mist,
the list of questions that Germaine provided is useful. hmm, finding a good agency will help a lot as many of these questions would have been asked by the agent already (useful if u have no experience). i went to an agency where they showed me videos of the interviews of the maids. some agency can even let you do live-video-conferencing whereby you can interview the maid that way.
I shortlisted mine through video, and then followed with telephone interview, where i asked her some personal questions. Personal questions a bit like what Germaine posted (who will take care of your kid, your family allow you to be maid, you will be away for 2years, you can? etc.)
the video-interview by the agency asked the 'standard' questions already. and the standard questions are quite tough. they ask things like:
1. How many minutes will u take to clean a bathroom? or the house (3 bedroom, 2 toilets etc)
2. If your mam and ah-ma (MIL) give you conflicting instructions, who will you listen to?
3. If you are feeding baby and the bigger child cry, how will you handle, what will you do?
4. If your mam scold you, what will you do? Will you answer back? Will you cry? Will you say sorry etc..
Well, again, the 'standard' questions may not really be a 'standard' as not all agencies interview their maids that way. So I really think you might want to shop around.. to find out how the agency select their maids. I feel that is very impt. A good agent cannot give you any guarantee, BUT at least can weed out the really bad ones.