First Interviews? Please Share!

[KEG123]

Ok so I've got my first interview on Monday. I'm pretty nervous. I guess that's just my personality, though. Anything "new" kinda freaks me out unless I kinda know what to expect. (As many of you remember me posting about my first Home Visit- I was a mess)

But anyways, I'd LOVE LOVE LOVE if you all could share your first interview experience. And even how you learned from that experience and moved on to give better interviews.

Give me any and all information you can! The good, the bad, the ugly! I'm all ears!! Thanks!

[lvt77]

You are brand new right? First kid?
I KNow that everyone has different ways of doing it.
Iput together a really professional publication folder that I give to the parents when they come in. It includes several differnet things. my PHB, info about our learning program/curriculum, I have a few bits of jargon on why in home daycare is better than a preschool center. Rate sheets, sample lunch menu, our daily schedule along with all the necessay info to enroll. Last my business card fits very nice on the folder. It is not fancy, but it is professional. I got the folders at walmart.
let me know anything wlse that I an help with

[KEG123]

You are brand new right? First kid?

Yep! Hence why it's my FIRST interview!! Little boy, almost 2 years old. My son is 3 in April so they're a good age to play together.

[lvt77]

I kinda figured that but was not too sure if you had family kids or your own.
All that I can say is dont get too personal, provide your information, make sure your house is clean and free of anything dangerous. Ie my older kids leave sissors on the counter all the time and I have to check the whole house each morning. Do a quick inspecction of your house and check it.

if you are licensed, hang it on the wall, explain to the parent what it means to be licensed. A lot of people dont know anything about it...

[KEG123]

I am licensed, but I'm waiting for it to come in the mail still...

[Lilbutterflie]

Remember this:

YOU are interviewing them FIRST and foremost.

Provide a folder with all of your info in it as a PP stated. Verbally give them a very quick run down of each sheet in the folder. Remember they can always review the sheets at home. Ask the parent if there are any questions they would like to ask.

Have a mental list of questions ready to ask about the parent and the child. Remember, you really want to make sure this child will be a good fit. Ask about discipline at home, eating habits, ask about the personality of the child, etc... WATCH the child play with your own, take lots of mental notes about your observations.

Good luck!!

[lvt77]

one last thing. seeing that you have your own little guy, I would highly reccomend him not being there. Why?
1. will constantly distract you and do anything to get your attention
2. Never know when your lil one is gonna have the melt down of their life
3. If this is your sons first encounter with another child coming into his personal space, he WILL with out a doubt have a hard time with it.

I have my own 3 yr old and I had him present during an interview, lets just say it was a disaster. He kept trying to get my attention, he was doing anything he could do to get it. I could not give all of my attention to the client and you could tell she was frustrated, as well as my son, as he was acting out almost the entire time. We all know that your child acts crazy when mom and dad are around due to the fact that we provide unconditonal love, whereas they will act differently around people they don't know very well, other friends or family.

So later I emailed the parent that was at the interview and invited her to ask me any questions. She wrote me back and said that my child was the worst behaved child she had ever saw in her life and there was no way she would want her child to interact with a child like that.....HOLY COW, I was shocked. My son is a sweetheart and just a little lover, but the family only got to see his bad side.

It will take time to break your son into the idea of new kids in his home, sharing his toys, his mommy, and everything else.

I have

[Little People]

one last thing. seeing that you have your own little guy, I would highly reccomend him not being there. Why?
1. will constantly distract you and do anything to get your attention
2. Never know when your lil one is gonna have the melt down of their life
3. If this is your sons first encounter with another child coming into his personal space, he WILL with out a doubt have a hard time with it.

I have my own 3 yr old and I had him present during an interview, lets just say it was a disaster. He kept trying to get my attention, he was doing anything he could do to get it. I could not give all of my attention to the client and you could tell she was frustrated, as well as my son, as he was acting out almost the entire time. We all know that your child acts crazy when mom and dad are around due to the fact that we provide unconditonal love, whereas they will act differently around people they don't know very well, other friends or family.

So later I emailed the parent that was at the interview and invited her to ask me any questions. She wrote me back and said that my child was the worst behaved child she had ever saw in her life and there was no way she would want her child to interact with a child like that.....HOLY COW, I was shocked. My son is a sweetheart and just a little lover, but the family only got to see his bad side.

It will take time to break your son into the idea of new kids in his home, sharing his toys, his mommy, and everything else.

I have

Awww, all children have bad days and your little one was just having one. Shame on her!! But I bet if it was her child that acted that way, it would of been fine and she would of wanted to enroll. Sorry you got a nasty email back from her, but you know she sounds like she may have been that thorn in your side mom. Hugs to you and your little one!

[kendallina]

I do what the others have said, have a folder with all the paperwork and info about my program, including:

parent handbook
holiday list
contract
payment schedule (my preschool pays by the month)
advertisement fliers
other various handouts/fliers about my program (philosophy, daily routine, etc)

Now that I've been open for a few months I show the prospective parents an example of a portfolio that I do for the children. It has the children's work and photos, etc. I use my daughter's so that I don't have to worry about parents not wanting me to do that.

I also give a tour of my home and talk about the kinds of activities we do in each area (messy art in kitchen, etc etc).

While we walk around and look at things I tell them about myself, how I got started, my education and background.

I ask them to tell me about their child. What are their likes/dislikes. Have they ever been in childcare before? A lot of my children are in childcare for their first time ever with me (lots of stay at home moms here), so I ask them how they expect their child to be when with someone new? If they have reservations about how their child will transition, I talk to them about how it works best to transition children (talk to them a lot about it before hand, come in, take off their coat, etc, then kiss and goodbye...not long and drawn out).

I try to really play up how great home childcare is compared to a preschool center. In my town, the city runs a preschool and so does the school district, and I charge more, so I want to make sure parents understand the quality that they're getting when they come here.

I think that's about it. It usually lasts about an hour, sometimes less, sometimes more...

Just have fun with it. Be yourself, express your enthusiasm and how much you love children. You'll do great! Don't forget to tell us how it goes!

[Little People]

I do most what the Op say and I always make sure I speak to the child (by Name), offer the child things to play with or I will get out a few books and ask the child to sit on the mat (checking to see if they will follow directions) or get out the legos and place them on the table and ask the child to sit down and then i will start to build with the child and talking to mom at the same time. Then in a little bit I will ask the child "would you please help me pick the up" again to see how the child does. Then when I feel I have covered all my questions I always ask parents if they have anymore questions and if they say no, then I say ok, thank you for coming by (and start walking to the door and if there child has toys out, i just say you are our guest today, I will pick them up) and I enjoyed our visit, if you decide to enroll, call me for a time to come by with your completed paper work and first week pay (now if I know at this time they ARE NOT A FIT, this is my new saying....thank you for coming by and I have 2/3 more interviews in the next several days and I will call everyone to let them know who will be the best fit for our daycare.

[kendallina]

Also, in doing interviews with parents for family childcare as well as when I was doing interviews when I worked in a center, I found it's best to really sell the program first- the benefits, your enthusiasm, all the great activities you do, etc BEFORE you look at the paperwork and talk about rates, etc. You want to get them excited about it and you want them to be thinking about how much they love your place before they look at the paperwork and become overwhelmed by policies or the length of the handbook or whatever. I didn't really write my response to reflect that order, but I wanted to be sure that I said that...

Good luck!

[KEG123]

Also, in doing interviews with parents for family childcare as well as when I was doing interviews when I worked in a center, I found it's best to really sell the program first- the benefits, your enthusiasm, all the great activities you do, etc BEFORE you look at the paperwork and talk about rates, etc. You want to get them excited about it and you want them to be thinking about how much they love your place before they look at the paperwork and become overwhelmed by policies or the length of the handbook or whatever. I didn't really write my response to reflect that order, but I wanted to be sure that I said that...

Good luck!

Good point. Talk and get to know each other first, then move on to the "legalities"

[KEG123]

Anyone else want to share their experiences?

[katie]

I was a nervous wreck. It was a single mom who was very very nervous about where she left her child. The child was just at one year. I introduced here to my kids, showed her around. Then we sat on the floor and played with some toys while we talked. She hung around for over an hour. I have to say it being my first time, even with my own kids, you see things differently when it's another child around. Example, how she moved up and down the step to my classroom. My kids never gave it a thought but she struggled. So things like that. But it went well, she did end up coming to me and it was a good experience. Once you get one under your belt you are much more ready for the second one and confident. Best wishes! You will do great.

[Abigail]

I am licensed, but I'm waiting for it to come in the mail still...

You could be funny and hang up a frame that is empty and point to it explaining that you are licensed now and this is where it will be displayed. :: That could be a great ice breaker and a way to see if the parent laughs of not.

I haven't started yet so I'm looking forward to more responses. How long have you been open for business? Where did this person find you to set up an interview?

I know some people have multiple interviews and usually give the contract during the second visit. I would probably give out the handbook and all the other papers for enrollment and anything else you may find like other's said about home daycares. Maybe you can find something locally from your Childcare Resource site about your area and home daycares? I would have them come back a second time (prior to the day of enrollment so you're not too busy) and have them pay that day the deposit/first week if you don't have a deposit and have them go over the contract with you then.

When I went to two interviews/showings with a friend one was great. She gave us a tour to start out with "Welcome to our home..... How are you today? Was is easy to find? etc." then was our five-ten minute tour as she told us what favorites were in each room and what they did in each room. That went great and her nice, friendly attitude and clean house sold it. The other interview was in a small, dark and cluttered house with older teens just sitting there starring at us while watching tv or something. The provider offered us to sit down and then she didn't even sit so it was ackward! Her prices were less also, but the first place was the best. Make sure to open the curtains to let sunlight in and make sure the tv is off. I would also have a friend or DH take out your son for 1-2 hours and just tell the person on the tour that he was at a sleepover or birthday party of something so the parent doesn't think you got him out of the house just for this interview. If anything say he is at the store with DH and they should be back soon to meet them (even though they won't) and at the end make sure to say something about "Maybe next time they're be around to meet you"