Au Pairs

[ChitChattingWithKids]

Bleeding heck! I've just decided to try to get an au pair (last attempt was very unsuccessful!!!). Joined Au Pair World and in 2 days we have received 55 contacts!!!!!

I can't remember how many we had last time, but I know it was nowhere near that many. We're in a rural location, but less than 1 hour from London. Not exactly the most glamorous location I would have thought.

Are there a lot more au pairs and less families at the moment or have I just put my ad on at the right time?

The site has been 'discovered' by Eastern Europeans, some of whom hardly speak a word of English (well the one we flow over for a trial weekend certainly didn't: she must have had someone translating emails for her). And unemployed Spanish men in their early twenties.

You have to set your criteria and stick to them, otherwise you could end up with someone totally unsuitable.

If there is a lot to choose from I would advise you have the following in your criteria:-
Fluent English
Previous experience of paid work with children
Interests that are shared with your kids
Similar family background as yourselves, i.e., if you have a few children make sure your au pair has siblings, look at parents jobs etc.
Has previously lived away from home.#

Good luck!

unemployed Spanish men - yes, we had that last April. We had a twenty seven year old man apply (no previous childcare experience whatsoever, just some random bloke.) I have to say I am equally wary of women of that age with no childcare experience suddenly hankering afer a £70 a week gig, living in with the family.

Going through them I have found:

1. a LOT of Spanish girls/women. Quite a few around the age of about 27. By the looks of their page they have been unemployed for a long time.
2. a few American girls - when I queried one of them about a Visa got quite snotty with me.
3. a few Eastern Europeans, like the Spanish a lot seem to be older.

I'm being ruthless with my initial sorting!!!

Am going to choose from Europe or someone already here though because after the last au pair fiasco I want to have a trial/interview weekend so will need to pay for a flight over for the final 2 or 3 potentials.

Hi Chitchattingwithkids..

how did it go did you find anyone? There def seems to be a lot more aupairs out there at the moment and much more from the likes of Spain etc.. The economic climate is so bad there they have all finished their studies and there are no jobs so a lot are hoping to spend a year perfecting their languages and hope to get a job next year.
Word of advice ask them outright if they are married of have any kids at home and if they say no and seem to have a younger sibling with a BIG age gap be suspicious...there are lot coming here desperate for money leaving their kids at home, which from my experience was a nightmare as they are so homesick and really really dont want to be here!!
I write a blog for au pair host mums let me know if there is anything you would like to hear about www.contactaupair.com/
Would love to hear if you have found anyone :-)

I'm looking for an au pair too but decided to go via an agency.

Not sure if I'm being naive but I felt it's worth paying the agency fee and not having to worry about the au pair's visas/insurance/background checks etc.

Am I being naive?

Yes. You have to check all of that yourself as well.

There's nothing wrong with wanting to reduce the pool of applicants to those who have joined an agency but it's still your responsibility as an employer to check they are allowed to work, check their background and refs etc.

What kind of insurance do you mean?

Health insurance.

Oh I am definitely checking their background and references - based on the documentation provided by the agency of course.

They're resident in the UK so on the NHS. It tends to just be the Germans who bring additional insurance with them

I completely understand narrowing the search but you still need to check everything yourself and for me that just cuts out the easiest part - running a search on an au pair site and sending a few contact messages.

Hmmmmm... thanks fraktious.... maybe I'll give it a go then!

I suppose it can't hurt to have an agency sending me some candidate profiles while I'm looking at others myself.

Just a word of caution, not all agencies conduct background checks. Alot of them just have contacts in the country they tend to recruit from & simply forward CVs to you.
If your au pair is from the EU, then they don't need any kind of visa.
Some of the smaller agencies are better than the bigger ones as they rely on local recommendations & repeat requests. They may also have au pairs on their books who are already in the UK & not happy with their current family.

The benefits I got from an agency in the past were fewer time wasters overall than AP World (in Germany the girls ahve to pay to join THEIR agency which I perceived kind of whittled the punters down to people who were genuinely interested); the references and criminal checks were submitted to me when I was reviewing the profiles (I still followed these up but it was handy to see everything up front); the girls' expectations of what to expect from the role was well managed by their agency and reinforced by mine. I must say that our two girls from the agency have been better than our current one from AP World although after a shocker last week she seems to have undergone an amazing transformation.

However, the agency then started going on about how the "girls only want to stay six months" which is great for THEM but means I'm having potentially up to three au pairs in one year if I have to recruit again in March after a Sept start. Sod that.

I would say be open to both the websites AND agencies, they both have their strengths and disadvantages. It's really hit or miss which one works.