How to Hire the Right Caregiver for Your Loved Ones

We all want the best for the people we care about, especially our parents and grandparents. However, you cannot always be sure whether the person you hired to take care of them was a good choice. There are many factors that you need to consider before giving such an important and responsible job to someone. Because of that, you need to know the steps towards learning enough about a caregiver that you will be confident to give them the job. Follow the article to learn what they are.

How do you know who to hire to take care of your loved ones?

To make sure that the caregiver you hire is the right choice you need to know that he comes from a reliable institution. For example, if you choose to get experienced professionals from a seniors home care facility, you’ll be sure that you didn’t make a mistake. However, you cannot be too careful and should still go through a screening process to become assured your loved ones are in good hands. Here are the steps.

1. Write the job description so that they know what they are dealing with

Candidates might not be comfortable with everything they would have to do while taking care of seniors. However, they sometimes take the job anyway but don’t do some of their chores properly because they don’t really enjoy doing something. You have to be sure that the person you are hiring knows what you expect from him or her. That is why you must write a clear job description that should include the following:

• How many hours the caregiver is needed
• How much flexibility is needed
• How much you would pay
• What exactly the caregiver need to do

2. Check the applicants’ references

No matter how much you like the person you interviewed, do not let your first impressions decide to hire someone for such a responsible job. A wise move is to do a background check and find out as much as you can about the applicant. Find out about old jobs and ask former employers if they would hire your candidate again. Also, make sure that you check the criminal record of the person because it is easier to fool older people.

3. Conduct a large scale interview

Maybe the best way to learn whether a candidate is right for you is through a long conversation in the form of an interview. This is a very efficient way to create a more complete picture of the caregivers that will surely help you decide if you want them to take care of your loved ones. There are multiple methods of conducting such interviews and you always have to know what kind of questions you need to ask the applicants. Here are some tips on how to do this:

• Conduct multiple interviews (over the phone, in person and another one with the top candidates). This way you will get a more detailed screening.
• Ask general questions about the job they would do and how they would do it. This also includes personal questions like, for example, do they put personal goals first or what they find to be the biggest challenge of this job. Ask them a little about their lives and what other achievements they have outside of work. It is a good way to create a personal profile.
• Ask them about their past experiences to see how they handled situations during their career as a caregiver. You will learn what they liked or didn’t like about the jobs they were given. In case they say they quit an earlier job, you should ask them why to find out if they were maybe too impatient. You don’t want a person like that taking care of your loved ones. 
• Ask them about their skills to see if they will be able to, for example, multitask. One of the most important things they’ll have to do is keeping the person they are taking care of and their clothes and surroundings clean. Look into how good they are with that. Other skills have to include patience, defusing intense situations, convincing the patient to take the medication, etc.
• Put up hypothetical scenarios to see how they would handle certain situations. Since you are the one who knows the person they have to take care of, you know what difficulties might be ahead. Take an example from the past and put it in front of them to see how well they would handle it.

By following these tips you will be sure you hired the right person, and that your loved ones are in good hands. You should, of course, still check in from time to time to see if everything is fine, but you will surely sleep more easily once you know that the person you are leaving your parents or grandparents with a kind and caring person. Remember, this job is very serious and requires many responsibilities so you going through all of these steps is important. Once you are done with the screening, the people you are doing this for will be thankful.