One of the questions we see parents wondering a lot is what to ask when interviewing a babysitter. Stepping into an HR role is one of those parenting tasks most of us never even considered pre-baby. Yet finding reliable childcare you love is a huge (and sometimes stressful) part of the job.
Obviously here at Hello Sitter, we’re in the business of babysitters, and we take a lot of time personally interviewing and vetting sitters to ensure that we’re only enlisting top-notch people to join our team. A large amount of time is also spent phoning references (yes, we call them) and speaking to them about their experiences with the sitter. We’re doing all of this (plus background checks and social media vetting) so you don’t have to, so you can feel confident in booking a sitter – any sitter – through our service.
We ask our sitters for a lot of info about themselves, and our interviews are extensive. Here are just a dozen of the questions we ask every single sitter, in person, during the first round of the Hello Sitter interview process.
What to Ask When Interviewing a Babysitter
- How many years experience do you have?
- What age children have you cared for? Do you have experience with different age ranges, and/or multiple children?
- Tell me more about your experience and where you gained it – in a teaching environment, a family environment, etc.
- What did your role involve? Take me through a typical day.
- Do you have any additional experience, with other families, in other settings?
- Why did the job end with the previous families?
- How would you describe your style?
- Tell me about your references and the families – how old were the children, any challenges you had (then we validate this when we speak to the references).
- What’s a challenging issue you’ve had with a child, and how did you deal with it?
- Tell me about any special needs experience you have.
- Do you have any other skills which can help develop our children (for example languages or musical instruments)?
- What sort of activities do you feel comfortable with (for example soccer or crafts)?
Throughout the interview we’re observing body language and getting a feel for the candidate. We only add sitters who we’d feel comfortable caring for our own kids, but there’s more to it than that. Since we’re the ones initially meeting and contracting them, we’re also acting in the role of referrer to other parents, and that’s an (HR-related) role we take very seriously.
Talk to us
We love hearing feedback about the Hello Sitter service. We welcome reviews of our sitters on the app, as well as direct feedback, comments, or questions any way you wish, be it via email, phone, or our Facebook page. Our founder Lauren regularly uses different sitters to watch her little girl, and posts reviews of those sitters on the app. If you have a question about whether a particular sitter will be a good fit for you or are having any issues making a booking, email her at lauren@hellositter.com.
