9 Child Care Interview Questions Every Employer Should Ask

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When you are operating a daycare business, the quality of your staff largely impacts the quality and success of your facility. If you hire caregivers that are not qualified and do not work well with the children, it can cause major problems for your business. The interview is the ideal time for you to learn everything you need to know about your applicants. We have put together the 9 most essential child care interview questions every employer should ask to ensure you hire only the best caregivers for your business.

The child care interview questions fall into the following categories: introductory questions, work experience questions, opinion questions, and long-term questions. Our 9 recommended questions for these categories include:

  1. Can you tell me more about yourself?
  2. What made you interested in applying for this position?
  3. What are the age ranges of children you feel most comfortable caring for?
  4. How would you rate yourself as a caregiver for children?
  5. How do you personally deal with a child that is misbehaving?
  6. What do you think is the biggest challenge of working in a daycare?
  7. What do you think determines the success of your classroom?
  8. What benefits can you bring to our daycare facility long-term?
  9. Where do you see yourself 5 years from now?

Introductory Questions

By starting off your interview with introductory questions, it gives you a chance to get to know your applicant more on a personal level. You will get to see their personality shine through during this category of questions.

Starting off with more casual questions also gives your applicant a chance to warm up and get more comfortable in the interview atmosphere. Most applicants will be extremely nervous at the beginning of the interview. These questions help your applicant to begin to feel more at ease. This is due to introductory questions often being the questions your applicant will feel the most comfortable with answering.

It is essential to get to know your applicant better personality-wise with introductory questions because you will be able to sense how well they will fit within your daycare. You want to pay attention to how they act and respond, to see if you think they’d get along with the other employees you may already have.

During the introductory questions is an excellent time for you to also explain more about your position to the applicant. You can explain what you are looking for in a caregiver, what responsibilities would be expected and what the hours would consist of. It is essential to make sure the hours and responsibilities line up with what the applicant is looking for as well.

Our recommended questions to ask during the introductory category are:

  • Can you tell me more about yourself?
  • What made you interested in applying for this position?

Work Experience Questions

Once the applicant has gotten more comfortable, you want to switch to work-related questions. These questions will be essential in learning if your applicant is qualified to perform the needed caregiver duties for your daycare. These questions will be a huge factor regarding if you offer the applicant a position or not.

We recommend having a copy of the applicant’s resume in front of you during your interview, so you can easily view their past work experience. This prevents you from having to ask specific questions regarding how long they were at past companies and what positions they’ve had previously. You can focus on their experience with children rather than only the positions they’ve had.

During the work experience questions, you want to get a clear understanding of what ages the applicant has worked with previously. If you are hiring for a specific age range, like infants, you want to ensure that the applicant feels comfortable with this age range. If someone has never worked with infants previously, they may feel overwhelmed and stressed out when put in a room with multiple infants on their own.

We always recommend asking questions that give you a chance to see how the applicant responds in a difficult situation, like if a child is misbehaving. Working with children can be stressful at times, especially with a child that is being difficult. You want to see if your applicant can handle any situation that may arise.

During the work experience questions, you will be able to see how confident the applicant feels in their own experience working with children. You want to pay attention to if they pause a lot while answering the question. Does the applicant seem genuine and comfortable with their answers? If someone appears very confident discussing their childcare experience, they will often be confident if given the position as well.

Our recommended questions to ask during the work experience category are:

  • What are the age ranges of children you feel the most comfortable caring for?
  • How would you rate yourself as a caregiver for children?
  • How do you personally deal with a child that is misbehaving?

 

Opinion Questions

The opinion questions give you a chance to see how your applicant personally feels about the daycare atmosphere. This is the time to get an understanding of how your applicant would prefer to operate in your daycare if they were offered the position.

There is are many opinion-type questions you can ask. The important part is that your questions give you a chance to see how your applicant feels about how the daycare should be operated and how she prefers to care for the children in her classroom.

This is an important step because you want to ensure that your potential employee’s outlook on caring for children will work well with your own outlook. If your applicant prefers to treat children much differently than you would, then you may want to consider going with a different applicant that has an outlook on childcare more like your own.

Ensuring that your opinions and outlooks on childcare can work well together will prevent you from stumbling into any issues down the road. Discussing your opinions on childcare upfront will help you have a more productive and successful working partnership.

Another important benefit of asking opinion type questions is you will be better prepared to welcome your new employee. By knowing what type of setting they succeed in, you find ways to work with their preferences and make them feel more welcomed. For example: If they feel like their classroom is the most successful by having books to read, you have books available for them to use.

Our recommended questions to ask during the opinion category are:

  • What do you think is the biggest challenge of working in a daycare?
  • What do you think determines the success of a classroom?

 

Long-Term Questions

The last category of questions allows you to determine if your applicant will be a good fit for your daycare long-term. Hiring a new employee is both time-consuming and can also add up financially. In the best interest of your business, it is essential that you choose employees that will stay long-term and not leave the position after a few months.

Another reason why it is essential to choose employees that plan on staying over a longer period is it helps the children that attend your daycare as well. Children can easily get attached to certain adults, especially when they are seeing them regularly. When a child feels comfortable with the caregivers in their daycare, it will make it easier for them to be separated from their parents. Children have a difficult time when consistently receiving a new caregiver in their daycare facility.

The only situation where we recommend offering a position to an applicant who is not looking to stay long-term would be if you have a temporary position to fill. An example of this would be if one of your current employees is going on maternity leave.

During the long-term questions, you want to get an understanding of what your applicant is looking for in a position. Are they looking for a job for a few months during the summer or are they looking for a position that they can stay at for years to come?

When it comes to the long-term questions, you also want to look at their previous positions on their resume. How long did they stay at their previous jobs? Did they stay for only a few months or did they stay for years at a time? This will be an excellent resource to see how long you can expect them to work for your own daycare.

Our recommended questions to ask during the long-term category are:

  • What benefits can you bring to our daycare facility long-term?
  • Where do you see yourself 5 years from now?

Hiring a new employee for your daycare business can be very rewarding! You will have a new team member who can bring fresh ideas to the table. You will also be able to care for more children and accept new clients by having more caregivers present in your daycare. By following our 9 recommended interview questions, you will be on your way to finding the perfect new addition for your business!

 

Related Questions:

How many employees should I hire for my daycare business?

The number of employees you should hire for your daycare business depends on both the number of children that you care for consistently and the ages of children you have. You will need to hire additional employees as your number of children increases. This is due to most states requiring one adult to only watch so many children at one time. This is to ensure that every child has proper supervision.

The age ranges of the children in your daycare is a factor in how many employees you can have because one adult can watch fewer infants at one time than they can pre-school age children. Infants will require very close supervision and will need an adult to be very attentive. Due to this, one caregiver can only watch 2-3 infants at one time. If the children in your care are older, you will be required to have fewer employees.

What training should I provide my new employee with for my daycare business?

The specific training an employee will need for your daycare business will depend on the age of the children they are watching and the amount of experience they have working in childcare. If they have less experience, you should provide more training.

We recommend spending the first day of training going over your specific policies and procedures you expect to take place in your daycare. Once the policies are understood, you can have your new employee shadow and watch one of your other employees first who has been around for a while and can give your new employee a positive example.

The important factor is to ensure that the new employee feels comfortable and ready to be in a classroom with children on their own. If they don’t feel comfortable yet, we recommend adding training time. If the new employee isn’t comfortable, they will be more likely to get overwhelmed and not handle a stressful situation well.

What should I pay my employees for my daycare business?

The hourly wage you should pay your daycare employees will largely depend on the area that your daycare is in. If the demand for daycare services is higher, the hourly wage for daycare employees will often be higher as well. We recommend paying a minimum of $15 an hour for your employees, even if your local minimum wage is less.

One factor you want to keep in mind is that you will be able to attract higher qualified employees by offering a higher hourly wage. If your hourly wage is very competitive and high for your area, potential employees with large amounts of experience in childcare services will be more likely to apply for the position that you have available.

Before deciding on your wage, we always recommend first analyzing your business finances and ensuring that it is a wage that you can commit to over a long period of time. If you can’t offer a higher wage, you can always include other benefits like occasional bonuses.

Please note: This blog post is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Please consult a legal expert to address your specific needs.

For more information on starting your own daycare, check out our free resources here.