Au Pair recruitment - what do I do next??

[Millarkie]

I've joined aupairworld on the advice of MN - thanks.

I've searched through lots of potentials and deleted thousands of emails from non-starters...and then I found her..Miss Perfect AP.. and I sent her an email, basically going over the stuff I'd put in my email and asked if she was interested..and she emailed back to say she was.

What do I do now??

Do I send her the 'owl lady' questionaire (or similar)?

then do I ring, or do I try to set up instant messenger or skype or something.

I've only ever recruited nannys before, and that's done face to face.. and it feels really strange to be recruiting now for a September start date...lots of time to be strung along and then dropped I fear.

OK, I'm panicking and typing rubbish..the email went over my profile stuff.

Do you feel comfortable with the amount of info that has passed between you? If you do, offer her the job. If you don't, ask more questions.

Just ask her the questions that really interest you. With respect, Uwila's questionnaire is rather long.

Thanks for the reply Scienceteacher - I'm having a think and writing a few questions..but they are very different to the usual ones I think. We need very few childcare hours - about 7 per week, and au pair will only have to keep my (school age) kids from killing themselves or each other for a couple of hours each day max. so I'm not too worried about that.
I'm more concerned that she won't be bored out of her skull her (we are in the country) and leave. Now...how do I phrase that nicely

I have a web page, Millarkie, where I describe the job and the area in as much detail as I can so that they know what they are letting themselves in for. I do stress the risk of boredom, and the importance of making friends so that they have something to do in their free time.

Thanks ST. DH is a computer geek - wonder if I can get him to make up a web page < millarkie wishes she had thought to ask about this before she made contact with Perfect AP>

Do you want to look at mine?

OK, another stupid question - how do speak to references if they don't speak english and you don't speak the au pairs language very well.

I don't usually bother with references. I get 'em young, so they don't have much of a background.

Would love to ST but don't want to intrude

I have a lot of info that I put into a folder for our holiday nanny so I guess I can use that.
Got to put kids to bed...panic is suspended

I've sent you a CAT

Thank you ST

Just received your CAT ST - great web page - thank you - I should be able to cope with setting up something similar.
I'm struggling to find info on local language courses at the moment (the local place has just shut down).
(and your children ..and your dog, are lovely!)

New question! - I've emailed info about job, area, language schools etc to potential au pair - asked about childcare, experience, discipline, food likes/dislikes, hobbies etc. Nothing off-putting yet.
Have arranged to ring her to chat on Tuesday, but don't know what we should talk about - shall I just go over our expectations again, and ask hers again?

She has emailed some 'references' to us which are interesting in that they are short forms which have been filled in by former employer and by a friend. They are in English (AP is german) and have tickboxes so that the referee can mark the ap as Excellent/good/fair/poor at certain things eg. honesty, friendliness, entertaining children. Has anyone seen anything like these before??

No but suppose it is a good way to overcome language barriers? Sure someone els who knows better will be along soon!

Never seen those before, but sounds like a good idea if the referees are not that fluent in english.

For your conversation, I would try to get her talking about herself, what are her plans for the future. Her experience with children. Her interests generally. This should give you an idea if she will fit into your family / area.

Thanks.

So far she has not asked me any questions about anything - I'm hoping she thinks of some before tuesday.
Dh has even looked into flying her over for a face to face interview because we are so used to interviewing nannies by seeing how well they get on with the kids, but he has come to his senses now.