agency or internet?....

Where? I will have a quick hunt....

Good luck with the ex AP agency today!

Oh brilliant ingles - definitely a good day yesterday - fingers crossed for you. I now have a few more candidates and am seeing local AP on Thursday now.

au pair world - can't believe it. She is rather young though but has experience of working in nurseries. I will let you know how I get on tomorrow (and how she gets on with LOs including ds 18months) and if she is okay, I'll bounce the idea of her to come down your way. Obviously, I'll check out her references beforehand.

[excited] am interviewing an AP tomorrow (face to face) who lives just round the corner and drives. We don't need her until middle of April, so if she turns out ok, I could ask her if she wants to do a temporary position in Kent until then ingles - what do you think? Gives you a bit of time - plus she has APed before and has reference. Also, she is a car driver with her own car - knew that would get your attention!!

Ingles where are you Q's posted? (the ones based on MrsR/eleusis' questions

deja vu, ingles, I remember the July thing from last year's search - they only want to be here for the summer holidays.

ingles sorry to hear search isn't going too well. Mind you I had a chuckle to myself the other night as your questions are based on my questions that are based on eleusis questions and it must be funny that all the candidates are getting the same questions - they might think it's the families that are strange (or we might be an agency!)

I don't think it's a country thing - we are in London and my daily update has had average on one person that matches our requirements. I really think that the date for starting is the problem - I'm looking for April and have no candidates whatsoever (and no one has added me to their favourites, so you are doing better).

I agree with blueshoes, you may want to ring them up but it is extremely timeconsuming and at least with questionnaires you get a good idea of the type of person/match to your family.

We had a meeting with dds and dh regarding APs impending departure and replacement and they are going to add a couple of questions and then shortlist the replies (if ever we get any!).

Good luck - hope the weekend brings someone hopeful.

ingles2, it IS a country thing. Don't lose heart. My current aupair's last family lived in a tiny village with one infrequent bus out of it - they gave her a good ref. She grew up in a rural setting herself, so said she was fine with it.

If you want an aupair now, it might be a tricky time to be looking because most longer term ones would be with their families by now. At worst, the next season coming up is for summer aupairs (ie 3 months or shorter) and some might be looking now.

Hang in there.

Have you checked out this site yet?

Hello Ingles

I have to say I get fed up with some girls who contact me and then when I email a few times decide they want to be in London - it's not like I'm moved since they contacted me!

I am really enjoying not having one, but I'm sure the novelty will wear off as the ironing mounts up!

ingles2, it is a nailbiting thing. I use the questionnaire to screen applicants because I get literally hundreds of responses. I think that is because I live in London, not for any other reason. They just see London and don't bother to read my requirements, so indicate interest even though the start date on their profile, say, is completely out. I don't contact those.

Only those whose profile are in line and which I like I send the questionnaire to, say, about 5-10 candidates. I will be lucky if half reply, usually not at once.

Have you had more interest to your ad? The alternative is to send an email giving them more details about yourself, eg link to webpage and ask if they are still interested. If they reply, you can then pick up the phone and get their responses by phone to a shortened version of your questionnaire. Of course, this presupposes their standard of conversational English is quite high- which is a very good thing to have esp if you want to be able to instruct your aupair over the phone.

It is more timeconsuming and costly but you get to where you need quickly.

When do you want your aupair to start?

You will find that aupairs who seem previously interested do melt away once you email them the list ie you suddenly don't hear from them. That could be a good thing - the last thing you want are time wasters who really have some other family in mind but are just talking to you as a back up.

In fact, ingles2, the most frustrating thing about using these websites is that, at ANY POINT along the screening/emailing process, Even If they clear the endurance tests, they might stop emailing or suddenly say they have chosen another family, even though you thought things were going swimmingly.

I would advise emailing a handful of candidates concurrently, rather than consecutively. And be quick off the mark, if you find someone good. Speak to the winning candidate over the phone at least once, just to get a feel for her personality and most importantly, their level of conversational English.

Good luck. A lot of it IS luck.

ingles2, if you still have the appetite for a driving aupair, you will of course have to put a heap of questions in relating to driving.

If you want your aupair to walk 2 miles, you will have to clear that with her before you make an offer. My aupair has to walk 25 mins to dd's school and back (no buses), making it close to an hour's walking a day. The jury of mn felt that it was very individual to an aupair whether or not she would want to do it. So I laid it on thick and got the right girl for the job.

I think I would like to have a special power that tells me what someone is really thinking when they are lying to me.

Oh well, who am I to talk. Princess Peahead describes my questions as "hideous".

eleusis, that was a suggestion from another mnetter. I believe the answer from an aupair later found to be thieving was that she liked to be invisible! The ones who answered it were quite good natured about it, like being a mermaid. All fun. Not compulsory BTW, ingles2, lol