Employer’s Guide to Hiring Caregivers

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74 Caregiver Interview Questions

Use our comprehensive list of 74 interview questions to help guide you through your interview and
selection process to your ideal caregiver.

How to structure your interview

1. Begin by asking the live-in caregiver to introduce herself.
2. If she is an experienced caregiver, you can run through each of her individual work experience.
This section provides questions that you can ask about her experiences.
3. If she is new, certified caregiver with no experience, you can proceed with questions found in
this section.
4. Beyond caregiving, you can go on to ask general questions such as her family situation, her
medical background, her non-caregiving work experience.
5. Closing off the interview, you can communicate with her clearly about your care needs, job
requirements, situation at home and expectations.

Sections
1. Questions for caregivers with experience
1.1. Understanding the background
1.2. Assisting with each type of activity of daily living
1.3. Assisting with supporting tasks
1.4. Performing advanced care
1.5. Managing care independently
1.6. Caring for persons with dementia
2. Questions for new, certified caregivers with no experience
2.1. Questions on caregiving
2.2. Questions on training received
2.3. Questions on situations that caregiver might face
3. General questions

Anglo Nurses Pte Ltd (17C8737) | E: info@anglonurses.com

NUH Medical Centre, 1 Lower Kent Ridge Road #02-14 Singapore 119082
Employer’s Guide to Hiring Caregivers
More Guides Here: anglocaregivers,com/guides Your Caregiver Agency
T: 6646 0000 | W: anglocaregivers.com
1. Questions for caregivers with Experience
1.1 Understanding the background
• How long did you take care of the care recipient for? From when to when? What country
was it in? Was it a stay-in or stay-out job?
• If it was in the home country, how are you related to the care recipient? Do you have a
certificate of employment?
• If it was stay-out arrangement, what were your working days and hours? Was it in the day
or at night?
• What was your care recipient’s medical condition(s)?
• How old was your care recipient? Was the care recipient male or female? How heavy was
your care recipient?
• What did you do for your care recipient every day?
• Walk me through your routine in a typical day. What time did you wake up? What did you
do after you woke up? What was the next thing that you did? … Then? … What time did
you sleep?
• Did you have your own room? Or did you share room with the care recipient?
• Were you the only caregiver for your care recipient?
• Other than your care recipient, were there other people who stayed there? Who were
they?
1.2 Assisting with each type of activity of daily living
• Showering: Was your care recipient able to shower himself? Did you have to wash him?
For immobile care recipients, was the showering done in the toilet or on the bed? Were
you able to shower him by yourself? Was there extra help from other people?
• Toileting: Was your care recipient able to go toileting by himself? Did you have to clean
up for him after toileting? Did you have to wake up at night to assist your care recipient to
the toilet? How many times do you usually have to wake up each night?
• Changing diapers: Did the care recipient wear diapers? When did he put on diapers (e.g.
when heading outside or at night)? Did you have to change diapers for the care recipient?
Did you have to wake up at night to change the diapers? How many times did you have to
wake up each night to do so?
• Feeding: Was your care recipient able to eat by himself or did you have to feed him? If
you had to feed him, did you have to feed him orally or via a feeding tube?
• Dressing: Was your care recipient able to change clothes by himself?
• Walking: Was your care recipient able to walk by himself? If care recipient needed
assistance to walk, did he use any walking aid. Did he need to use wheelchair when going
outdoors?
• Transferring: If your care recipient was unable to walk even with your assistance, did you
have to transfer him from bed to wheelchair and back again by yourself? Did you transfer
him with someone’s help? Describe to me how you transfer a care recipient from the bed
to the wheelchair. Where does the care recipient place his hands? Where do you place
your hands? Where do you put your legs? Are you able to transfer a care recipient of Xkg
by yourself? How many times do you need to transfer the care recipient every day?

Anglo Nurses Pte Ltd (17C8737) | E: info@anglonurses.com

NUH Medical Centre, 1 Lower Kent Ridge Road #02-14 Singapore 119082
Employer’s Guide to Hiring Caregivers
More Guides Here: anglocaregivers,com/guides Your Caregiver Agency
T: 6646 0000 | W: anglocaregivers.com
• Turning and positioning: How often did you turn and position the care recipient? Did you
turn and position the care recipient at night? If yes, how often did you turn and position
the care recipient at night? If no, why not?
1.3 Assisting with supporting tasks
• Serving medications: Who prepared your care recipient’s medication? Did you prepare
and administer the medication, or did your employer prepare the medication and you
only had to administer it?
• Monitoring vital signs: Did you have to take your care recipient’s vital signs every day?
What were the vital signs you had to take (e.g. Blood pressure, Temperature, Pulse,
Oxygen levels)? What device did you use to measure the vital sign? Can you describe how
you would use the device for measurement? What is the safe range? What was your care
recipient’s usual range?
• Exercises: Did you help you care recipient with daily exercises? What kind of exercises did
you do for your care recipient? Show me. Who taught you how to do the exercises with
your care recipient?
• Rehabilitation: Did you have to assist in rehabilitative exercises? Can you show me the
exercises? Who taught you these exercises? Was there any change in the mobility status
of your care recipient over time?
• Massage: Did you perform massage for your care recipient? Which parts of his body did
you massage? Where did you learn how to do massage?
• Accompanying for medical appointments: Did you bring your care recipient for medical
appointments by yourself, or did your employer go with you and your care recipient?
• Preparing meals: What food did you prepare or cook for your care recipient? Did your
care recipient have any special diet? Describe to me how you prepared these dishes.
1.4 Performing advanced care
• Blood Glucose Monitoring: Please describe to me how you would take the blood glucose
level. When did you do the blood glucose test?
• Nasogastric Tube (NGT) feeding: Please describe to me step by step how you performed
NGT feeding for your care recipient. What did you do to test if the NGT is in your care
recipient’s stomach? What colour should the PH paper change into? Where did you learn
how to perform it?
• Suctioning (oropharyngeal or trachea): Please describe to me step by step how you
performed suctioning for your care recipient. How did you use the suction machine? How
did you know when to stop the suctioning? How deep was the suctioning – was it mainly
in the mouth or did you also go down into the throat to do the suctioning? Where did you
learn how to perform it?
• Indwelling Urinary Catheter (IDC) care: What did you need to do to care for your care
recipient’s IDC? How often did you change the urine bag? Where did you learn how to
care for it?
• Wound care: Where was the wound located? What kind of wound was it (e.g. diabetic
wound, surgical wound, pressure injury)? Please describe to me step by step how you had
cared for the wound. How often did you need to change the wound dressing? Who taught
you how to care for the wound?

Anglo Nurses Pte Ltd (17C8737) | E: info@anglonurses.com

NUH Medical Centre, 1 Lower Kent Ridge Road #02-14 Singapore 119082
Employer’s Guide to Hiring Caregivers
More Guides Here: anglocaregivers,com/guides Your Caregiver Agency
T: 6646 0000 | W: anglocaregivers.com
• Oxygen therapy: What did you need to do for oxygen therapy? How many litres was the
oxygen concentrator? How many hours did your care recipient need the oxygen
concentrator every day? What did you use to monitor the oxygen levels? What is the safe
range?
1.5 Managing care independently
• Were there times when your care recipient is uncooperative when you were assisting him
to do something (e.g. refusing to shower, eat or take medication)? What do you do? How
did you get him to do what was needed?
• Did your care recipient sleep well at night? When he stayed up awake at night, what did
you do?
• Did your care recipient have mood swings? How would he behave when he was upset?
How did you respond?
• What did you find most difficult about taking care of the care recipient?
• What did you like about working there as a caregiver? What did you not like about it?
• If contract was not completed, why did you not finish your contract?
1.6 Caring for persons with dementia
• We understand that your care recipient had dementia. Were there behaviours that your
care recipient exhibited that were challenging for you? What were these behaviours?
• Was your care recipient forgetful? What are the things he forgot about?
• Did your care recipient have difficulty remembering that you were his caregiver? What
happened when he did not remember you? Did he tell you to go away? How did you
respond?
• Did your care recipient repeat himself many times in a day? How did you feel about it?
How did you respond to him?
• Did your care recipient forget where he put his items and accuse you of stealing them?
How did you respond to him?
• Was your care recipient emotional? What did you do when your care recipient broke
down?
• Did your care recipient have mood swings? What did he do when he had mood swings?
Was it often? How did you respond when he had mood swings?
• Did your care recipient have sundown syndrome? How did you respond?
• Did you engage your care recipient in the day? What are some of the things you did to
engage him?
2 Questions for new, certified caregivers with No experience
2.1 Questions on caregiving
• You have not taken care of an ill care recipient before. Why do you want to be a
caregiver?
• Tell me what you think this job requires you to do.
• Are you afraid of seeing blood? Are you afraid of giving injections? Are you afraid of
performing suctioning? If you have to learn to perform these by yourself, will you be
afraid?
2.2 Questions on training received

Anglo Nurses Pte Ltd (17C8737) | E: info@anglonurses.com

NUH Medical Centre, 1 Lower Kent Ridge Road #02-14 Singapore 119082
Employer’s Guide to Hiring Caregivers
More Guides Here: anglocaregivers,com/guides Your Caregiver Agency
T: 6646 0000 | W: anglocaregivers.com
• Share with me about the training you have undergone. How long was the training? How
many days and how many hours? What did you learn? Can you share with me in detail
what topics was covered?
• From your training, what did you like about caregiving? What did you not like about
caregiving? What did you find challenging?
• Did you do any on-the-job (OJT) training or volunteering? Where was it at? How long was
the OJT? From your experience during OJT, what were the tasks that you like to do? What
were the tasks that you did not like doing? What were the tasks that you find challenging?
• At the end of your training, was there an assessment carried out? What were you
assessed in? Who assessed you?
• Do you have TESDA NC II (for caregivers from the Philippines) or Certificate of Caretaker
(for caregivers from the Indonesia)?
2.3 Questions on situations that caregiver might face
• The care recipient will wake up a few times at night to go toileting and you will need to
assist him. It is a very tiring job. What do you think about waking up multiple times at
night? Are you willing to do this every night over 2 years?
• The care recipient is wheelchair-bound. You will need to transfer him from bed to
wheelchair and vice versa multiple times a day. Are you willing to do this every day over 2
years?
• The care recipient experiences mood swings very often. What will you do when the care
recipient gets upset?
• The care recipient has dementia and is very forgetful. He will repeat himself many times a
day. What will you say to him? He may forget that he has already taken his meals and
demand to eat again. What will you do in this situation?
• The care recipient does not comply with his caregiver sometimes. If he refuses to take his
medication, what will you do? If he refuses to go for a shower, what will you do?
3. General Questions
• Do you prefer to take care of children/perform household chores or taking care of a care
recipient with care needs? Why?
• There are also jobs available as a normal domestic worker. Why are you applying for the
role of a caregiver?
• What personality trait of yours do you think will make you a good caregiver?
• There will also be other helpers in the house. You will need to work closely with them. Are
you comfortable with it?
• Have you worked abroad before? What country was it? What did you work as? What
were your job duties? If contract was not completed, what were the reasons?
• After you returned to your home country, did you work anywhere? What did you do?
• Do you have any allergies?
• Do you have any past or existing medical conditions?
• Do you have any pain or aches on any part of your body? Any pain on your shoulder, neck
or back?
• Do you have any prior injuries, especially when giving care to your previous care
recipients?

Anglo Nurses Pte Ltd (17C8737) | E: info@anglonurses.com

NUH Medical Centre, 1 Lower Kent Ridge Road #02-14 Singapore 119082
Employer’s Guide to Hiring Caregivers
More Guides Here: anglocaregivers,com/guides Your Caregiver Agency
T: 6646 0000 | W: anglocaregivers.com
• Can you stand and squat a few times for me? Can you walk a few steps for me?
• Do you have any dietary restrictions? Do you have any food handling preferences?
• If there are dogs at home, will you be afraid of the dogs?
• Do you have children? How old are they? Who will take care of them?

- End -

Anglo Nurses Pte Ltd (17C8737) | E: info@anglonurses.com

NUH Medical Centre, 1 Lower Kent Ridge Road #02-14 Singapore 119082