When do you interview prospective parents for vacancies in your daycare ?

Hi there everyone, I'm hoping for some feedback - so feel free to share your thoughts - at this point I'm kind of muddled, so I could really benefit from a clearer head. =) I am currently caring for 3 daycare babes - 2 little girls who are each 2 years old, and a little boy who is 1 year old. I am anticipating caring for another little boy this November (contract is signed) when his Mum returns to work. My problem has been filling this last spot. I am having the worst luck finding someone who is a good fit. Oh my goodness - I am trying my best to screen potential clients via e-mail before we get to the interview stage. That said, I am so exhausted from putting in a full day working with the kids, and then I am meeting with parents in the evening. While I understand the parents desire to be thorough when interviewing a prospective caregiver, I do wish they would be more sensitive to the fact that evenings are my own time. I have dinners to hustle, laundry to do, and (unlike Mom on mat leave) I have to get up the next A.M. to work. How do other caregivers handle this ? I have not met with parents during the day as I felt it was more professional to conduct a meeting when I was not working with the daycare babies. Maybe I'm wrong ? Another frustration I had was that at least a couple of the people I interviewed asked me for references and then never called them. Again: how do you folks handle this sort of thing ? Obviously my daycare parents know that I'm looking for a new friend, but I hate having to tell them about every interview I have - sometimes there are reasons that I prefer not to take on a family and I don't want to have to explain why each person who calls them is not a good fit. (i.e. the lady who was three months pregnant and needed care for 6 months and then "maybe part time once the baby was born - and could you hold a spot for my new baby because we'd really like them to be at the same place" ) Or the other awkward position I occassionally find myself in - where I've been asked for references, passed them along, notified my daycare parents of what's happening - and then the propective family don't bother calling. SO FRUSTRATING. I mean, really - if you're not interested - that's okay. Just don't ask for references. Thanks for any feedback/perspective - I really appreciate it. I guess I just needed to get it off my chest. =) Hopefully the next couple of interviews will result in winner, and then I will be out of this "interviewing" mess for at least a few months.

In my opinion....reference s are the last step. When I am sure that they are a good fit for me. And honestly, I have never ever had a parent ask for references; when I eagerly hand them over, none have called. Perhaps for you a general email to those you have asked to be willing to provide references that you are conducting interviews and that they may receive calls (or emails) over the next little while? This way you don't have to let them know with each potential client?

I do my interviews in the evening. Never takes more than 1/2 hour. If the parent was dragging things out, I would let them know nicely that I had dinner to make or kids to get to bed or whatever, and tell them if they have any further questions to email me.

As for the references, once I've asked someone to be a reference, I don't let them know every single time that they might get a phone call. Just a general heads up when I'm going through interviews.

Sent you a PM!

I've been in your shoes, working all day then making sure the house (and me) are cleaned up within a half hour for interview after interview in the evenings until I find the right family. It's so exhausting. But it's part of our job.

I do let my dcfamilies know when I'm interviewing because their names and phone #'s are on my resume as references and I give my resume to all families that I interview. I only conduct interviews after work and they usually last 1 to 1 1/2 hours because I talk too much. Unless I can see from the first few minutes that the family is all wrong for me, then I hurry them out. And that doesn't happen very much any more because I've learned to do a very thorough prescreening, but that took a lot of practice and learning. I'm sure when I started out I got too many 'shoppers' and now, as you said, my time is too important to me so I only interview the families I know will be a good fit. from the pre-screening.