wat question should i ask when interview a maid?

[Joanna Kee]

hi mummies,

can someone advise me

1. is filipino maid good?
2. what are those questions that i should ask when interview a maid?

my main reason to employ maid is to
1st: look after baby (most important)
2nd: do house work

I just scare that tis filipino maid that i'm going to interview same as my current myanmar maid who work for me least then 2 weeks and start giving me problem and showing me black face.

thanks in advance and best regards.

 

[MsKoh1973]

You are interviewing a transfer maid or new maid?
For transfer maid :
1. Why kenna transferred.
2. Whats the working environment in the x-emplyer's house (like how many pp, do what duty, wake up at what time, cook, look after bb or children, bring kids to school etc)
3. Why want to continue to work in Singapore
4. Like Singapore or not.

For new maid:
1. Wk in Sg before
2. Wk else where before as domestic helper?
3. What duties she did previously?

In addition, u may want to ask the followings (new/ tfr) questions:
1. She is married? For how long? How many kids? Who is taking care of the kids when she is here?
2. If not married, got bf?
3. She is no. what child in the family? Usually who does the housework? Who she has in the family, if something happen, must she go back (last time my maid need to go home cos her mum was sick and nobody to attend to)
4. When she wk last time as domestic helper, how many maid that employer has (cos sometimes, they have diff maid for diff functions).
5. Can she cook, what dishes.
6. You can ask her specifically, how she cook porride or fried rice, these two are quite common things. Thru her process of descrbing to you, not only can you forsee "how" she does that, you also can tell whether you can "understand" her words.
7. Tell her how many pp you have in the house now.
8. Tell her how many pp u later may have (eg. if say your parents planning to come over in 2 mths time)
9. If you need her to look after bb, you may want to list down all detail things she need to do, if she don't know, you may want to ask is she willing to learn. Try to be as specific as possible. For example, waking up at nite to make milk, burp her, change clothes, shower etc.
10. You must tell her how old the bb now, whether she ever handle bb of this age, she scare of the bb or not.
11. If bb cry non stop, what can she do if she alone with bb in the house.
12. What other work you need her to do and there are how many pp in the family now.

Tho is true that, by saying too much details, you may frighten the maid off, but, if u withheld, there is a possibility that they come here, they say u cheat them and they don't want to continue working.

That time I went to a maid agent in TPY to look for transfer maid. It was a filipino, I interviewed her over the phone cos she was at the other center. She told me, she refuse to wk cos that time she came, it was a 4 pp family, parents and 2 kids. After she came for one month, the employer as her parents to come over to stay. She buay song, so she quit.

I got 8 pp in my house, tho there is not really much things to do (kids go childcare, father cook, maid only do cleaning and washing). I still exaggerated it very much when I interviewed the transfer maid. Now she is beri happy in my house, cos most of the time, she is beri busy, busy folding clothes only kekekekek, compared to her ex-employer's house, they got 2 maids in a bungalow, but the other maid look after kids, she do all the housework, everyday do until nearly fainted. She was returned becos her cooking sucks.

I have taught her how to cook very simple dishes, and she is super eager to learn, everytime I cook, she will stand beside me, but I told her, she is here to work, not here to attend class, she should always attend to the housewk first. And my father love to cook, so there is not much chance she can cook in the house oso.

She was with us since march 2010.

 

[MsKoh1973]

one thing to note, I heard filipino maid beri particular about off day and hp. So if you dun want to let them have both, please be very specific when u interview them.

tho some maid agency said, definitely must give off day for filipino, even now u disagree, later they come they will ask u for it. So you must tell them, they cannot agree now and then ask for it later.

I noe of some agency, they totally dun give off day for filipino maid, and the maid oso agreed. It all depends on the training center lah.

 

[Joanna Kee]

Thanks Ms Koh, i will take down all the information tat you given to and i'm gg to interview her tomolo. she is a transfer filipino maid. as accorrding to the agent, tis maid work in manila b4. and juz came to s'pore about a month.
at s'pore, she work for malysian employer to look after old ppl. but old ppl always say she steal their thing but end up was found so employer cant tahan send her back to agency.

 

[MsKoh1973]

one more thing, u may want to check her tooth, cos in filipino and indo, the dental care quite bad. dun under estimate the cost of dental care in sg. Recalled my previous maid, she came to wk at my hse abt one month, suddenly complaint abt toothache. Bring her to see dentist, end up she did an extraction before she came to sg, but they only extract half tooth, the roots still remain inside.

The sg dentist said may have to do operation, cost abt $300+ and tat's not cover in insurance ok, I nearly fainted. That time was also close to CNY, many appointment fully booked. In the end, have to take leave to let her do the extraction. Luckily, the dentist managed to "dig" the root out, dam bloody scene, so it cost only $80.

So better chx the teeth condition.

Btw, if u said that she already got abit of "history", tho the agency said in the end, the things are found, think u better be careful.

Last time, I got 2 transfer maid, agent said they were returned cos they complaint of not enough food. In the end, I feed themn 5 meals per day, they still want to leave my house. So, what agent said may not be truth lah, u better be careful.

 

[Joanna Kee]

Thank i will be careful but hw to check her tooth like a bit funny to ask her open her month and let me see.
currently urgently needed a maid as my EDD is early next month anyway will c how after tomolo interview. and will oso install cctv lor

 

[MsKoh1973]

you ask her hows her teeth, if she said every thing ok, later got problem, she paid herself lor, cos lie mah.

sometimes alot depend on luck lah, after my last maid of 6 yrs left, I got 2 transfer maid, one indo and one mymmar, and one new maid. all kns. Current one is also a transfer maid, but she looked like indian, so nobody wants her, but she happened to look like one of my fren, tat's why I like her smile.

Best of luck!!!

 

[Joanna Kee]

oic ...

hopefully tomolo interview will b ok.
as for tis myanmar maid, already ask my husband tomolo tell her to pack her thing, i dun want to say anything to her. she dun dare to show black face to my husband

 

[MsKoh1973]

how was your interview w maid?

 

[Joanna Kee]

how was your interview w maid?

thanks for all your tips ... yesterday interview is fine and will employ tis filipino maid. partly is bcos her english is ok n oso she look after her own bb since born till 4 yrs old, she oso look after her ex-employer bb. so with tis will b much more easy for me to teach her. she can onli come to my hse after my previous maid been employ by other employer. so i can onli wait ...

 

[MsKoh1973]

funni leh, you should be able to have "additional" maid mah, you double chx with the agent. Last time, I ever tried got 2 maid returned to agent, new one cannot get wk permit cos the 2 old ones still waiting for new employer (not my fault, they choose to leave due to homesick and high ego). In the end, the new one was fined cos they considered her "overstayed". Agent paid the fine.

 

[Joanna Kee]

funni leh, you should be able to have "additional" maid mah, you double chx with the agent. Last time, I ever tried got 2 maid returned to agent, new one cannot get wk permit cos the 2 old ones still waiting for new employer (not my fault, they choose to leave due to homesick and high ego). In the end, the new one was fined cos they considered her "overstayed". Agent paid the fine.

Agent told me that is bcos i stay in 3room flat so cant hv 2 maid at 1 time. i'm the 1 insist tat i dun want to previous maid cos really can tahan her. so got to wait lor

 

[MsKoh1973]

ic........all the best for your new maid

 

[Angelmum]

one thing to note, I heard filipino maid very particular about off day and hp. So if you dont want to let them have both, please be very specific when you interview them.

tho some maid agency said, definitely must give off day for filipino, even now you disagree, later they come they will ask you for it. So you must tell them, they cannot agree now and then ask for it later.

I know of some agency, they totally dont give off day for filipino maid, and the maid also agreed. It all depends on the training center .

I agree.

When hunting for agencies, avoid those in Orchard and Bt Timah.
The bios of maid at Orchard are 95% 4 off days per month (filipinos who havent completed 2yr contract asking $400 - 450 per month & 4 off days. 1 Myanmar bio indicated worked less than 2yrs also asking for this pay package too). Some indicated on bio only want to work for Expat. These maids are mainly given off days so you'll be told by agent they are available for interview only on Sundays.

I popped by a number of agencies at Coronation and before I could see bios, agents told me, the filipinos they have asked for 4 off days and must have handphone.

Had a tough time getting a maid with right working attitude ........ I hope I don't have to go thru such headaches again :embarrassed:

Last time, I got 2 transfer maid, agent said they were returned cos they complaint of not enough food. In the end, I feed themn 5 meals per day, they still want to leave my house. So, what agent said may not be truth , you better be careful.

I just sent back a dishonest trf maid who claimed ex-employer didn't provide enough food, ill-treated, forced by agency to work in my hse, blah blah blah. Came to my house said she doesn't feel hungry (claimed not much manual work in my hse) so unable to finish the food I gave her :err::nah:. Printed & explained my house rules and detailed jobscope during 2 face to face interviews, ask whether she's interested to work, told me yes yet can tell me she doesn't like the job when I collected her, felt so cheated by this maid!!

 

[humblelady]

You are interviewing a transfer maid or new maid?
For transfer maid :
1. Why kenna transferred.
2. Whats the working environment in the x-emplyer's house (like how many pp, do what duty, wake up at what time, cook, look after bb or children, bring kids to school etc)

Should have seen your post first before I get my maid.... i dunno what to ask. end up my agent helped me asked most of the questions....

 

[hazelline22]

I am looking for a Domestic helper too. Please help me look a good one.

 

[zaclin29]

Thanks for the qns listed!
Hipe I can get a good feel of the maid that I'm going to interview tomorrow.
And will pick up some "lies" if she tries to smoke me... Haha