Questions to ask prospective Au Pair

[agides]

Hi everyone - can anyone help me? Eventually my husband and I have decided to take on an Au Pair. We have not done this before and are quite anxious about it. I have got to the point of selecting 2 APs I now need to speak/interview them on the phone - Anyone got suggestions for questions to ask and/or any other advice

have a look on www.bestbear.co.uk and also check out the archives on here as it has been covered lots & lots of times.
Don't be anxious, it can work really well. Just always keep at the back of your mind that you have to live with this person & trust them with your children.
Good luck.

yes: I think the most important thing is that you get on with them and there are no major differences in the way you think children should be treated. I would ask why they want the job, and then ask specific questions about their own childcare experience (or any work experiance if they don't have any). make sure you ask about potential negatives (what was the worst thing that happened in your previous au pair job? or something). and then ask if they have any questions. tbh I would probably give the job to whoever asks most questions about the children, but that's me.

What are her duties going to be? If you can give me a better idea of things like kids ages, her hours, where you live (i.e. city or country) I can be more helpful with some typical questions.

thanks for the kind words all of you. Primarily she will need to drop-off and pick-up my 5-year old from school (by Car) on the days that I am not working from home, which I think will be about twice a week and a couple of nights babysitting. She is going to need to do v. light housework (tidying really) as I have a cleaner and an ironer. As an aside could I get rid of my cleaner or ironer and get her to do it? I'm not sure what's acceptable. I'm now off hunting the archives and bestbear.co.uk wish me luck!

Yes, you can ask her to do housework for sure.... BUT my experience is that an au pair is not an experienced ironer. so you might prefer to keep the one you have and get the au pair to do more tidying, kids laundry, etc. Pretty much any childcare/cleaner job is fair game for an au pair assuming you don't exceed her agreed hours.

If I were you I would ask a lot of questions about nutrition, children discipline (naughty step, spanking, etc.). I'd ask about her driving record. I'd ask what she likes to do on her free time (i.e. checking that she isn't going to come home drunk at 4:00am every night). I'd ask her how she plans to get involved with a social life (you want her to get out, make friends, and be happy to be here in the UK).

Oh, and I'd ask her not if she likes to cook (those who don't say they do!) but what she likes to cook, details of recipes, does she know what a turnip is?????

Uwila - Oh you're good! that's really helpful, I presume you've done this before? thanks

Yes. Well sort of, I employ live-in nannies. But one day DS will be old enough that I can employ an au pair instead... and go a luxury cruise with the savings!

I have so much more I could say, but don't really have time to type it all. If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask and I or someone else will be here to advise you.

Good luck!

Not sure where your AP is from, but check driving experience - are they used to geared car if you have a geared car? Will they be phased by traffic/if they have to paralell park?

As Uwila says, it is definitely fair to ask an au pair to do housework, but don't expect them to know HOW to do it. When I au paired, I ironed all the children's clothes, but would have not have been confident ironing work shirts/delicate clothing belonging to parents.

Check previous experience. As an au pair, the worst au pairs I came across were those who had a lovely niece/nephew that they could talk about for hours, but when it came down to it, they had no actual experience of being soley responsible for a tired/exuberant/bad tempered child who couldn't be handed back to parents/grandparents.

OK things have turned crazy here!! My husband's Czech grandmother is now trying to me to teach me enough to conduct the phone call in Czech (she is a bit crackers, very sweet but crackers!) When did life get so complicated? Suppose I'd only get bored otherwise! I think I mastered hello, although she slapped me on the back of the head for pronoucing it with an english accent! thanks for your advice I've got a list of questions wish me luck 1500 tomorrow - I'll let you know

Oh no no no no no.... Require English fluency. Speak to her in English. Make her speak to you in English. Otherwise, how will she ever get on if you send her to Tesco's? (Unless of course you live in a czech community where English is of little use).

I know I know - I'm not letting Czech grandmother get involved - she'd scare the poor girl off. I'm doing Hello in czech and that's it! Hoping that Czech grandmother may be of use when she gets here for emergencies but she is completely loopy so not holding out on that one

I think it is perhaps the au pair who ought to fear crazy grandmother.

Are you Czech, then? Are you hiring a Czech au pair specifically?

She's my husband's grandmother and he's half canadian and scottish! v complicated, but no Czech AP is accidental

Spoken to AP she sounded really sweet, asked loads of questions about my son, she's got a friend coming over too to AP close by and told me about meals she cooks for kids, how she entertains them. So I have taken the plunge and she is coming over end of Oct

Oh, congratulation. Now get yourself over to the search facility and dig up "house rules" for an au pair.

She sounds lovely.