Is anyone else using au pair world at the moment?

Oooh dear, I had so many applicants I couldn't reply to them. So now 'Your profile has been selected for review'

Despite paying for premium membership. If you get 40 replies a day how are you meant to keep up? Agency it is, and I'll be asking for a refund. Bet I don't get one.

Oh and after paying for premium membership and asking for a non-smoker my search profile has been made unsearchable because I've not replied to people who didn't fit my smoking criteria.

Lesson learned, just reply to everyone you are not interested in with a negative reply - immediately. Say non smoker, get a smoker reply. Just hit negative. Someone who needs a visa -negative immediately.

This seems like Gumtree Plus lol.

I think I'll pay an agency, at least I'll have some come back on T&Cs.

Looking up Pebbles now, thanks!

Just to add I wasn't expecting a trial run in my home, just a couple of Skype sessions as a 'get to know you/us'. First chat with me, then with the Spanish speaker and then with the children. I'm not asking for the moon n a stick lol.

The one I did speak to texted me and asked for my Spanish speakers phone number. I thought that seemed a bit off, if you say 'a good understanding of English' then a 10 minute Skype just to do introductions should be ok? I had to conduct it in Spanish (very badly on my part) and felt that I was making the effort (idiot) and was embarrassed by my Spanish as I'd explained it would be in English. God knows what I said, I probably called her pet dog a pervert or something. Or worse insulted her, who knows, my Spanish is not very good She just smiled lots and said 'yes' a lot.

I'm a little put off and may try an agency.

We used Pebbles again this year. The candidates have a varying degree of English capability. You just tell them what you want. The girl that handles the calls is fab and will make sure she gets to know you well. They deffinately struggled to find me somebody more than they did last year however and I don't think they'll allow you to do a trial run but do have a guarantee period for exchange if you don't like your au pair. Busy bees are also very good apparently according to friends and millennium au pairs.

Can anyone recommend any agencies in London/South East?

Thanks in advance.

I'm guessing if they are willing to sign with an agency they are serious about it, APW seems full of people who just think they can chat about a year abroad (or it's a social media forum?), not about the practicalities of 20 hours a week light work in exchange for a family experience, (about £12 per hour plus a language course, bed and board) as well as mutual exchange of cultures?

I did manage to talk to one, who said she had a very good understanding of English (not a requirement as we are multi-lingual and said basic English - although I'll be conducting interviews and my skills are limited, but she couldn't speak any English on Skype and I had to speak in my limited Spanish (I started with Hola, buenas tardes, cómo estás, my Spanish is really poor, I asked can we speak Spanish and English? I'm not the Spanish speaker in the family, another family member is fluent). Maybe she was nervous, I'm not expecting amazing English skills, but would expect us both to get a conversation going using both languages with our own limited shortcomings? She asked if I could use text or whatsapp which made me think she's using a translator app?

I do not need an English speaker, just a willingness for us all to learn and honesty about language skills. My children speak better Spanish than me, they speak four languages as fluently as 3 and 4 years olds can. They speak English, French, Spanish and Punjabi with our immediate family. I'm a O- Level Spanish and French speaker and pretty crap TBH. I explained the Skype would be in English beforehand.

The others just didn't pick up the Skype call at the arranged time. I'm naive, I thought this would be a nice chat and arrange a trial run.

Kick my ass and tell me how this is done in the real world!

I went through all of this last year. I used an agency in the end. I've used the same agency again this year without issue but friends using other resources APW/other agencies have struggled. There is a definite shortage this year.

Well as suspected, three Skype interviews arranged this week. None of them have picked up the call at the allotted time.

Despite confirming via Skype text message an hour before hand.

I think I'm going to have to go nuclear on APW too. If they can't take a call arranged a few days beforehand, then messaged an hour before I'd not be trusting them to get the children to school on time.

Damn, may have to rethink this

Hi Ovienna,
I agree with the concerns in getting an au pair after the Brexit. Im searching for 2 months now( childcare, apw etc ). Its proving very tough now.

Although nothing is changing for atleast 2 years, it has started showing the pressure already atleast with respect to getting an au pair !!!

• Maha

Our Spanish au pair to be is very concerned about Brexit. Apparently the papers there have been publishing stories about anti foreigner feeling. She's been what's apping me about it to the extent I am a bit like: way to make this about you. But I appreciate she is concerned. I am wondering if there needs to be some sort of statement about the position of foreigner workers like au pairs in the UK on apw. But God knows what they'd say. Anyway OP I don't know if this is your issue but I am expecting it to be hard to recruit going forward.

Our Spanish au pair to be is very concerned about Brexit. Apparently the papers there have been publishing stories about anti foreigner feeling. She's been what's apping me about it to the extent I am a bit like: way to make this about you. But I appreciate she is concerned. I am wondering if there needs to be some sort of statement about the position of foreigner workers like au pairs in the UK on apw. But God knows what they'd say. Anyway OP I don't know if this is your issue but I am expecting it to be hard to recruit going forward.

Hi sazerashez,
thanks for your comment. I havent used gumtree. I was solely depending on the childcare webite. Its only the premium waste and nothing happened. Let me advertise in gumtree and also update my profile with capitals on start date.

Thanks again.

• Maha

Hi,
I started searching for an au pair for the first time a month ago in childcare website. No luck yet. One girl seemed very keen and then it all went silent !!

I have got only 3 weeks. Im so worried whether i will find someone. So planning to turn to an agency tomorrow. Could someone please suggest some good agencies please.

Thanks,
Maha

I set up a profile last week, I've had 30 applicants, all seem reasonable and fit what I requested. I'm only offering £90 a week for 20 hours weekdays plus a zone 1-4 travel card (and car if over 25). We have a cleaner and I've stated that as it seems important to them. We also speak Spanish so we're attracting Spanish girls as we can swap languages easily.

I'm going to narrow them down and start Skyping next week. But I have one I really like, she is my top choice so far. She's just so sweet and keen. She's probably got 30 families after her!

I'm also offering gym membership, a separate living room for entertaining friends and the usual TiVo, phone and unlimited wifi.

The only one who's been odd asked if I could provide her with a laptop and said she didn't work evenings (I only asked until 6pm???). I thought that was taking the piss.

I'll see what Skype turns up, they are probably all bonkers and I'll be back to square one next weekend. It's my first time, I have no idea what to expect

I had no luck this year on aupairworld. I messaged literally hundreds of people and got a handful of replies. In desperation I turned to Facebook- "au pair in *shire" and got three replies- one of whom is starting in a couple of weeks.
Good luck!

I used APW earlier this year and had a reasonable number of candidates (probably 30 or so). Have you tried approaching potential au pairs on the website and letting them know you're interested? Might also be worthwhile trying local au pair Facebook group. Good luck.

Somebody else on here was saying that she thought there were far fewer candidates on APW then there had been. Our current au pair has been with us for two years so it's been a while, but there was plenty of interest back when I recruited him. I think our au pair will be able to get a proper job in the next few months (his English is good, but he's doing an internship in the mornings to get his business English up to standard) and I'm a little concerned about recruiting the next one.