What is a nanny/ housekeeper?
Nanny/ housekeepers are a very good solution when you don’t want too many people working for you, when you cannot offer full time hours to both a nanny and a housekeeper, when you have a tighter budget, or when you need an extra set of hands around the house that can do it all.
A nanny/ housekeeper is a 2 in 1 person who will look after your children and also do your housework. They will work full time or part time, live in or live out, depending on your needs and they will do exactly what it says on the tin: the nanny duties and also the housekeeping duties.
They should find a balance between the two roles, according to your situation: one family might need more childcare and less housework, whereas another will need this person to focus more on the housework and less on the children.
So what are the 10 Most Important Interview Questions To Ask A Nanny/Housekeeper?
- Discuss from the beginning the role and make sure they understand that it’s a nanny/ housekeeper role and that they are happy to do both roles in one. This is one very important thing, as you don’t want to have any surprises later on, when the candidate tells you that they do not want to do the housekeeping or maybe they are not confident enough to look after the children.
- Discuss the percentage for each role: housekeeping and nannying. Is it 50/50 or 70/30? Each home will be different and this will help you decide whether you need a nanny with housekeeping skills or a housekeeper with nanny skills.
- Ask if they are flexible enough to change their schedule last minute. For example, on Mondays they normally clean the bedrooms and bathrooms upstairs but, something comes up and you need to attend an urgent meeting. Would they be flexible enough to look after the kids that day and clean the rooms upstairs the following day?
- Ask how would they handle their workload? If the children are at home and the nanny/ housekeeper has a lot of housekeeping to do as well, would she prioritise the children and do her chores later on?
- Ask about her ability to schedule tasks. If your children are at nursery/ school, does she understand that she needs to finish all her housekeeping duties while they are not at home, so when they get back she can only concentrate on the children?
- Would the nanny/ housekeeper also be happy to babysit and how many baby sittings per week would she agree to? Considering she is already doing a full time job 2 in one, it’s always good to check if she also agree to evening babysitting.
- If babysitting is included in her work, would she be happy to do some ironing or housework chores while babysitting/ when the kids are asleep? A babysitter normally just makes sure that they are in the house for the children, but some are open to using their free time to do some easy chores such as ironing.
- Is your candidate fit and energetic? Consider that she will have to run after the children and be very quick with the housekeeping duties. Being a nanny/housekeeper keeps them always on their toes so you need to make sure that whoever you hire has very high levels of energy.
- If the nanny role is shared care with the mum or another nanny, is the candidate happy to do the housework while the children are at at home? Doing the housework while the kids are at home is not an easy task, so do check with the candidate that she is happy to do it (if you think this situation is applicable to you).
- Ask about cleaning product preferences. Could the nanny/housekeeper recommend green cleaning products which will be more beneficial for the health of everybody living in the house? Nowadays more and more households use green/ organic cleaning products because they care about their health and understand that the chemicals in the products can do more harm than good.
Polo and Tweed is a professional domestic staffing agency. We have interviewed countless nannies, housekeepers, and nanny/housekeepers, so if you have questions or need help feel free to reach out to one of our professionals.