Au pairs: perios between job offer and start date

[QuinoaLenghi]

We usually offer via AP World in May/June to start in Sept.

AP1: frequent emails expressing excitement and asking question through the summer. Turned out to be great AP.

AP2: v little contact over summer and v v slow to respond to contact from me. She turned out to be crap & we let go of her by Christmas.

AP3: similar to AP1.

Ap4: offered her the job this May but v little contact from her since other than to ask me the cost of iPhone contracts in the UK. She is however quick to respond if I message her (which is better than AP2).

I am worried that little contact is a sign of little enthusiasm or little thought about the job or a sign of more general communication problems (which was the case with AP2). Am I overthinking this? How much contact do others expect?

Perhaps she feels like she doesn't want to bother you? It's good that she reponds quickly when asked though, definitely good. How is her tone in emails?

I had misgivings about an au pairin the summer. Very little contact. She ran away.

Another potential au pair over Christmas was not in contact and she said it was because she was working long hours. However, after I offered her the job she changed her mind and got a permanent role in her home country.

No contact is a big no no. If you have misgivings now, you'll kick yourself later if she's no good. On the other hand, I wouldn't say it's definite that she won't be good. I just won't hire one who doesn't seem interested.

This is tricky. I'm a live-in nanny and sometimes I've wanted to email the new families all sorts of little questions or just to say I'm looking forward to the new job, but I feel like I'm pestering the new employer. So I tend to send one after interview to say nice to me you etc, and then after job offer and contract sorted, I may send one more just to check all is okay close to the start date. So, she may just be reserved or worried about bothering you.
I agree it's a good sign she's quick to respond.