Au Pair World...success stories??

[mamma2boyz]

I have just started looking for an au pair and a bit baffled by the choice of agencies and vast difference in fees etc.
Any of you used Au Pair World and if so how did you get on?
Any agencies any good?? did you pay a fee? or not would love to know...Thanks

I always use au pair world. Used ot use greataupair too but that was stuffed full of people wanting to be nannies, not au pairs.

I prefer it to agencies because I have only ever had poor experiences with agencies (and have been watching it also from the other side as I am trying to help my nanny find a new job and she gets lots of bull from the agencies she has tried). BUT that is just a personal view.

If you try to do it yourself do not underestimate the amount of effort required.

Top tips:

1. make your profile VERY precise. Put the wage in, and the number of hours. Put in exactly what is required in terms of driving/sole care/pet care/help round the house. It helps to stop you being inundated with inappropriate applications

2. Don't oversell yourself. If you live in a tiny house with shared bathroom or middle of nowhere then be upfront about it. Better that than have someone turn up and leave within the month when they find something they consider better.

3. Be ruthless when shortlisting. Have a list of your 'non-negotiables' and your 'nice to haves and stick with them. EVERYONE will want to employ the 25 yr old fluent english girl who loves kids, has previous AP experience with excellent refs and wants to climb trees and bake cakes. Your chances of nabbing her yourself are very very low, so work out exactly where you will compromise.

4. SKYPE your shortlist

5. My oddities that stand me in very good stead are that (A) I go for men (lots more choice, loads of graduates, less emotional volatility, and seem to find it easier to build a social life when they get here) (B) I insist on previous work experience and living away from home experience (circs and type of work are irrelevent IME), and (C) I always insist on people whose own mothers worked.

6. Don't be surprised when your favourite person suddenly 'disappears' or starts to 'go slow'. It happens quite often. It means they've found a family they like the look of better, and they are trying to secure that job first. Doesn't matter. Another 'favourite' AP will turn up quickly enough.

7. When you find someone good, act fast. The person you like will also be liked by others so don't dither.

Hi, we got our current au pair from aupair world and she is LOVELY!

I agree with everything StillSquiffy said but would add one other thing. If you can do it, get your best one or two candidates over here for a weekend for a trial run. It is well worth it.

I say that because when we shortlisted all the candidates after phone and skype interviews it boiled down to two and they were both great by the sounds of it, chatty, good English, caring, engaging, answered questions about safety very well. And then we flew them over (on different weekends) and I couldn't believe the difference with one of them.

From Friday when she got here to Sunday lunchtime she didn't say anything, nothing, other than to reply with a yes or no to my questions, she did not attempt to play with my daughter, oh and she only got up at 11 am on Saturday and that was because I asked her to get up. No idea why she bothered coming over at all.

I first thought what a waste of money on her flights but it was actually money very well spent. I would have happily chosen her based on phone and skype interviews and could have ended up with a miserable thing in my house and with my child.

Then we flew our current au pair over and the moment she turned up we knew she was the perfect one for us. She was lovely from the word go.

Sorry to go on, I am just trying to say that if at all possible, interview in person.

Thanks Guys for all of that - it is immensely helpful...am quite nervous of the process as we had some ropey old au pairs growing up.
We are hoping to get someone from Oz or New Zealand who will be confident driving as we dont live in a city. Unfortunately flying them over for a trial weekend wont be possible!
I will update my profile to be as detailed as I can and then hopefully we shall be of interest to them too....
All a bit daunting but thanks so much for your pointers, all invaluable x

It might be worth you advertising on gumtree too?

That might be best if you want and Aussie or Kiwi person. Many of them are already here. We had a Kiwi nanny before our current au pair and we got her through gumtree. And like our au pair, she was just wonderful.

Good luck!

I am not a fan of Au Pair World because I find them terribly rude and prefer not to give my money to people who have no concept of customer service. Have had good experience with Greataupair.com. (except I always get bobarded with Philipina applicants whose visas I can't and won't sponsor)

Squiffy's list is very good.

Haven't used Au Pair world, but v happy with our agency...Pebbles. But they specialise in French APs, so no good for you!

Good luck.

Greataupair are good for Kiwi and Aussie applicants. Gumtree is also good given that you can post on the local ones in those countries!

You do get a lot of Americans and Filipinas from GAP though...

I have had four au pairs through AP world, all fine, some brill, some ok but no disasters! It can be quite hard work though and the check list is good. Remember there will always be another one if one you like falls through, there are hundreds!
One thing I will say I found with Ap from either Aus or NZ I was keen on - she could only drive an automatic as that is what most of the cars there are. I was really dissapointed when she told me this after we had made some headway to her coming as our AP car is manual so it meant her coming was a no no.

We have used Au Pair World and found it fine but time consuming. Lots of au pairs don't read your profile clearly so I had lots of interest from people who didn't meet the criteria - eg I stressed driving was essential and got lots of non-drivers!
That said I like being able to check references myself rather than rely on an agency to do it for me. Also I can choose where I want to compromise, as I have older DCs ots of babysitting experience is not essential if they have younger siblings and/or interests in common with DCs.
There are really useful lists of questions etc to ask in first email contacts on here if you search.
Initially I wait for au pairs to contact me - read their profile, then if I am still interested I send them my standard list of questions (from Mumsnet!), exchange a few more emails answering/asking questions and then phone then references and then skype.

sorry where would I find the list of questions...?? Just so grateful to everyone who responded though, as it is a minefield out there and as it is my first time all a bit daunting!!! Having baby brain doesnt seem to be helping either
xx

Questions I think depend on what you want the au pair to do - better to draw up your job description, your must haves, you nice to haves and then create your own questionnaire.

Using the advanced search (and limiting it to this section) will bring up several question lists suitable for all types of childcarer.

Brilliant, thank you so much

Seven and counting, all through APW and six have been excellent and one was OK.

We used au pair world to find 4 APs, 3 of whom were excellent, one was average.

Would not use an agency - I would rather trust my judgement over someone else's.

Yes, it's a time consuming process. But that's good. You are picking someone to come and live with you and look after your children, after all.

StillSquiffy's tip 1 is the most important IMHO, we had a long document that detailed exactly what we wanted the AP to do. If that puts them off, then great - rather now than after they turn up at your house...

Good luck :)

Hi,

I'm shortlisting at the moment a few favorites AP from the same web site.
It will be our first Au pair experience and we are excited and worried...90/10%.

We live in Raynes park area, in case you have an au pair near by it would be lovely for AP to know that there are potential friends nearby.

Also, if you go on holidays what do you do with the au pair? ....

For au pairs nearby tell her to use the au pair in UK group on facebook, but as you are in Raynes Park you should find a fair few near by.

Holiday, she come with us, part of the family after all, and gets paid extra as she is working longer hours.

SORRY Australian cars mainly being Automatic????
SOOO not true.
Just as many manual cars/drivers as automatic.
They do have licence system if you get a licence on an automatic car that you can only drive automatics, maybe that is where the confusion comes from.

Holidays:

We dont' pay extra for aps to come on holiday with us if they are participating as a family member in the activities we are doing even if it means they are spending more time with us and the children. I am not prepared to give up holiday time on my own with my family, plus incur the additional expense of another person, plus offer her nanny style pay benefits. Something about this arrangement doesn't quite work for me, logically speaking.

I would only do this if we were out and about doing things on our own, say DH and me, and she was looking after the children by herself. No way you can class that as a 'holiday' for her.

Also APs have the option of staying home, paid too.

Agreed WeeBit, im from NZ and I would have to say theres probably more manuals than automatics, tho almost everyone i know can drive both!