Recommendations and finding and hiring an au pair

[natmelt]

Can anyone recommend good websites/agencies to recruit an au pair from? I have registered with findaupair.com but am wondering whether I should pay to run the whole thing through an agency and know that they have been vetted/screened. We had the most fantastic nanny for 18months but now the kids are a bit older (6 & 3) it makes more economic sense to go with an au pair for after school/nursery. Any helpful advice on what to look for would be most welcome - as would recommendations if you happen to know any east london based au pairs looking for new jobs!

Hi - we recruited this summer through aupair-world.net and it worked very well. Also, our au pair is really excellent (this is her third week, so touch wood!).

Downside was we had far too many applicants to deal with - but when I applied to people instead that worked out better. I immediately suggested that if they were seriously interested they should email me direct rather than use the (clunky) site messaging service. Serious contenders did so. I used the search facility to find people who fit our profile (eg looking for our area of the country) - that also worked well.

Brilliant - thinks Brawhen - hope that it works out for you with yours and I will follow up your suggestions.

stop right there! lol. i went on that site and it really did not benefit me at! i now have 2aupairs currently working for me, and i found them on www.findababysitter.com and the other on www.gumtree.com provided with back ground checks etc etc. litrally within a hour of posting up my advert i had ever so many responses! good luck in your search

Thanks Toni - will look at findababysitter as well - we tried gumtree for our first nanny and I didnt have a good experience - loads of applicants, some good on paper, but when it came to interview lots and lots didnt even bother to turn up which was really frustrating - we used nannyjob (I think) in the end to find ours but they don't have much in the way of au pairs...