When you hire someone to look after your children or an elderly parent, the real safeguard isn't a platform or an agency — it's the vetting you do yourself. The good news is that Cyprus gives you two official documents most families never think to ask for, and a well-run interview and trial cover the rest. Here's how to do all three properly.
Before you interview
Read the profile first and interview by video before anyone travels or commits an afternoon. A short video call tells you what a CV can't: whether you can understand each other easily, whether there's warmth, and whether the basics line up. For a live-in role especially, that first call saves everyone a wasted day.
Have the role written down before you start — hours, live-in or live-out, the main duties, and the pay you have in mind — so the conversation is a real exchange rather than a negotiation from a blank page. If you're still deciding what to pay, our salary guide sets out the going rates, and direct vs agency covers where families actually find candidates.
Questions worth asking
You don't need a script, but you do need to get past "how many years' experience do you have?" — the answer that matters is what those years actually looked like. Pick from these, weighted towards your own situation.
Their real experience
- Tell me about the last family you worked for — what did a typical day look like?
- What ages of children (or what kind of care needs) have you looked after?
- Why did you leave your last role, and how long were you there?
- What's the hardest situation you've handled at work, and what did you do?
Childcare scenarios (adapt to your children's ages)
- My child spikes a fever in the afternoon and I'm not home — walk me through what you'd do.
- A toddler is having a full meltdown in a supermarket. How do you handle it?
- What would a normal day's routine look like — meals, naps, play, screen time?
- How do you handle discipline, and where's your line?
Elderly-care scenarios (if hiring a carer)
- Have you managed medication routines, and how do you keep track?
- Are you comfortable with mobility support and transfers?
- What would you do if my parent had a fall while I was out?
- How do you keep someone with limited mobility engaged and in good spirits?
Practical and personal
- Which languages do you speak, and how well? (For an older Cypriot parent, Greek can matter a great deal.)
- Are you looking for live-in or live-out, and what hours suit you?
- Do you drive, and do you have your own licence?
- Are you happy to obtain a recent criminal-record certificate — and the child-protection certificate, for childcare?
Checking references across borders
Many of the best candidates in Cyprus have worked abroad or for other local families, so their referees may be in the Philippines, Sri Lanka or Nepal, or in a previous Limassol or Nicosia household. Call them anyway — a written reference can be typed by anyone, and a five-minute conversation is worth more than a page of praise. A WhatsApp video call bridges the distance and the time zones.
Keep the questions plain: what did the person do for you, how long were they with you, why did they leave, and — the one that cuts through — would you hire them again? For a caring role, ask the previous family what a typical day looked like, so you can compare it against what the candidate told you.
The two Cyprus certificates
This is the step almost no one takes, and it's the one that sets a careful family apart. Cyprus issues two relevant certificates, and both are requested by the person themselves — you ask, they obtain and share.
1. The clean criminal-record certificate — €20. Issued under the Criminal Record Law (73(I)/2004), the candidate applies online through the police DIGIPOL service using an authenticated CY Login account, and pays a €20 fee. Two exceptions apply: EU citizens, and anyone who needs the certificate apostilled for use abroad, must apply in person at the local Certificate Issuing Offices rather than through DIGIPOL. Processing times for the in-Cyprus route aren't published, so ask your candidate to start early and confirm the current turnaround with the Criminal Records Office.
2. The child-protection certificate — free. For anyone who will be alone with your children, there's a second, separate certificate under Law 91(I)/2014 confirming the person is not on Cyprus's register of people convicted of sexual offences against minors. It costs nothing, it's issued through the same police service, and it exists precisely for child-safety screening — yet most families have never heard of it. If you're hiring for childcare, this is the document to ask for.
Trial days and first aid
A paid trial day or two, with you present, tells you more than any interview will. You see how they are with your children or your parent, how they handle the ordinary friction of a real day, and whether the rapport from the video call holds up in person. Pay for the trial — it's work — and involve the person being cared for in the decision, because the placement lives or dies on that relationship.
First aid is worth asking about too. The Cyprus Red Cross runs certified first-aid courses — approved by the Labour Inspection Department of the Ministry of Labour and leading to a European First Aid Certificate — open to individuals as well as organisations. A candidate who already holds a current certificate, or is willing to take a course, is telling you something good about how seriously they take the job. Course fees are quoted on request.
Red flags — both ways
Trust your instincts, and watch for the signals that a candidate isn't what they seem: evasiveness about references or a refusal to let you call them, an unwillingness to do a trial, a story that doesn't quite add up between the interview and the referees, or reluctance to obtain the certificates above.
Good vetting runs both ways, though — the best candidates are choosing you, too. Offering a proper written contract, a private room and at least the legal minimums is what a serious person looks for in an employer. And two hard lines protect everyone: under Cyprus law a worker never pays a fee to get a job (Law 126(I)/2012, Article 21), and no one may hold a worker's passport or personal documents without their written consent (Article 19). If a candidate mentions that a previous employer or "agency" did either of those things, that isn't a mark against them — it's a warning about how that arrangement was run.
When you're ready to start, browse nanny profiles or carer profiles — each lists experience, languages and live-in preference — or post a job free and the people who fit will contact you directly.