A Nanny Background Check Is As Important As Your Childs Life
Choosing a nanny should not be a fast process. After all, there is no such thing as too much detail when it comes to making sure that your kids are in safe capable hands when you cannot look after them yourself. Making sure your nanny is perfect is vitally important.
A nanny background check should be run on any serious nanny candidates you may have. They may “interview well” but that shouldn’t be your sole criteria for choosing them. You may even find out that they are criminal felons or convicted sex offenders!
Make sure you include the following questions that you may ask your prospective nanny:
* Why do you want to be a nanny?
* What part of taking care of children makes you want this job?
* How come you left your previous employment?
* What is your discipline policy?
* Mental development for my child is very important to me. How do you engage their minds that is different from other nanny’s?
* I want to make sure my kids have quality physical development. How would you be different than other prospective nanny’s to make sure this happens?
* How do you encourage learning?
* What is your background with respect to having my kids learn music and art from you?
* Have you take care of kids in both indoor and outdoor settings? How did that go?
* When you have free time, what kinds of things do you like to do?
* What would you do if a child threw a tantrum or was just irrational?
Tell your prospective nanny that you always run a comprehensive background check on leading candidates as a final quality certification. If they act surprised, confused or ornery then you probably want to avoid hiring this individual.
The best way to get some of the basic information you will need is to have each nanny applicant fill out an application. On this application ask for references and current contact information for each reference. You should also ask for a quick rundown of his or her employment history and residence history.
Verify that the entire job application is completed. Verify that all information is present and includes their driver’s license and social security numbers along with their date and place of birth. Now follow up on the references they provide and make sure they are accurate. If a reference can’t be reached, have them provide an alternate one.
Have your prospective nanny sign a consent form and provide a copy of their photo id.
Make sure your background check for the nanny includes:
Identity Verification: Make sure that the nanny’s social security and drivers’ license number really belongs to him or her.
DMV Records: You’d be surprised what you can learn from a driving record. In addition to the more mundane speeding tickets, you may find that there are multiple DUI’s or reckless driving. These are not the acts of a responsible nanny.
Financial Records: A basic credit check will let you know how responsible your nanny will be with the paycheck he or she will earn. You can learn if he or she pays the bills on time and this check will also reveal years worth of previous addresses and employers.
Criminal Records: A criminal records check is usually limited to a state wide check, but you can also contact the states listed on the financial check to see if your applicant has a record in those states. A nationwide check is not usually an option. As part of this criminal records check you will absolutely want to run a Sex Offender check. Obviously anybody who is listed as a sex offender is a dangerous choice for a nanny.
You don’t want to regret hiring the wrong nanny because you didn’t want to take the time to do a background check. A qualified candidate will actually prefer that you run a background check on them because it proves that you really are concerned about your child and it will form a bond between you and the nanny since there is nothing to hide!
