Doing a "Working interview" with nanny?

Eriksgal · April 2012

We are relocating out of state and plan to interview several nanny candidates next weekend. With our current nanny we never did a working interview but she did work part-time for us before I went back to work FT to get the routine down, decide it was a match, etc.

This time around I need to hire someone pretty quick and then get them trained and be back at work by mid May. My job (and DH's) is flexible and will let me work at home a few days while I get them up to speed but everything is going to move really fast. I was thinking after we settle on 2-3 candidates I would do a working interview. If you did this how long did you have them come for and did you pay them? I have no problem paying for their time but I want to know what is fair-the hourly going rate-more, less? Any other advice you can offer would be appreciated!

Strunella · April 2012

With our first nanny, we had her overlap my last week of maternity leave. This gave her an opportunity to get familiar with our schedule. It wasn't an interview though--we had already hired her. I honestly don't know anyone who had several nannies on trial for a week or any amount of time for that matter. You kind of find someone and go with her. A week overlap was plenty. With our second and current nanny, we didn't have the luxury of another week overlap, so I worked from home one day and got her familiar with our routine. She's been with us a year.

I would pay anyone doing the job the normal rate.

P.S. - Your little ones are adorable!

ZacksBride · April 2012

we also had to hire a nanny before i was moving to our current residence from across the country. fortunately, dh was able to meet her a have an interview, but we never did an on the job "interview" either. are you planning on having 3 separate people come in for a test run and then hiring one of them based on how they do? you would need to have each one come in on a different day and i would pay whatever the agreed upon normal rate is. it seems like it may make things more complicated, imo. we felt comfortable after an interview in a coffee shop and calling references on who we were going to hire... normal rates vary significantly in different parts of the country - we are also in TX and pay our nanny on the books, she gets $510 take home per week for one child (2.5 years) from 6:30-5 daily. anything past 5 is paid in cash.

cougarlicious · April 2012

My friend did this - three candidates; one came Mon, the other on Wed, the other on Fri. She arranged to work from home those days to observe. All the nannies knew they were on trial, and were paid their asking rate. At the end of the three weeks, she let the candidates know (individually) if they worked out and then chose the successful nanny. It worked out well for her.