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Paid childcare

Discuss everything related to paid childcare here, including childminders, nannies, nurseries and au pairs.

Original poster

How long did it take you to recruit your au pair and how many

65 replies

HarrietTheSpy · 14/09/2008 17:56

sites/agencies, etc were you using at the time?

TIA

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chloeb2002 · 25/09/2008 00:32

Hi harriet.. any joy.. Ive just bitten the expensive almondbury bullet too. Seem to be inundated with possibles. nightmare searching through them all. ive written one generic email and sent it to those im interested in. one girl has contacted me but she doesnt appear to have any experience with babies. now i have a job.. start in the next 4 weeks and no childcare.. AAHHHRRRHHHHHH
oh and my id doesnt work on the logong page.. typical

Original poster
HarrietTheSpy · 22/09/2008 15:12

Kathy
Thanks so much for asking. Rough going still. Have now just signed on for Almondbury to see if we fare any better with them. Although they are sending me candidates from the US and Russia, who of course aren't eligible for the working holiday maker programme. So, it looks like another dump of names, rather than the carefully selected pool of people, yada. But I guess I can call them and vent a bit about the search, a service Au Pair World doesn't offer!!! They'll love being just at the other end of the phone for me!!

My next step is Gumtree and giving your people a call, to see if they'd do London.

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Kathyis6incheshigh · 22/09/2008 11:16

Any luck yet Harriet?

mumof2222222222222222boys · 19/09/2008 16:56

I have got all 3 of my au pairs through au Pairs by Pebbles. They specialise in French APs which suits us. The agency has been pretty good, and although the first girl wasn't great from the stories you hear she could have been a whole lot worse.
We've found all the APs in less than a couple of weeks and haven't read through reams of CVs. Maybe we're not that choosey, but it's worked for us.

DadInsteadofMum · 19/09/2008 16:29

I had a look at that website - when I did a standard search I got nothing (as opposed to 100+ on APW or 50+ on NAP), when I widened the search (only requirements non-smoking driver, no restrictions on dates or duration) I got 6, of whom 3 had last logged on 4+months ago and 3 of whom had miraculously (overly cynical?) registered that day.

I won't be going back.

Kathyis6incheshigh · 19/09/2008 14:14

£300-ish for a one year post. Which seems to be the standard fee for all the agencies I looked at. They ask for £35-ish when you pick a candidate but nothing to see the profiles.

btw the man at the agency said they have quite a few good smoking candidates if you are ok with a smoker! (We weren't.)

Original poster
HarrietTheSpy · 19/09/2008 13:49

Pricey? Have spent a lot of time in Hungary so would be very open to this. Did interview a rather serious Hungarian girl last year who reminded me of Emerence (in the Door - Magda Szabo). COuldn't hire her. But no reason not to revisit.

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Kathyis6incheshigh · 19/09/2008 13:26

We used Brick au pair agency which is based in Sheffield and mainly does the north and midlands, though they say they will consider posts countrywide.
They just do Hungarians and they speak Hungarian so they interview the prospective au pairs themselves. We've been impressed so far though obviously we'll see how it goes! They seem very specific about what the au pair will need - eg how good public transport has to be - but I get the feeling this is because they've had experience and know what is likely to make a successful placement.
We wanted to go through an agency because it's our first time of having an au pair.
I did look a bit at websites but because we're in the north and in a village, and the vast majority online seem to want to be in a city preferably London, it seemed like a good idea to go via a local agency. I like having references to look at too.

Original poster
HarrietTheSpy · 19/09/2008 13:08

If you tell me the name of the agency I promise I won't call you a troll . Please help, I'm sure you've seen my moans elsewhere.

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jurahasfoundthehiggsboson · 19/09/2008 12:54

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Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Kathyis6incheshigh · 19/09/2008 12:45

Did you use very expensive equipment for moving the sofa cushions, in order to justify a massive research grant?

I have found a very nice Hungarian with the second agency I tried! Currently arranging her travel

jurahasfoundthehiggsboson · 19/09/2008 12:42

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Kathyis6incheshigh · 19/09/2008 12:38

If I was a genuine poster who had found a fab website I wanted to share, I would probably mention the reason why it is better.
I don't think you're overly cynical Jura (and well done on finding the Higgs Boson by the way! You must have very sharp eyes.)

jurahasfoundthehiggsboson · 19/09/2008 12:29

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Millarkie · 18/09/2008 18:50

You are not the only cynical one Jura - I searched for the posters name as soon as I saw that post too.

jurahasfoundthehiggsboson · 18/09/2008 17:49

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SimpleAsABC · 18/09/2008 17:43

was that helenas first ever post? how can you tell?

jurahasfoundthehiggsboson · 18/09/2008 17:37

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helenaf · 17/09/2008 12:36

I found a good internet site, which seems much better than the others:

www.rightperson-aupair.com

Original poster
HarrietTheSpy · 16/09/2008 23:08

Specific complaints re family were to do with how much time alone she spent (they never take her anywhere, don't eat dinner with her). I'm afraid it came across as a bit of a rant. Otherwise, she complained that the city in NAmerica where she is currently living is very cold and artificial with bad food.

I think my patience is wearing thin with this process. At least the nannies we've had interaction with (and honestly from Gumtree it's often the smae sort of profile) had the courtesy, after an interview or telephone call, to follow up with an email: No I'm not interested. Not, here's loads of pictures of my family (and house) and info about our area...and NOTHING. So, there's my rant. (DDs are CUTE too!)

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Millarkie · 16/09/2008 20:45

Harriet - it depends on what they are complaining about - if it's that they work 60 hours a week for £65 then fair enough. If it's that 'the children are horrid and rude' then I wouldn't (because I would assume that the AP wasn't great with understanding kids).
I had an email from one potential AP who said 'I will do some house work but you must realise my priority is the children.' - when I had been very clear that 1) my kids are in school all day and 2) the 'housework' was emptying the dishwasher and sweeping kitchen floor after breakfast..not really enough to get stroppy over I felt.

googgly · 16/09/2008 19:09

I would say no way to the cafe job, but only because I want ap to be available at weekends in case of need. If you don't ever want a weekend babysitter (we use ours to go shopping or to visit art galleries without kids from time to time) then it doesn't really matter I suppose.

Original poster
HarrietTheSpy · 16/09/2008 16:20

Oh no, I got some details in the first go. It was her first email to me.

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jurahasfoundthehiggsboson · 16/09/2008 16:07

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Message withdrawn at poster's request.

frannikin · 16/09/2008 15:23

I would say not necessarily. I'm about to move nanny jobs because the family and I don't fit together, it's very amicable but I am making it clear in jobs I apply for that my current family is not working out for me so I'm looking again.

Of course it depends on the type of complaint!