure that your live-in nanny has a private room and bathroom in the home and enough privacy when she is off the clock.
Nannies are constantly juggling a lot of tasks throughout the day. You want someone who can stay organized and prioritize what needs to be done. This includes ensuring they show up to work on time and not miss any scheduled appointments or play dates with your child.
It is also essential to create clear boundaries around the home so that your nanny knows what is and is not acceptable. This includes establishing whether drinking alcohol or smoking is allowed in the house, whether overnight guests are invited, and how clean she is expected to keep her living quarters.