Au pair skype interviews

[clareysage]

Does anyone have any set of guidelines for these interviews? I have spent all afternoon on skype waiting to interview au pairs. These interview times were arranged and reconfirmed for today at exact times in their country. Two have been 30-40 minutes late even though I messaged them several times on skype. Is it just me or does this not bode well? I am not happy that I have been on skype for 5 hours with only two interviewed.

Thank you sj73. I had to interviews so far, one felt more academic, less passionate about life (or maybe more shy?), very good English. Another one very passionate about life, positive personality, but poor English. I am in dilemma, trying to find a third candidate to interview, but there are none suitable so far.

Meadow: it's tricky. For me, English was important as my kids are young and I need to be able to explain things. I think its important though that you like them as you are going to be living with them. I would keep going if time isn't too much of a pressure.

Or if your kids are older and the au pair had enough English to cope with emergencies then go for the positive one. He'll pick up english quickly and could do an intensive course? A lot of the Spanish girls i interviewed had poor English and we ended up recruiting a Danish girl. It's a minefield. I just hope it works out.

sj73 we had a massive influx of Spanish teachers in our area resulting in lots of them being employed in our nursery./preschool..and I would say they're not EVEN good in the classroom (from the ones I've worked with). They all claim that training as a teacher in Spain is the most difficult thing ever but there seems to be hundreds of them looking for jobs over here with absolutely no skills which would be useful in a classroom. Obviously massive generalisation but IMO.

Missphilly: I'm not sure I'd really want an teacher as my au pair. I say that as a teacher myself! I reckon they might be slightly judgey and think banal duties such as emptying a dishwasher to be beneath them. I know I'm generalizing massively!

Tricky indeed. I am looking for a male au pair and all of the applicants are from Spain; many of them graduated as primary teachers. My option 1 has written a graduation work about ADHD (my DS has traits), option 2 is not a teacher. I actually quite like their generally positive mentality. But I don't expect them to have any teaching skills. My boys are 6 and 3. I can cope with poor English, but not sure how will they.

We have had two APs now and our first was a Spanish teacher. She was absolutely fantastic, we loved her to bits and nothing at all was "beneath" her!

I'm in the middle of this process. Last year I had load of great applicants (I want Northern European and young and there were so many great Germans). This year I am not getting such good applicants. I can't believe how poor done of the applicants are actually. This is on au pair world. Have others noticed a similar shift?

ClareySage I think a lot of the work needs to be done PRE Skype interview. These are the guidelines I would recommend (I've run a London nanny agency for 12 years):

1. The job advertisement

Make sure your job advert outlines the role and expectations clearly, including any household work expected, the hours, pay rate and holidays, benefits etc. This ensures that you only get applicants who understand the full demands of the role and are happy with them

1. Pre selection

Filter through the CV's and emails that come through. If you are getting hundreds of applicants delete any that don't have a good introduction email, with well written sentences, good spelling etc. If an applicant doesn't take the time to prepare their application well it doesn't bode well for their care on the job

1. Shortlisting

Shortlist the applications you like based on qualifications, experience, and references. Do not accept candidates with no references- you should ask for at least 3. They could be families the Au Pair has babysat for, or an employer from another job. Even if it is not a childcare related job their testimonial regarding the persons reliability, dedication and helpfulness is important

1. Questionnaire

Once you have a selection of 3-7 top candidates, send them a questionnaire of around 5-10 questions to complete with a completion deadline. Any who can't be bothered completing it aren't really interested in the job and I wouldn't follow them up

1. Skype Interview

Select your top three candidates and organise Skype interview times. These candidates have already invested a good amount of time in applying for your role so they should be reliable to show up on time. If you like them during the Skype interview, then arrange to call references and get a police check and proceed from there. You should also insist they have a first aid certificate or are prepared to complete a course on arrival to the UK.

Good luck! Rachel@KiwiOz Nannies