interviewing potential DH and etc

any advice or views on ages that you prefer your DH to be? most of my friends say they prefer older for the experience and also they would less likely be the type to go out and party it up when they have day off or nights off.


during the interview, any suggestions of questions or things i should look for? i made the mistake once of hiring someone not that great and hope not to make the same mistake


thanks for any advice and tips.

for me personally i prefer someone who is married and have kids of their own. because i believe they then know how or what a mother goes through and hopefully will take good care of my children. also, i prefer someone with older kids e.g older than 10 so that they will not always worry about their kids and miss their kids therefore distracting them from their work. my mother once had a maid whose kid is only 2, and she was always crying because she missed her kid so much. i know she can't help it but it made hiring her very difficult because she was always crying. with the criteria above, i guess my candidate is usually between 30-40 years old. experience is good, i find but i am often warned that the longer they have lived in hong kong or the more experienced they are, they tend to be more crafty too. i dont know what to say about that. anyway, this is just my two cent worth. finally, feelings is very important. if you dont have a good feel about a person, dont hire her. trust your instinct. good luck.

any particular questions you would ask?


one friend said she shows the interviewee a recipe for 4 and asks how to cook for 2. when it came to 3/4 cup, how to divide it in half, she got such a range of responses including a blank look, to someone saying half of 3/4 cup.

she said at least she has an idea if the helper will be able to think things thru or to just blankly go around the flat aimlessly doing things. also determines if the helper is able to administer medication to the babies or infants should the need arise.

My suggestion is to only hire a domestic helper where you have the opportunity to speak to her previous helper, even if they have left the country. Usually, if the employer geniunely likes a helper they would leave a contact number.


I have intereviewed helpers who have made up reference letters and outright lied. One time i had interviewed a helper that we liked tremendously. She said that her previous employer had moved to japan and didn't leave any contact info. She said she worked in Discovery Bay so i decided to call information assistance to see if the employer was still around. Turns out that the employer had terminated her for stealing.


Bottom Line: Try your best to talk to their previous employer.


1) A question I always ask over the phone at the beginning of the conversation is:


"What type of family are you looking to work for" (1) a couple, (2)a couple with dogs, (3) a couple with children.


The usual response is "I would be happy with anything? I then say "if you had a choice which would you choose..


The intent of the question is to draw out what the helper's preferences are. This is especially important for families who have young children (infants). I have seen many helpers who have infant/toddler experiences.. but when asked this question.. they prefer to work for a couple with no children.


Bottom Line: while some have infant/toddler experiences they may be tired and prefer to have a change and work for a couple.. (which is ok..but i would not hire them because they are no long interested in looking after infants.. i would be looking for a response where they would say i love children )

"You mean there are people in the world who would trust an untrained employee to administer medication to their infant?!?!!! "


Burgundy - If I am going to trust my child's everyday care to a helper I am certainly going to trust the same helper to give him medication when necessary. What a bizarre comment to make.


About age, my first helper was considerably older than me and I don't think that was ideal - I felt uncomfortable with correcting the way she did things and asking her to do them my way. My second helper is just one year younger than me but it makes a huge difference to me.


In an interview I would trust a lot to gut feeling - you will be spending a lot of time with this person, and they will be party to every intimate aspect of your life, in addition to taking care of your family. If you don't feel comfortable with them at the start then you might be letting yourself in for a whole lot of problems later. Interview as many helpers as you need to until you feel one is right - there are thousands looking for jobs - you can find the right persno but it might take time. If you need someone urgently it would be better to get a part-time/temporary local helper, until you can find someone permanent. Really, I speak from experience.


I don't think asking tricky questions is necessarily a good idea (I mean, if you were asked by a prospective employer whether you would prefer an easy job or a difficult one, what would you say? Would you give an honest answer?).