When choosing a childcare provider, gathering as much information as possible about a nanny candidate can help you to make an educated and informed hiring decision. For many parents, this means turning to social media to gain better insight into the person they’re considering hiring as their children’s nanny.
While many nannies may have their privacy setting blocked, just as many don’t, enabling potential nanny employers instant access to their personal lives. But for those who do have their strictest privacy setting intact, it still hasn’t stopped potential employer’s requiring them to accept their friend request as part of the pre-employment screening process.
While you may hope that your nanny candidate provides truthful answers to the questions you pose, here’s 5 things that she may not disclose that her Facebook page may:
1. How she talks about her current job and current employers. If you want insight into how your nanny candidate feels about her work, her current employers, and their children, her Facebook page may tell you. If her posts boast constant complaints about her work or if she refers to her employers or charges negatively and by code name, proceed with caution. Future posts may feature you and your family.
2. If she posts pictures of her work family’s children. While different families have different feelings about how much is too much to share on the web, if you’re a family that likes to keep all things private you’ll want to know if your potential nanny’s current charges are exploited or prominently featured on her page.
3. What she really does in her free time. Chances are your candidate really isn’t practically perfect in every way. No one is! While she may have listed knitting and cooking as her hobbies on her nanny job application, her Facebook profile may disclose different.
4. What her outlook is on life. Do her status updates read like she’s a pessimist or an optimist? Do her comments seem depressing? What does she talk about and what type of posts, articles or videos get her attention? The answers to these questions may provide insight into how she feels about herself, her family, her friends, her community, and her world.
5. If she has good judgment. Pictures can speak a thousand words. Are you comfortable with what snapshots are featured on your candidate’s page? Do photos of her with children seem to be in a safe environment? Does her cover photo scream “party girl?” Is she doing anything in the photos she explicitly said she didn’t do? When addressing a candidate’s judgment, images of your nanny behaving badly, even when off the clock, can be a red flag.
While some nannies and employers may feel like evaluating a potential nanny’s Facebook page is crossing the line when it comes to maintaining a professional relationship, the reality is that nannies typically work long hours unsupervised and, as a result, have a significant impact on the children in their care. It’s every parent’s right and duty to really know who is caring for their kids. In the age of social media, Facebook may help them do just that.
Taken From Nanny
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