Hi peg,
there are some useful info from this link :
http://singaporemaid.blogspot.com/
These are some of the questions i got from the blog.
Interviewing a maid:
You should try to to interview the maid either in person or over the phone. Maid agencies should be able to arrange for you to talk to a maid over the phone even if she is in her own country.
Here are some questions you can asked the maid during the interview, contributed by Are.
- How old are you? What’s your age? Born in which year? (in case they lie abt age, ask abt the year, they cant think of lie so fast)
- are you single? No children? (single doesn’t mean no children. Divorcee they dun declare children cos agency tell them not to, so they put single)
- Why do you want to come to SGP? (best ans is the family needs the $, or want to save $ for children. Positive motivation)
- Will u finish the 2 yrs contract n renew another 2 years? (if they say juz want to come 2 years, then show no commitment, juz want quick bucks)
- How many people are there in your family? Who are they? Are they married? Working? (shows the level of responsibility to the family re $ and if someone is sick/dead. If single child, then they will worry abt family always. If got younger siblings even better, makes them work hard for the $)
- Any young kids, babies at home? Have you taken care of babies, young children? From how young? (experience with children. Although some single, they may hv taken care of younger siblings since birth)
- Any sister/cousins working in sgp? (shows her understanding of working as a maid in sgp. Ppl with no relatives may not hv a good picture of the working environment in sgp and wats required of them)
- Do you like children? (yes is the best of cos!)
- Does your family need you to send money back every month? (show commitment. If no need to send back means quite rich, so she is not pressurized to do well)
- Wat do they need the money for? (to chk if someone is sick at home. Usually if they want to work, either they are in debts, are poor, or someone is sick. If someone is sick, ask wat sickness. If TB, thank you-bye!)
- Do you have a boyfriend? What does he do? (if bf is loafer, then may ask her to play tricks. Think ‘joy’. If got stable job, positive influence, cos planning for future)
- If yes, do you plan to get married soon? If not when? (shows how long she’s gonna stay here. Dun want to waste 2 years coaching then hv to change again)
- Do u plan to go back to Study? (if yes, means not typical maid material, may not excel in housework)
- What are your favorite foods? (shows if she can adapt to sgp foods)
- How far is your home from the city? Do you go to the city? How long is the traveling? (shows how ulu the village is. The further, the poorer)
- Wat are the things you do at your previous employer’s house? (show the types of things she’s done b4)
- Why you stop working for them? (if she stammers and cant answer, then something suspicious. Also can test their level of English)
- Why choose to work as a domesic helper? (same as above, and also objective)
- What will you do when a baby cries?
Hope this is useful.
I just confirmed a maid yesterday and she'll arrive on the 12th. ( ~ 2 weeks to process for new maid ) I'm praying hard that she'll be good.