What to ask a domestic helper in an interview
You have twenty minutes, probably on a video call, probably with an agency coordinator listening. You are going to make a decision about who lives in your home and looks after your children on the strength of it. Here is what to spend those twenty minutes on.
Ask about specific past situations, not general capability. Closed questions about tasks get you yes to everything and tell you nothing.
Write down what the job is first. You cannot judge an answer without a standard to judge it against.
Below: the questions that predict whether a placement lasts, grouped by what each one tests, and then the popular questions that predict nothing.
Most people searching for this type the word maid, so if that is how you found this page, you are in the right place.
First, the uncomfortable part
Most interview question lists in this market are sorted by topic. Cooking, childcare, cleaning, experience. They produce an interview where you ask twelve questions, she answers yes to all of them, and you learn almost nothing, because you asked closed questions about tasks and she has every reason to say yes.
The questions that tell you something have three properties. They ask about a specific past situation rather than a general capability. They have no obvious right answer. And they are questions where the two of you could plausibly disagree, because disagreements found before the contract are cheap and disagreements found in month three are not.
Before you write a single question
Write down what the job is.
We surveyed employers in Singapore about the hardest part of hiring. 59% of those who answered named managing their own expectations, ahead of reference checks and ahead of the agency. You cannot interview well against a job you have not defined, because you have no standard to compare an answer to. You are just forming an impression.
Ten minutes with a blank page beforehand is worth more than any question below. What are the three things that must go well for this to be a good hire? What does a normal Tuesday look like? What would make you say, six months in, that this worked?
The questions that predict something
About the actual work
Walk me through your last normal working day, from waking up to going to bed. It cannot be prepared for in the way a question about strengths can, it surfaces the real shape of her previous role, and it tells you what she considers normal. Listen for the hours. Listen for what she does not mention.
What was the hardest part of your last job, and what did you do about it? The second half matters more than the first. You are listening for whether she raised it with anyone, or absorbed it silently. A helper who absorbs problems silently is not a low-maintenance helper. She is a helper whose problems you will discover late.
Tell me about something you did in your last household that nobody asked you to do. Initiative is the hardest thing to train and the easiest thing to observe in a story.
What is something the family you worked for did that made your job easier? This tells you what good management looks like from her side, which is information you will use for the next two years.
About the household you actually have
Be specific about your own situation, and ask about the exact version of it.
If you have a baby: describe how you handled nights in a household with an infant. If you have a dog: tell me about being around dogs. If somebody in the house is elderly or unwell: describe the care you provided, and what you were not comfortable doing.
That last clause matters. A question that only allows a positive answer collects a positive answer.
About expectations, on both sides
What would make you decide to leave a job? Uncomfortable, and worth the discomfort. You are looking for whether her answer is something you are currently planning to do.
What do you want from the next two years? Money for a specific thing, a particular household, staying in Singapore, going home. All valid, all different, and they predict different things about how long she stays.
What do you want to ask me? If she has nothing, that is a data point about whether she has been coached to be agreeable. Give her time, and mean it. Under the Know Your Employer protocol, Philippine regulations now require a video conference before contract signing precisely so that she can assess the household as well. If you are hiring from the Philippines, this is not a courtesy question. It is the point of the conversation. (Migrant Workers Office Singapore, based on DMW Advisory No. 25, Series of 2025, effective 22 August 2025, applicable to contracts from 21 October 2025.)
The things you have to say out loud
Not questions. Statements, made before anyone signs, because every one of these becomes a problem if it is assumed.
The rest day arrangement. She is entitled to one rest day a week, and at least one rest day a month cannot be compensated away and must actually be taken. Any additional rest day compensated in money requires her agreement and at least one day of salary on top of the monthly wage. (MOM, rest days and wellbeing, page last updated 16 January 2026. The rule has been in force since 1 January 2023.)
Who else lives in the home, including anyone who visits regularly. The sleeping arrangement, described honestly. Whether there are pets. Whether the household eats food she may not eat. What the phone arrangement is. What time the house wakes up.
The questions that predict nothing
Cut these. They feel like interview questions and they carry no information.
What are your strengths and weaknesses? Produces a rehearsed answer in every labour market on earth.
Are you hardworking? No one has ever said no.
Can you cook Chinese food? Closed, and answered yes. Ask her to describe three dishes she cooked most often, then ask how she made one of them.
Do you love children? She is applying for a job that involves children. Ask instead: what did you do the last time a child would not stop crying and you had tried everything.
Anything about her family plans, her religion, or her personal life beyond what affects the job. Not useful, and not yours.
After the interview, before the offer
Write down what you agreed. Not a contract, which comes later, but the specifics: hours, rest day, duties, what happens when someone is sick, when the two of you will sit down in the first month to talk about how it is going.
Send it to her and ask if anything is wrong or missing. That single step, done before she arrives, is the difference between a household running on one person's assumptions and a household running on something both people agreed to. It is also the thing almost nobody does.
Before you interview anyone, write down what the job actually is.
The interview and values tool is free. You choose what actually matters in your household and how you want to work together, and it gives you back an interview guide whose questions are matched to those choices. It also tells you which of the popular questions predict nothing.
No account, no email, nothing saved. It runs on this site, in your own browser, and you print the guide or save it as a PDF when you are done.
The questions below are the same ones the tool uses. They work on paper, and Book 1 prints the full set as Form H.
Going further
The full pre-hire workbook covers the job description, the interview, the reference conversation, offer terms and the cost model, with every regulatory figure sourced and dated.
Hiring a Domestic Helper in Singapore. The Shared Standard, Book 1.
Figures on this page were checked on 10 September 2026 against the sources named. Requirements and fees change. Check the source before you rely on a number.