The line of questioning will tend to depend on whether or not you have young children. For example you might want to ask if she has done any Red Cross (or similar) safety courses - and if she has, can she produce the certificate?
See if she volunteers to go on a Red Cross course.....(obviously you would need to arrange it but they're very cheap).
Has she done any classes organized by her previous employer/s or in her spare time? For example many expat organizations run cookery classes for maids, and the Catholic churches, eg. Novena have a big program (cooking, sewing, poss computers) for maids on Sundays. Would she be willing to do such courses?
Ask what she would do if you were out, not contactable and your child burnt himself on the oven door. You may get some very surprising answers (eg. putting a tomato on the burn). Think of a few scenarios and ask how she would deal with them. You want to see if she has any initiative/common sense.
Don't bother asking if she can swim - few maids can but they wouldn't necessarily admit that. Unless you have personally seen your maid swim *never, ever* leave her in charge of young children by a pool, even if other adults are around.
Ask her if she likes partying. What does she do on her day off? What sort of things does she do on her day off? Does she do any part-time work to earn extra money? What time does she come home on her day off, and has this caused a conflict with her employer? (Obviously you would check with her employer as well).
Ask her about what salary she would expect and what she currently earns. (See if the current employer is paying what she says). It will probably be the first thing she will want to ask you, but you could say that you will are interviewing other maids too and you will decide the final salary when you have taken experience and references into account eg. what you would do is to give her a probationary period for the first two-three months and if she is a good worker, give her a decent raise. I was once advised to start paying a new maid on the low side, so she has the incentive to work well and therefore increase her salary. If she starts working for you on say, the 23rd of the month, then her paydate will always be the 23rd, or if she starts on the 13th, her salary would always be paid on the 13th. Inform her that under no circumstances will you pay any wages in advance (stick to it - even if there are volcanoes, father's dying etc.)
Ask her if her parents are alive. Are they in good health? (Many maids often like to get a free trip home after a few months and tell your that their 'father is dying'. I kid you not.)
Ask her about her usual daily routine. What does she like about her current job, and what does she dislike? If she slags off her current employer then you need to be very wary - she could do the same with you!
Ask her what dishes she can cook - can she follow a recipe? You can test this by giving her a copy of one of your recipe books and seeing if she understands the instructions or finds them too difficult to follow. You will also be able to observe her reading skills (I'm assuming your cookbooks are written in English!). I bought some childrens cook books with step-by-step diagrams or photos after a few disasters and that worked well.
OK, that's a few for you to go on!
