You’ve been taking care of your senior, but you feel like you need an extra pair of hands. After pondering for days and talking to your loved one, you’ve concluded finding professional help would be the best.
You want to find an ideal caregiver, who will take care of your loved one better than you. In order to find the best person, there are several things you need to know before you hire someone.
Finding the right person is not an easy task, especially if you haven’t interviewed or employed anyone before. Thus, follow these simple steps that will help you to discover the person you’re looking for.
Create a Job Description
When interviewing applicants, you must be completely aware of the tasks a caregiver will have. Think about what you need help with and the skills this person needs to have. Is it only helping around the house or helping with bathing, grooming, medication management, etc.?
Once you meet a candidate, explain immediately what you expect from them. This way you will avoid confusion and unpleasant situations in the future. Tell them all the responsibilities of a caregiver. If they don’t do particular things, it is better to know that before hiring them.
Check out what a typical caregiver job description looks like.
About Salary
Also be specific and timely when discussing working hours and salaries. You may decide to hire an independent caregiver and avoid the agency. Agencies usually employ trained caregivers that have a certain amount of experience and charge a fixed rate. With a private caregiver, you can discuss the hourly wage.
When deciding on the price, make sure you don’t pay lower than the average in your area. If you are not fair and offer a miserable salary, a caregiver you choose will leave you as soon as a new job opportunity is opened. This will cause trouble for you and your loved one, since you will need to find another care provider. Thus, when determining the price, be fair and make sure the wage you offer is not significantly lower than the average in the area.
What Questions to Ask
Don’t find yourself in a situation that after five minutes of the interview you run out of questions. Make a list of all the relevant questions so that you won’t miss out on anything. Don’t focus only on closed questions: Do you, Have you ever, Are you, etc. Combine open and closed questions to get the better insight on a candidate’s profile. Also, don’t stick blindly to the list. If a candidate says anything interesting, ask them more about it.
Conduct Several Interviews With the Same Applicant
It is hard to asses people after one conversation, so schedule several interviews. The first interview can be completed via phone. However, never seal the deal before you meet interviewees in person.
With the candidates who pass the phone interview, arrange a face-to-face meeting. This way you can study their body language and notice if they are lying about the things they talk about.
To avoid missing anything, make a checklist containing all important information.
In the video below, you may find some other questions you want to ask the applicant.
If you don’t feel competent for hiring a caregiver, consider finding a homecare agency in your neighborhood. They will see who among the caregivers is the most suitable for you and give you the best match. When going via an agency, you can be sure there will always be a substitute in case of sickness. This means your loved ones will always have a professional to look after them, and the whole family can have peace of mind.
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