The eleven questions to ask a nanny at interview
Most families ask about availability and salary, then run out of questions. These eleven get you to the things that actually decide whether a placement lasts.
Adwoa Mensah, Head of Placement3 min read
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Most families ask about availability and salary, then run out of questions. These eleven get you to the things that actually decide whether a placement lasts.
Tell us what your family needs and we will come back with matched caregivers — or just tell you honestly what we think you should do.
Most interviews we sit in on follow the same shape. The family asks about availability, salary and whether she can cook. Fifteen minutes later everyone has run out of things to say, and nobody has learned anything that predicts whether this will work.
The questions below are the ones our placement team asks. They are designed to get past rehearsed answers and into how someone actually behaves with a child.
Everybody has one. A caregiver who says she has never had a difficult day is either not being straight with you or has not worked long enough. Listen for whether she describes what she did, or only what the child did.
You are listening for someone who stays calm and keeps trying, and — crucially — who says at some point she would call you. A caregiver who would rather manage alone than admit she is stuck is a risk, not an asset.
This one feels rude and it is the most useful question on the list. Anyone who says "nothing at all" is managing you. What you want is a measured, specific answer — because that is what she will give you about your own household when something is wrong.
Scope creep is the single most common reason placements fail in Accra. Better to find out now that she has strong feelings about ironing than in month four.
This separates people who have genuinely cared for this age group from people who have looked after children generally. A caregiver with real toddler experience will talk about independence and boundaries without prompting.
You want: make the child safe, assess, first aid, call you, then write it down. If she does not mention telling you until you prompt her, ask why.
You are checking whether she understands that a child's safety outranks loyalty, discretion or her own job.
Ask it about yourself as much as her. The families whose placements last are the ones who worked out early how to raise something small before it became something large.
If the honest answer is "not this", that is fine — but you would rather know now than be surprised by a resignation in month eight. Some of our best placements are with caregivers studying part-time, because the family knew and planned around it.
A caregiver who asks nothing has either been coached or is not thinking about the fit. The best candidates ask about routines, discipline, screen time, and what you do when a child will not eat.
Leave a silence after this one. It is where the useful things come out.
Do not decide in the room. Talk it over that evening, and if you are torn between two people, arrange a trial day with each. Watching someone with your child for four hours tells you more than any interview.
And check the verification badges on her HomeNest profile — tap each one to see what was actually checked and when. Our full vetting process is here.