Interview time?

[Wonderwiper]

Hi everyone! Hope you are all enjoying your break and precious time with family and friends! I just wanted to know what others did regarding scheduling interviews. I won't have interviews during working hours and was wondering what time in the evening you all think is appropriate? Thanks!!

[bright sparks]

I only have interviews after hours also.

I typically try to schedule them as close to finish time as possible so I can get on with my evening sooner. However, I always ask a parent what their childs schedule is like as I don't want to get in the way of their mealtimes and the childs bedtime routine. It's not that my routine isn't equally as important, but nobody wants to do an interview with a cranky child and also by letting the parent know this, it shows them how thoughtful you are of their situation.

I finish work between 5:15 and 5:30 so I try for 5:30 or 6 and hope they will be gone by 6:30/7

[mimi]

Hi Wonderwiper, I hope you are enjoying your time off as well. I schedule my interviews on Mondays at 6 p.m. From the weekend cleaning, my house shows best on a Monday LOL and 6 p.m. is usually an hour to hour and a half before the little ones bedtime so this keeps the interview to at the most an hour before the whining starts (the childs not mine :)

[playfelt]

When my own kids were young I wanted to get them fed and did interviews after supper. Now that that isn't an issue I let parents know when my last client is leaving and let them set the time that works for them. Often they appreciate coming right after work while they are still dressed up and getting it over before supper. I agree that done early and having the evening to myself is nice. It also allows for the house to be less tidy in the sense that it is the end of the daycare day and the house shouldn't be postcard ready if we have been playing all day.

Having the interviews early also gives them time to go home and call at least one reference if they are truly interested rather than putting it off till another day.

[Momof4]

I also like to schedule interviews at 5pm or 5:30pm. That gives me a little bit of time after work to clean myself and my house a bit before the family arrives. I can't have interviews during work because I'm too busy and I want them as close after work as possible so I have some time to do all my dishes and cleaning and preparation for the next day after the interview, which usually lasts an hour or more.

[Serendipity]

I am the odd duck here and schedule my interviews DURING daycare hours. I also do 2 or more interviews, depending on the situation and the family. I do the first one as a get to know the needs of the family and just a small introduction about me and what my program offers. I like to do this withOUT the potential clients child(ren) present. I want the potential clients to see me interact with the other kids, see what the other kids are doing and how my physical environment funtions while children are present and using the toys and equipment.

I do the second interview with the child and parents. I like this one to be during daycare hours too so both the parents and I can see how their child will interact with the other kids.

I will sometimes do a 3rd interview, if necessary, for the parents to follow up with any questions they might have and so I can go over any complicated or complex policies or rules I have that I want to make sure they fully understand. The last interview can be done during or after daycare hours.

[playfelt]

Whren a parent asks me for a daytime interview I tell them that my priority is to the children that are in care and that I can't be meeting their needs while trying to devote my attention to the interview. My first interview is after hours. Then if the family is interested I will do a during daycare visit for the parent and child but it is a strictly freeplay session. I refuse to do a circletime while they are here since I am not a performer. I tell them my goal is to see how the child is interacting with the others and parent - generally mom - and I can stay in the background and watch and to a certain extent chat a little. I am close enough to intervene where necessary but not officially engaged in the play. I schedule this visit for first thing in the morning which has them come and go and then lets us get on with our day. I tell the parent it is for them to pretend it is a normal back to work day and to start their routine.

When I do any integration visits with parent present I use the same format.

[Momof4]

I want to meet the entire family during an interview and I want to give them 100% of my attention since we have so much to cover. An interview usually runs over an hour and we don't have that kind of time to spare during the day. My reasoning is that I'm interviewing the family as much as they are interviewing me - 50/50. I'm watching them like a hawk to see how they are with each other and with their child. It's my chance to get a real feel for their family dynamic. Also, I wouldn't want a stranger in my home while caring for 5 children who deserve all of my attention all the time, that's my job.

The next step is a thank you email with my contracts and medical forms attached so that they can go over it in detail at home after hearing the high points from me. If a family is really interested in the space, then I will ask them to come back for an hour playdate one morning to meet the children and see how we all interact together. When we sign the contract they come back in the evening and we go over every paragraph together.

That's my system.

[playfelt]

I also feel it is not fair to the children and families already in care if our days are constantly disrupted by interviews. Since most of us don't have the luxury of another adult on site we have to stop what we are doing to talk with the new family.

Making interviews after hours also means the husband can often come too. Otherwise I have heard of many cases where the mom and child visit during the day - like it was playgroup and then narrow it down to 3 places that they actual do an evening interview and dad comes. I want to start with that interview and get a feel for the family, what they are looking for and decide if it is even a family I can work with before I waste my daytime hours on them and let them disrupt my daycare.

[Wonderwiper]

Thanks everyone!!!

[Spixie33]

I only interview after hours. I have done a few where parents would insist coming during daycare hours and ALL of them were a nightmare. The children would act up because I was focused on the conversation with the interview or I would lose my train of thought about my program because I would have to tend to the children and then not remember what I had or hadn't already mentioned about my program.

No one has ever signed who came during daycare hours. Now my firm rule is after hours ONLY.

Imagine doing a job interview for any other job while you are watching 4-5 children. Not a good scenario.:ohmy::no:: blink:

I like to do interviews somewhere between 5:30 or 6 p.m and expect them to last about 45 minutes to an hour. It gives me about 20 minutes to tidy up the house and have a few deep breaths.

I have recently done a couple of weekend interviews and I actually liked that too. It gave me the morning to tidy up and then be very calm for the interview.

[Bugaboo]

I'm pretty much the same as everyone else. I will only do after hour interviews. There's a few reasons for this but the main one is because I just cannot focus on answering the families questions AND properly care for the kids in care. The other reason why I won't do is my kids act VERY different when someone comes to the door. Usually they just get excited which can make them be a bit hyper but it goes back to not being able to properly care for them and interview at the same time. The last reason is for safety. Incoming families are just as much strangers to me as I am to them and I will not have unknown people in my home around my daycare children until they have been screened by me.

I think my interview process is the same as everyone else's. The first step is getting an inquiry either over the phone or through email. I prefer to talk to talk over the phone so that I can gage what kind of person they sound like and I ask all my deal breaker questions over the phone as well so that we don't waste each other's time interviewing. (Deal breakers are things like fees, due dates of fees, hours, do they require the care advertised (full or part time), nap time policy, age of child...) Once the parents "pass" the telephone interview if they too are interested in proceeding we schedule an evening interview around 6pm (the entire family must attend or I will not schedule the interview). That time works best for me because I can do a quick clean up, change my clothes, and feed my own children a quick supper before the interview. The interview itself is very much a mutual interview. The parents for sure are interviewing but many families do not realize that I am interviewing THEM too. While we are asking each other questions I do A LOT of observing. I look for things like what the family dynamic is, how is the child behaving, does the child get down off mom/dad's lap and explore, can they play individually, is the child open to me when I engage with him/her, and anything else that peaks my interest. My observations usually hold a lot more weight then how the parents answer my questions. I learn a lot just by watching.