While is agreed that hiring a domestic work is different from filling a vacancy for a typical office role, this is actually the reason why it is important to take the hiring process even more seriously. It is very important that you take time and ensure you pay attention to all the little details.

Lets now talk about how you can avoid the most common mistakes you must avoid when trying to find a perfect help for your family and kids in Nairobi.

1. Doing only one interview

The most common mistake most people make is to do only one interview. Needless to say, one interview can never be enough to get to know about any potential employee. Plan to interview multiple candidates, and if possible more than once for each candidate.  You might want to do the initial interview over the phone to get a sense of the person’s personality, experience and child care skills. With this method, you don’t waste time meeting candidates in person whom you don’t want to interview further.

After the initial interview, you can then decide if it is worth making a one-on-one interview with some or one of them. Further, you may even conduct different interview with children being present and another with the rest of the family members. You also have time in between interviews to check references, too, which we talk about next.

2. Failing to check references

Even if a candidate seems perfect to you, still make it a point to call the references find out whatever they have to say about the potential house help. It is essential to call references and conduct a background check. Ask about their character, childcare skills, how they got along, discipline etc.

Ask if they were punctual coming back from their off days and if they had to ever deal with any emergency. The information you receive from a background check can vary, but it will be much help when picking the right person.

3. Settling for someone when you run out of time

So far, the mistakes I have mentioned are often made when you don’t give yourself enough time to find the right house help! Employers then resort to doing only one interview, skip the background check and references . Don’t settle for a house help that you’re not completely happy with because you’ve run out of time.

Start looking for a house help as soon as you know you’ll need one. For example, maybe you already employ a full-time house help who’s planning to leave. Begin your search for a replacement now. Prepare to read a lot of resumes and do a lot of reviews. When you start as soon as you can, you can mentally prepare yourself for the hiring process to come.

Of course this advice may not sound helpful when a house helps quits abruptly or fails to come back after taking some days off duty. In such case seek help for emergency care as you prepare to start the proper hiring process.

4. Not Paying Well Enough

Unfortunately, many families in Nairobi do not pay their house help the legally mandated wage – minimum wage. The current minimum wage in Kenya is Kes. 13,572/ per month. Be the one that pays your house help fairly. Besides ensuring that they are able to work for you satisfactorily, you will be avoiding any potential mess that might arise. It is not only necessary, but also good, to be a good employer.

5. Not Employing a trial period or working interview

In theory, a trial period or working interview lets a house help prove her childcare skills to her potential employer. However, some parents replace multiple interviews and reference checks with only these trial periods, judging a house help at face value rather than putting in the hiring work themselves. It’s not fair to a house help who doesn’t have time to get to know a potential employer, nor is it fair to the family who may not get the most accurate impression of a house help’s quality of care and personality.

A trial period works if you’ve already run through the interview process, and you’re almost sure that you want to hire a house help. Maybe you need a house help to spend longer periods of time with your child to be sure they’re the right fit, or if you’re hiring a live-in house help, everyone needs to feel comfortable with the decision. If you do decide to use a trial period, just make sure you’re not replacing any other part of the hiring process with it.

Now that you know the mistakes to avoid when hiring a house help, you might also consider getting help in the process.  The house help hiring process can be long and exhausting. Why not let an experienced house help agency work with you to find the right person for your family? Nairobi Nanny matches each house help according to a family’s needs to make sure both parties are happy. Contact us here for help with hiring house helps in Nairobi.

1. Search for suitable Candidate

2. Set up Face to Face interviews

3. Conduct a Background Check

4. Do a Trial Run

Let us delve deeper into each step to learn more.

Step 1: The Search for A Suitable Candidate

This being the first step, it is important to get it right. Still, there are a few options when it comes to conducting the initial search of the potential employees – DIY, Friends and Relatives and agencies.

Option 1: DIY – Search For A House Help
There are many house help bureaus in Nairobi. Some are good and some not so good. However, if you do not want to use the services of a house-help agency to find one, you could search for a house help on your own. It is doable. But how do you find a good nanny by yourself?

The internet is the best place to begin. With so many digital platforms and social media forums, you will easily get help. You could join some of the face-book groups that are related to house help or nanny issues and post your needs. You are likely to get people that are interested making contact and from there you can create a list of candidates to interview. That is just one way. However, with online space, anybody could be anyone.

Option 2: Circle of Friends, Relatives, Neighbourhood
The other place to go looking for a house-help is your circle, your network and your neigbourhood. Your church members, your phone contact list, and the local preschool can also be great resources of trustworthy house helps. You could also ask your family members real-life friends and social media friends for referrals. You may find that you can trust their recommendations better than anyone else.

Option 3: Engage a House Help Bureau
The other option of getting someone is by contact a bureau or agency. A good agency. One very important advantage of working with a bureau to get a house help, is that you might be able to get pre-screened applicants. You would simply have to discuss your house help job description and specific needs and requirements with the bureau, and let them match you with someone. A good agency will normally take care of the initial formalities that go a long way to find a good house help safely and efficiently.

Step 2: Setting Up Face to Face Interviews

This is the second step of finding a good person to help you at home. Once you start receiving applications, immediately read the applications and start identifying potential candidates. Eliminate resumes that reveal negative distinctions about the person. Once you have done that you may want to schedule separate interviews with at least two to three candidates. Do not hesitate to ask as many questions as time allows. The interview will help you decide whether the applicant is likely to be a good person to work for you and get along with your children.

Step 3: Run Background Check

Generally, the process of getting a good house help must always INCLUDE a careful and thorough background check. If you start this process right, then it would not matter which method you employ in the process of getting a domestic help.

If you go with the option of looking for the candidates by yourself, some of the places you might get help when it comes to running the background check would be contacting the previous employers, or the friends or relatives who may have referred the candidate. In some cases, this might be just good enough.

A good nanny agency will also usually perform some basic background checks on the candidates. However, proper background checks and screening calls for checking police records for any history of criminal offenses.

The best background check is the one undertaken by licensed professional agencies like Darubini or by the relevant government department. In Kenya, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations office, is a semi-autonomous directorate of the National Police Service provides a more extensive access to criminal record information through the issuance of the Certificate of Good conduct.

At the end of the day, while one can always rely on friends’ recommendation, contacting a house help bureau like Nairobinanny, that can facilitate deeper screening (at a fee), is probably the safer way to find a good reliable house maid.

Step 4. Do a Trial Run

The final stage. A trial run gives you time to consider hiring the house help for long-term employment. It should be agreed during the interview stage. Some potential employees may not be agreeable to that. The trial period gives both of you the chance to become familiar with each other and decide whether you are a good fit. You will never uncover someone’s true identity until you live with them. More than appraising the chemistry, the trial period gives you the opportunity to assess the employee character and level of expertise – according to your expectations. If you are comfortable with the candidate, make sure to draft a work agreement before hiring them, and list the terms of your agreement in detail.

Now that you know how to go about finding a good nanny, you can productively focus on your work whilst having peace of mind knowing that you have a reliable person taking good care of your children back home.

If you decide to go about searching of the house help by engaging an agency, please feel free to contact us – Nairobinanny. Our agency keeps a database of highly-qualified, experienced house helps that can provide full-time or part-time care to your family. A placement specialist can be reached at 0708518470 or 0733801766 or email us at info[@]nairobinanny.com to share more information about our services. You can also complete a contact us submission form for someone to reach out to you directly.