Telephone Interview Advice

[bright sparks]

So I have had an enquiry for full time starting in January and after a couple of brief factual emails, I have requested that we talk on the phone to set up an interview. This gives me the opportunity to ask more questions and get an initial feel for her.

I have been doing daycare for 6 years now but after being screwed in my last couple of interviews with people wasting my time or missing vital information out I wasnted to ask people what their top 5 questions were. Not hours and days, as I know those, but questions which can be a make or break it and in everybodies experience are red flag questions.

I am speaking with her this afternoon between 1:30 and 3:30 so if anyone can give me some input I'd appreciate it.

Obviously being Xmas, I don't want to waste my evening times interviewing if its a lost cause and if it does work out, I want everything signed and deposit paid by next Thursday as then I am off work till the 7th and don't intend on doing any work, even paperwork.

Thanks folks

[BlueRose]

Have you asked, if they already have their child in care or if the child has been in care in the past? if yes, then why are they changing/left the provider. Can you call the old provider for a reference?
(I am kind of wishing I had called my new girls old provider)

[bright sparks]

Can you call the old provider for a reference?

I have never heard of anyone doing this, nor have I had a provider call me. I doubt that most parents would devulge this information unless the daycare provider was moving or shutting up shop. That being said, it would be a great way of outing a huge red flag. Obviously if they said I couldn't contact them and I got a negative response then I would know there was something up but it doesnt necessairaly mean that the parent was in the wrong. Theres always 2 sides to a story...Hmmm really got me thinking now.

[Monday 2 Friday Mama]

I always ask the parents "where" they are in the interviewing process - have they met with other caregivers, how many - that sort of thing. I then have a frame of reference for how serious they are, and when they could be expected to get back to me with a decision about whether or not their child will be joining my group. I also ask parents if they are on any "waiting lists" at other private daycares or at liscenced centres. It's not that I won't act as an interm caregiver, but I like to have all the facts when I'm assessing a family's suitability with my program. I close every meeting with families by asking them to get back to me by a certain point in time - based on where they are in their search. Sometimes I'm asking them to get back to me by the weekend, other times it's more like a week. I've found if you leave things too open ended, people will take far too long to get back to you. It's agony for me waiting to find out if I made the cut, and it's not necessary - you know pretty quickly if this is someone you want to work with, if you like their approach with children, etc. I also ask parents what it is that they prefer about home daycare. It's just a nice open ended question and it opens dialogue between me and the parents about what they feel is important. Lastly, I ask every parent if they have any special/specific concerns about placing their child in care - again, it's just an open ended kind of question designed to get the parent to talk a little bit. =) Hope this helps, and good luck with your interview - I know what you mean about hating to forfeit our evenings to interview prospective families. Especially irritating when it goes no where or they are clearly not serious. Grrrr.....

[bright sparks]

Thanks MtoF Mama...Those questions are terrific. When it comes to the face to face interview I always ask for them to let me know either way by a certain date. It's good to know either way so I'm left wondering and it's the least they can do by showing me some curtosy.

I am hoping to start a new routine of conducting a thorough telephone interview so that when they come to meet it doesn't take so long, mine are usually an hour to hour and a half and also it means I can weed out the parent's who aren't on the same page as me before we waste any time meeting.

[Crayola kiddies]

You should tell them that you are still in the interviewing process and when you are done you will let them know if the spot is available to them .... You could also say that if you are their first choice to please let you know and you can factor that into your decision making

[playfelt]

What I found with doing telephone interviews was that it was easier for parents to write me off and not want to come for an interview making up some excuse about having several to do this week and would get back to me even though that is not what I was given to understand in initial email contacts. In a sense that in the personal interview you can say things and get information and your policies don't come across so harsh. Another reason I don't like sending out the contract ahead of time. I like to work with the families and explain why my policies are the way they are and how it will effect them.

At the same time unless I get a family needing care right away in January they are going to be told to call me back in January as I am not in the mood to do interviews right now. Having a hard time getting into the mood to do anything Christmas. Our first crafting day was a bust cause the girls didn't want to do anything - too busy playing. So scrapped half of what was planned, scaled down some of the other ideas and changed things out to be more like what we usually do which is read a book, and colour a picture related to the book and then glue something on which I have precut. Girls are now 26 months and 37 months and neither uses scissors or gluestick, they don't like getting glue on their hands but sometimes I can get them to spread regular white glue on their page with a stick to put something on but rarely. They will spend an hour at a time playing playdough and just now learning to cut their dough with a plastic knife so we clearly have a long way to go.

[bright sparks]

This is for care starting January 7th so needs to be wrapped up by the end of next week. I never send my contract out ahead of time, and when they sign, I invite parents back and go through every policy so they have the opportunity to ask questions and of course so it doesn't come across so harsh. The purpose of my telephone interview playfelt, is for me to ask more questions and initially find out more about them. I will still address everything as normal face to face, but if we have had a chance to talk briefly before hand versus just emailing then I may find some vital infromation out which will enable ME to write them off as being unsuitable.

It's more so because of this time of year that I don't want people round for interviews this close to Xmas if I can eliminate some of the chances of red flags before they take my evening up. I actually don't mind interviewing, its just that I recently had a family come for an interview then come back and sign to return the contract to me the day after as they just weren't ready to commit so far in advance. I gave up 2 of my evenings(3 hours total) and for what?? Maybe if I had asked the right questions in the first place I could have prevented my lost time. Thats my intention moving forward.