Finding an au pair in the current post Brexit climate

[hibbledibble]

It's difficult!

I previously tried with au pair world, had an au pair, but she is leaving after only a very brief stay, and a lot less than she agreed.

I'm not thinking it would be best to find an au pair who is already in the country, and who we can interview in person.

I have tried messaging au pairs on gumtree: no luck. I tried positing on Facebook groups, but the current demands seem unrealistic and not what we can meet (eg only want to work 3/4 days a week, own bathroom, only zone 1, only one child etc).

I have interviewed one au pair in person but she has made it clear she has put us on her 'reserve list', so for that reason I am not keen to proceed, as I would only want to get someone who is genuinely happy to come to us.

Any hints for finding someone? We pay well, and live in central London (albeit not zone 1), it shouldn't be this hard!

That sounds terrible. We haven’t got an au pair at the moment but was considering one again soon. Have you considered male au pairs? We had one last year and he was fab!

puff I haven't specified gender in my adverts. I have only had female applicants so far.

Have you tried agencies?

Hi. We've had success and failure on aupairworld. Some of them are so flakey and I don't think they are doing any more than "testing the water", thinking that they'll just go home if they feel like it.
We had one who said her granny was sick and left the next day - her social media posts suggest it was more a case of her missing her boyfriend! Another didn't turn up - said her grandpa was sick.
We've had 3 great au pairs and 2 total liabilities - you're simply inheriting the problems of someone else's teenager!!!! (even those in early 20's are just children).
My advice is a really robust interview technique, absolute clarity on expectations and treat them from time to time... little gestures can help them feel more valued. If you use an agency, I think you get more commitment from the au pair as they tend to have invested more in the process and are more inclined to hang around.
My status is that I'm seriously thinking of quitting my job as the stress of sorting out au pairs is too much and it just doesn't feel worth the hassle!

Oly I haven't. It's probably the next route to go down.

Dome I feel similar to you. Childcare is just so tough!

Hello,
I know one girl from Germany, who is looking for au pair job in London.
She finished her final exams now and has holiday until September. It means, she would be available immediately. From time to time she took care of my son and from September she is going to start education for kindergarten teacher. Let me know in case of interest, I will forward you the contact. bye

Thank you Maria, but we are looking for a longer term commitment.

I have had 'reserve list' au pair contact me again, presumably the family she preferred no longer needs her. I'm not keen to go ahead as we weren't a preferred choice, and I would be concerned that she wouldn't stay with us as she would be looking for something better. Does that sound reasonable?

I would suggest looking for Australians /Americans etc on a gap year. They will find it easier in Britain, want a long term arrangement, less likely to go home because it is so far away etc.

Hi Maria, I have just PM'd you - we are looking for the summer! Do PM me or post if you don't receive my message.

There is a major shortage of au-pairs this year - according to the article today a 75% drop in EU applicants. I think that Brexit, the hostile environment together with the well publicised murder of the French aupair is putting off many applicants.
www.theguardian.com/money/2018/jun/09/au-pair-shortage-prompts-crisis-for-families

If you go for a non-EU aupair - you need to be very careful to check Home Office visa eligibility and the right to work etc. For example Americans (as a pp suggested) usually cannot work as aupairs.

There are still some au pairs on aupairworld.com, though not half as many as before. I think the main drop is in younger au pairs, as I suspect it's their parents vetoing them coming to the UK because they are the ones worried about Brexit or terrorism rather than the young people themselves.

We're coming up to the time when I need to ask our AP what his intentions are (2 months until end of our agreed contract, though he had originally expressed he may want to stay another 6 months) so this is clearly a worry.

Currently recruiting for an Au Pair. Took a fantastic girl who could only commit to 8 months who leaves August, as back in December didn't get a whole lot of applicants. Now I'm not even getting 10 percent of the applicants that I previously had. Even at Christmas by this stage I had short listed half a dozen to chat to, whereas now it's only 1! Will look at putting a direct ad on the equivalent of Gum tree in a few countries, get our current Au Pair to ask about etc.

Certainly making me look at what's essential!

Aupairs are a very mixed bag. I recommend students, from experience, if the timetable works out, Even when it doesn't quite, for 4/5 days you can get some really great students studying relevant courses.

We need our next au pair to start in September although I've not started looking yet. This thread isn't posting a rosy picture

I checked aupairworld thoroughly and there are still thousands of profiles matching what I want (tho how many are still actually active/looking) I don't know.

I was thinking to myself 'I wonder what about Brexit potential au pairs are worried about, it's not that they'll be dragged out of bed suddenly and deported...' and then I thought actually, that's exactly the kind of nonsense this 'government' would pull.

I think this might be a big part of your issue -75% drop in au pair applications! www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/money/2018/jun/09/au-pair-shortage-prompts-crisis-for-families

I second what someone else said about Australian / Canadian / US au pairs. Make your advert very specific - only people who already have their visa sorted and have good childcare experience / qualification. Those people are more likely to be looking for what you're offering.

I also wouldn't discount the one who had you on a shortlist. Did she say why she preferred the other family? It might be nothing material and she'd still be happy with you.

Someone mentioned up thread about Americans - you can't legally have an American Au Pair (unless on a student visa which I think would be hard to meet the requirements).

Au Pairs need to be

• from EU / EFTA countries; or
• apply for a Tier 5 Youth Mobility visa (from Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Japan, Republic of Korea, Taiwan and Monaco and British citizens of the overseas territories or British nationals living overseas); or
• hold an Ancestry visa (from a Commonwealth country)