30 Blogs With Tips for Screening Nannies

Making the decision to hire a nanny versus enrolling your child in center-based care can be a difficult one. When you do finally arrive at a concrete decision to opt for in-home care, you’ll still be charged with the equally challenging task of finding a nanny with the right qualifications and beginning the arduous process of thoroughly vetting her. If you’ve chosen to hire independently rather than working with an agency, you’ll also be forced to start the process from scratch, by yourself. These thirty blog entries discuss the many aspects of thoroughly screening nanny candidates, offering valuable hints and information along the way.

Interviews

After wading through the sea of applicants and settling on the most promising among the bunch, you’ll need to begin the process of setting up one-on-one interviews with the candidates you’ve chosen. These interviews will not only be an opportunity for you and prospective nannies to get to know one another, but also for you to continue thinning the list of applicants. These five blogs are filled with nanny interview hints and advice, helping you to begin the process as confidently as possible.

• 6 Tips for Interviewing a Nanny
• Tips on Interviewing Nannies
• Nanny Interview Questionnaire
• Top 10 Nanny Interview Questions
• 10 Questions to Find the Perfect Nanny

Reference Checks

Career nannies understand that their references are worth their weight in gold, and must be protected at all costs. In an industry reliant largely upon reputation and word of mouth, a quality nanny will guard that reputation carefully and be proud to supply potential employers with the references that corroborate it. Still, you may have little to no experience handling the process of checking references if you’ve never hired a nanny before, which is where these bloggers can offer some pointers.

• How to Check Up Nanny References
• Checking Nanny References: How and Why
• Nanny Reference Checking
• Hiring a Nanny | How to Check References
• 10 Reasons You Need to Read Between the Lines When Checking Nanny References

Keep it Legal

With the power of the Internet and the help of an unscrupulous character or two, it’s actually quite easy to access significant amounts of background information on a nanny candidate. Despite the simplicity of obtaining that information, some of it cannot legally be used to make a hiring decision. In the interest of helping first-time nanny employers keep their background screening process completely above board, these five bloggers provide a bit of information about Federal hiring laws.

• New EEOC Guidelines
• Top EEOC Lawyer Speaks on Social Networks and the Workplace
• Legal Compliance
• Legal Issues for Domestic Staffing Agencies
• Recommended Practices for Background Screening

Drug Testing

Determining whether or not a promising nanny candidate is a recreational user of illicit drugs is a very important part of the hiring process for some parents, though the process can be anything but simple. These five blogs tackle the subject of pre-employment drug screenings from a practical point of view, offering quite a bit of valuable advice and information.

• Pre-Employment Drug Screening
• Intro to Drug Screening…
• Pre-Employment Drug Testing Reduces Turnover
• 4 Common Flaws in Employment Drug Testing Programs
• About Employment Drug Screening

Background Checks

Whether you want to know about her driving record, criminal history or simply want to make sure that she’s not on the National Sex Offender Registry, there are a variety of reasons for employers to run a criminal background check on a nanny candidate. These five blogs offer advice on how to properly conduct a background check, what they entail and the best methods of legally obtaining the information.

• What Does a “Comprehensive Nanny Background Check” Consist Of?
• Run Background Check On Your Nanny
• How to Perform a Background Check on a Nanny
• A Guide to Nanny Background Checks
• How to Run a Background Check on Your Nanny

Certifications and Education

Knowing that you’ll be leaving your children in the hands of a well-trained, competent nanny can offer the greatest peace of mind of any childcare decision you ever make. While there’s no standard legal certification process for nannies across the country, the self-regulating industry does offer a variety of potential classes, certifications and workshops. These five blogs discuss the different types of certification a nanny might have, explaining their value to first-time nanny employers.

• What Parents Should Know About Nanny Certifications
• Nanny Care: Licensing and Training Programs
• Why Nannies Should Take In-Person CPR Training
• 10 Certification Programs a New Nanny Should Consider
• 7 Safety Classes Nannies Should Consider Taking