Live in au-pair

[Rainbopotogold]

Hi,
I have a five yr old in school and im looking at having an au pair to help me as im an Ft student, please tell me how do I go about getting a trusted live in aupair? Also how much should I look at paying her? Thanks

You have 2 options - agency or recruiting by yourself. Either way you will need to be prepared to check their documentation and references.

1. Think about what you need then to do, think about the hours you need, think about the qualities and competencies you need your AP to have (homework supervision? Driver?) Set out clearly the pay and benefits - pay is usually £70-100 depending on hours and location plus done kind of transport - either travel card or car.

1a. Look up on what being an employer means, check what nationalities you are permitted to employ and whether there are any conditions. Double check that against your list and amend if necessary.

1. From this write your job description and your list of criteria for candidates. Do not deviate from this list, do not tell yourself you can 'make do' because they seem nice as you will end up resenting it.

1. Do thorough interviews, ideally by Skype but definitely by phone to check their spoken English. Remember they'll be living with you so make sure you think you'll get on with them. If they annoy you at any point in the interview stage move on.

1. Ask for references from school teachers, people they've babysat for, any odd jobs they've had. Contact these references personally, probably via email, google translate is usually very good and kind MNers will have help with the more common languages. Ask about reliability and temperament here.

MN is a great source of help and advice.

choose an aupair with a similar cultural background to your own. I think Scandinavian aupairs are very good and settle quickly. I also like Poles (not afraid of work) and I had one lovely aupair from northern Germany. However, southern germans (x2) seem to be a completely different species!

choose someone with a similar educational background/aspiration as yourself.

Go for a slightly older aupair, rather than an 18 yo. They are less likely to get homesick if they have lived away from home before.

Agree about Skype - speak to them face to face.

hattifattner

Not surprised you are saying that. I am German myself and we think that Southern Germans are a different species. They even have they own language :D

Many thanks to you all for the info, I shall consider all that...fingers crossed, I hope I will find an ap soon.x