Pay for in person interview

[Anonymous]

I may be overthinking this, especially since I know other industries don’t pay people to come for job interviews, but if a nanny candidate is coming for an I person interview, would you pay them for their time? She has to travel 1 hr to come to us. I don’t want to get off on the wrong foot if this is customary, but I also don’t want her to be weirded out if it’s not. The interview will be outdoors and maybe around 30 minutes because it’s super cold this weekend. We already talked in the phone for about 45 minutes. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Fixing typo: in-person*

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't pay for the interview (and haven't). Now if you want to do a trial period of an hour or more where she actually watches your kid, that should be paid.

[Anonymous]

NO. You do not pay for s nanny interview.

[Anonymous]

No, of course not. You do not pay a nanny to interview.

That say, however, I would rethink the outdoors interview idea. Mask and be safe but a nanny should absolutely be able to see where she will be working. I would worry, if I were the nanny, that you were weird hoarders or something or your house was filthy. Or you collected guns.

Sit down with her inside.

[Anonymous]

That’s not a thing.

[Anonymous]

No of course not. You have not hired them for anything at that point

[Anonymous]

Thanks! This is our first time hiring a nanny. I didn’t think that she’d want to see inside our house but of course that makes sense. I will invite her in at least for part of the interview then. We scheduled this about 10 days ago at the peak of Omicron — both my kids are too young for vaccines and the younger one is under 2 = no mask. The candidate also works in an environment with lots of people so I wasn’t super comfortable with having an interview with kids present, inside. But I’ll think about it.

Okay — piggybacking for more advice: if we are not having her do a formal trial period where she watches the kids, should we just not bother introducing her to the kids at all? Now that I think about it, maybe I’m not going to really learn anything about how she interacts with my kids by a simple hello and greeting.. and then everyone will be distracted by the kids presence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks! This is our first time hiring a nanny. I didn’t think that she’d want to see inside our house but of course that makes sense. I will invite her in at least for part of the interview then. We scheduled this about 10 days ago at the peak of Omicron — both my kids are too young for vaccines and the younger one is under 2 = no mask. The candidate also works in an environment with lots of people so I wasn’t super comfortable with having an interview with kids present, inside. But I’ll think about it.

Okay — piggybacking for more advice: if we are not having her do a formal trial period where she watches the kids, should we just not bother introducing her to the kids at all? Now that I think about it, maybe I’m not going to really learn anything about how she interacts with my kids by a simple hello and greeting.. and then everyone will be distracted by the kids presence.

OP, you need to rethink this whole thing.

First, is her commute really going to be an hour each way everyday? That’s not sustainable.

Second, it’s too cold to do a comfortable interview outside. If you’re not comfortable having her in the house, get in (your) car with the heater cranked up and the windows down and stay masked. Or go to a bookstore (or other store where you can sit down but people aren’t unmasked and eating) and stay masked. If they won’t be in the house, be prepared to call back later with a video call to show the house.

Third, you do need to see how she interacts with your children. However; in your situation, you need to get through all of your in person interviews, then invite back your top 1-3 candidates for trial date. Those days would be paid at the end of the day, regardless of outcome. You want to give each candidate an overview of the house and supplies, schedule, and children’s personalities, then get out of the way. Make sure you disclose if you will be watching on cameras.

Fourth, I really don’t understand why you can’t do a video call instead of an in person interview. If she’s not going to meet the kids or see the house, what’s the point of being in person? You can see reactions over a video call.

[Anonymous]

On the commute... I commute an hour every day. Unfortunately, lots of people do. L

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks! This is our first time hiring a nanny. I didn’t think that she’d want to see inside our house but of course that makes sense. I will invite her in at least for part of the interview then. We scheduled this about 10 days ago at the peak of Omicron — both my kids are too young for vaccines and the younger one is under 2 = no mask. The candidate also works in an environment with lots of people so I wasn’t super comfortable with having an interview with kids present, inside. But I’ll think about it.

Okay — piggybacking for more advice: if we are not having her do a formal trial period where she watches the kids, should we just not bother introducing her to the kids at all? Now that I think about it, maybe I’m not going to really learn anything about how she interacts with my kids by a simple hello and greeting.. and then everyone will be distracted by the kids presence.

OP, you need to rethink this whole thing.

First, is her commute really going to be an hour each way everyday? That’s not sustainable.

Second, it’s too cold to do a comfortable interview outside. If you’re not comfortable having her in the house, get in (your) car with the heater cranked up and the windows down and stay masked. Or go to a bookstore (or other store where you can sit down but people aren’t unmasked and eating) and stay masked. If they won’t be in the house, be prepared to call back later with a video call to show the house.

Third, you do need to see how she interacts with your children. However; in your situation, you need to get through all of your in person interviews, then invite back your top 1-3 candidates for trial date. Those days would be paid at the end of the day, regardless of outcome. You want to give each candidate an overview of the house and supplies, schedule, and children’s personalities, then get out of the way. Make sure you disclose if you will be watching on cameras.

Fourth, I really don’t understand why you can’t do a video call instead of an in person interview. If she’s not going to meet the kids or see the house, what’s the point of being in person? You can see reactions over a video call.

Most book stores have removed chairs. If you are talking about the ones in the cafe areas (like how Barnes and Noble has) you shouldn't sit down there and take up space if you don't plan to eat/drink there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:On the commute... I commute an hour every day. Unfortunately, lots of people do. L

Same.

I would love a shorter commute but MoCo doesn’t pay as well as DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't pay for the interview (and haven't). Now if you want to do a trial period of an hour or more where she actually watches your kid, that should be paid.

This.

[Anonymous]

Thanks everyone! I usually think of myself as someone possessing some degree of common sense, but hiring a nanny has been challenging for me to figure out - it's also a really busy time at work for me, so truthfully I haven't put as much thought into the nanny search as I probably should be doing.

I will adjust some of the parameters of the interview - I'll definitely invite her in, do a masked
15 minute meet and greet with the kids and rough tour of the house. and then maybe we'll just move to a separate room without the kids for the rest of the interview, window open. Thanks!

I can't do much about the hour long commute. It is pretty typical of my area (I'm in a large metro area but not DC). The commute would be shorter if she could drive (25min) but she relies on public transit. Obviously, everyone would prefer to have a shorter commute - it gives more value to your earnings, relative to time spent. But, the only people applying that are closer to us aren't willing to work on the books, or really have no experience with young toddlers.

[Anonymous]

Definitely have her in.

Definitely have her meet the kids.

I'm saying this genuinely nicely, but her entire job description is working in your home with your kids so if she didn't get to see what the job will be like, the interview would probably be a waste of time for her because she already talked to you over the phone.

In terms of next steps- write a detailed job offer, draw up a solid contract (or have someone write it for you), and set up payroll.