Glassdoor is your free inside look at Kindercare interview questions and advice. All 31 interview reviews are posted anonymously by Kindercare employees and interview candidates.
Accepted Offer – Interviewed on Lafayette, IN (US) Sep 2009 – Reviewed May 04, 2013
Interview Details The hiring process was messed up.
Interview Question – Working over 40 hours per week. View Answer
Negotiation Details – Terrible
Accepted Offer – Reviewed Apr 16, 2013
Interview Details I applied to the position from a Craig's List post. Was emailed almost instantly and asked to come in for any interview. I interviewed with the center director and was offered the job within a few days. Unfortunately, at the time I was currently employed for a few more months. The center director understood and asked me to get in contact with her at the end of that employment if I was still interested in a position. I emailed her and was asked to come in right away to begin training.
Interview Question – Nothing really out of the ordinary, to be honest. There were a couple "please tell me what you would do in this situation..." but otherwise it was all pretty straightforward. Answer Question
Negotiation Details – No negotiation phase.
Accepted Offer – Reviewed Mar 24, 2013
Interview Details I applied online for the position from career builder. I was contacted the next day by phone to set up an interview with occured that same week. The interview was with the Director and Assistant Director. They had a number of questions and asked situational questions. We debated about salary and they called the regional manager who approved the amount I had asked for.
Interview Question – What is one thing you would like to change about your current position? Answer Question
Accepted Offer – Interviewed on Naperville, IL (US) Mar 2010 – Reviewed Mar 18, 2013
Interview Details
hiring took a long time .
Made me pay for my own company physical
2 hr mid day break
Interview Question – person did not know how to interview so it was very easy View Answer
Negotiation Details –
no negotiating
take it or leave it
Accepted Offer – Interviewed on Duluth, GA (US) Aug 2012 – Reviewed Feb 18, 2013
Interview Details
I applied for this position online through Snag-a-job. This particular field has a high teacher turn over rate, so for just about every position I applied to, I was called back immediately. The Asst. Director told me, and I quote, "When I saw your resume, I told my boss, 'I don't want anybody but HER!'" I went into the interview without much confidence when she told me how many people applied for the job, but hearing this boosted my confidence.
I found the interview process to be fairly smooth and easy. The Assistant Director took care of the hiring process for the most part, and I met with the actual Director before my training began. The Asst. Director was impressed by my resume and tried to speed the process along. My interview with her was very short. She simply went over my resume again and asked me a few simple questions (asked for me to detail my experience and what I loved about working with children) just to make sure I was as competent as my resume stated.
She consulted her boss (the Director of the entire center) after meeting with me, and the Director called me in for a "follow-up" interview in which she basically stated that I was as good as hired but wanted to meet with me herself. She asked me many questions about my experience--mainly my experience with the specific age group with which I would be working--School age children (ages 5-12). She asked me if I had experience creating fun lesson plans and activities for that age group and experience tutoring or helping with homework. She mainly used this meeting as an opportunity to detail the job description and talk about salary and responsibilities. The training and hiring process is what is complicated and takes much longer. KinderCare is a large corporation, so they can do nothing (including hiring or firing employees) without approval from a corporate level. There was a lot of paperwork, background check, drug testing, etc. I spent a whole work day (about 6-7 hours) reading manuals and training work books and becoming familiar with all KinderCare policies and paperwork.
Interview Question –
The Director did voice concerns about my "youthful" appearance and reserved/soft spoken manner (Which was all true). At the time (year before last), I was a 21-year old college student, but she commented that I look much younger and stated that in the past, very young and soft-spoken teachers have had trouble commanding respect from the older students in this age group.
She made me aware of the challenges in the school-age classroom. " How would I handle disrespect from students or deal with school-age children that did not respect me as an adult? Or be able to manage my classroom and keep their attention without yelling?" Many of the students were in fact, my height and size.
View Answer
Negotiation Details – No real negotiation, per se. I was offered a starting salary of $8.75 for this position, which is typical and what I expected for this type of work, so I accepted. I was given a pretty flexible schedule to start with.
No Offer – Interviewed in Stafford, VA (US) – Reviewed Feb 12, 2013
Interview Details
I originally found the job posting on Craigslist and it led me to their website to begin the application process. A few days later, I received an email requesting a phone interview. A week later, I had an in-person interview with the Director of that location. The Director wore sweat pants. Despite our contrasting wardrobe choices, the interview went very well and I progressed onto the final stage: an interview with the regional director. (This time the Director wore slacks.) The third interview went wonderfully. They even made comments like "Can you start tomorrow?" and "You are exactly what we've been looking for!" They said they would let me know the following week.
One week later, I sent a follow-up email to the Corporate Representative. No response.
4 days after the 1st email, I sent an email to the Director. No response.
4 days after the 2nd email, I sent an email to the Corporate Representative that gave me the initial phone interview. No response.
20 days after my 3rd interview, I received a phone call from the Corporate Representative telling me that they chose another candidate.
Interview Question – Very standard interview questions - no big surprises. Answer Question
Accepted Offer – Interviewed on Minneapolis, MN (US) Apr 2009 – Reviewed Nov 27, 2012
Interview Details Called very quickly after submitting my application (maybe 2 or 3 days). Set up an interview with the site director. She was very friendly through out the process. I had no interaction with any other employees throughout the process. She asked for a few references and did actually call them. (you may want to prep your references, they will be asked if they would allow you to care for their children). She asked questions about past work at camps and about college. She asked how I would handle different situations like minor injuries in the class room, squabbles between kids, bathroom accidents, and behavior problems. Then I was send outside to play with the kids on the playground. She watched from inside the window.
Interview Question – The most unexpected part of the interview was being sent to the playground to play with the kids. This was a great way for me to show how well I could interact with kids and they were all really friendly but was strange to do when dressed for an interview :-) Answer Question
Negotiation Details – My first job out of college and I was completely unaware that I could negotiate salary so I just took the offer. I can't recall if i was offered a job on the spot or if they called a few days after.
Accepted Offer – Interviewed on Johnson City, TN (US) Jan 2012 – Reviewed Nov 08, 2012
Interview Details The interview went very well. The Director was friendly and informative. The Assistant Director gave me a tour and answered my question.
Interview Question – I asked if my salary could be increased but they said no. Answer Question
Negotiation Details – There were no negotiations. I was told my salary and that I would be hired on a part-time basis. If the opportunity arose, I could possibly be hired on a full-time basis.
Accepted Offer – Interviewed on Lakeville, MN (US) Aug 2012 – Reviewed Oct 29, 2012
Interview Details short, 8 questions, to the point. It is not very formal or personal. THey didn't tell me how much i would make until a week after i started working because they were waiting to hear back from corporate.
Interview Question – What would you do in a challenging situation. How would you react Answer Question
Negotiation Details – they don't tell you really how much you make because they have to wait for corporate to get back to them.
Accepted Offer – Interviewed on Scranton, PA (US) Aug 2012 – Reviewed Sep 25, 2012
Interview Details Apply on-line through Kindercare website (open positions are listed). I first completed a phone interview and was asked to come in for an additional interview. The phone interview lasted around 15 minutes and the follow up interview lasted about an hour (included a tour of the facility). The questions were expected for any type of teaching position (Name a time when you stood up for something that wasn't a popular decision, how do you feel you handle classroom management, have you ever planned something that didn't work out, how did you adapt, etc...)
Interview Question – Instead of asking for your biggest strength or weakness they asked for 2-3 of each! Answer Question
Negotiation Details – Flexible to an extent.. for a daycare I feel like they pay well, but they can't pay a huge salary.
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