Hiring Child Care Providers

Once your daycare center starts its operations and you have shown to the initial clients that you really meant business, more and more clients will be coming in. Before you knew it, the number of clients you have is way too much to handle by yourself - you need help. You will have to hire additional child care providers to enable you to provide the same quality care to your clients.

Hiring personnel is easy but getting the right person for the job is a difficult matter. You must hire a person who will be able to care for the children in your center in the same manner that you do. The following are some guidelines when hiring a child care provider:

1. Experience is important but it should not be the only factor to consider in hiring. Character references provided by relatives or friends whom the applicant has babysat for will give you a good idea if the applicant can handle the job he is applying for. An applicant can have many years of experience but if he cannot provide any good character reference, you still cannot be sure if he is the right person you are looking for.

2. Ask if the applicant is willing to commit to the job for a long time. He might be interested only in getting some experience in your daycare center and leave afterwards. A daycare service should provide love, consistency, and reassurance that the children are in a safe environment. Constant changes of personnel will create the opposite impression. Parents will not feel secured every time they see a new care provider for their children. Children also will not feel comfortable in the presence of a new person caring for them.

3. Provide a detailed job description to the person you are going to hire. Before he starts working, you have to make clear with him what his duties and responsibilities will be. This could prevent any misunderstanding that might arise if the new hire is not really sure of what he is supposed to do. You have to be patient in explaining and repeating to your new employee everything that he has to learn and understand. You cannot relax until you are sure that he has the feel of his job.

4. Have a probation period, from 30 to 60 days, for the new hire to find out if he is really cut for that position. This is the period to observe your new employee to see whether he really has genuine interest and love of children. His patience with children will also be tested during this probation period. If the new hire is not performing well or is unable to relate to the children he is caring for, the best and only option is to terminate his services. Do not be afraid to do it as you are protecting the interest of your business as well as the interest of the children under your care.

Hiring the right persons to help you run your daycare center will guarantee the continuous success of your business.

See: How to start a childcare service