3. Instructions for the interviewers:While the interviewees are out of the room, the panel interviewers will have 20 minutes to develop a short structured situational interview form for a nanny. The panel interview team will interview two candidates for the position. During the panel interview, each interview should be taking notes on a copy of the structured situational interview form. After the panel interview, the panel interviewers should discuss their notes.What were your first impressions of each interviewee? Were your impressions similar? Which candidate would you all select for the position and why? Purpose: The purpose of this exercise is to give you practice using some of the interview techniques you learned from this chapter.

Required Understanding: You should be familiar with the information presented in this chapter, and read this: For parents, children are precious. It s therefore interesting that parents who hire nannies to take care of their children usually do little more than ask several interview questions and conduct what is often, at best, a perfunctory reference check.

Given the often questionable validity of interviews, and the

(often) relative inexperience of the father or mother doing the interviewing, it s not surprising that many of these arrangements end in disappointment. You know from this chapter that it is difficult to conduct a valid interview unless you know exactly what you re looking for and, preferably, structure the interview.Most parents simply aren t trained to do this.