Great AuPair - am I doing it right?

[iheartdusty]

I feel a bit confused about the Great AuPair website. So my profile is up, and I have put some au pairs on my Hot List. Now what? Do they contact me if they are interested? Do I have to do something else to contact them? Is it necessary to become a member, and if so, at what stage?

my brain is melting

tia

Sorry, I didn't use that particular website so I can only say what I did for the website I used. I wrote a profile and added pictures then I think I waited for some au pairs who might be suitable to add me to their favourites lists before paying the fee to be able to see all of their details including their e-mail address so that I could contact them. Be aware that some potential au pairs add families to their favourites list even though there is a mis-match i.e. allergic to cats or is a smoker etc - when the family profile says that you have a cat and require a non-smoker. Some I think rush through and add lots thinking that they'll have their pick of families from the replies. It might work for them but it's damn annoying for you to feel that you should write (as they can't e-mail you so you have to e-mail them) to say "Sorry but we have a cat and I can see that you're allergic to cats. I hope you find the perfect family for you."

Good luck!

P.S. I got so fed up with the hours and hours of work involved that I've used an agency for our second one (due to arrive next month) and I don't regret it.

Hi I didn't use that website, but I put our profile up and waited for a couple of days and then contacted the suitables ones who had shown an interest in us. I did that by sending an standard email, outlining us, the duties, hours needed and money asking them to email me if they were interested to arrange a telephone call. I then telephoned the ones I wanted and made a verbal job offer to the one who sounded the best. I then sent by email a 'host family /au pair' agreement which outlines our obligations (ie we will pay you xx each friday, we will provide sat TV, DVD , broadband, etc etc) her obligations (no drugs, smoking, alcohol, history of mental illness, etc etc), general behaviour expected. They have to agree to all that by email. I then send an email confirming the job and agree a start date. Its a bit long winded but they know exactly what I want from them and after all they are looking after my most precious assets DS and DD !!! Hope that helps.

you can put up your profile incl photos for free, you can put aps on your hotlist and reply whether you are interested when they put you on their hotlis /with a thumb up or down/. if you want to be able to canotact them through email or telephone, you need to pay to become a member to see their contact detail. most od the aupairs dont pay to become members so tehy cant see your email etc.

Did you notice that on Great Au Pair there is an advertisement saying 'register free' which I did. Then when I clicked on a candidates email, it was asking me to pay. Am I doing something wrong???

thanks all

HarrietTheSpy that's pretty much what I found. It seems from what catepilarr says that you need to pay if/when you actually want to contact an individual directly instead of using the generic email service from the website, ie putting them on a list or being put on a list.

I still think it is a very confusing website. I am having a much better experience from aupairworld. net

hi ladies, we are looking for live in help of some sort when #2 arrives for about 6 months.

question is what happens with tax and national insurance for an au pair? do we have to pay it? declare her income?

also (sorry so many questions) how much would you pay them weekly after room and board and how many hours a week would they work??

we are looking at mothers help's too but looking pricey in london at £80 per night!!!

cheers

sunshine185 I'd say your best bet for info is to check out some of the au pair websites. I pay my au pair £60 a week for 20 hours of work. She splits that into 4 hours a day 5 days a week. She has two days completely free. She sometimes childminds for us to go out in the evening. This is once or twice a week. I think under the au pair rules tax and national insurance doesn't come into it but you'd better check. I know for some nationalities extra paperwork is needed but my au pair is from an EU country so it's simple for me. You'll find out what they are and are not expected to do by researching. My au pair does some child care but mostly it is housework. Others do mostly child care. I would not recommend an au pair who doesn't have child care experience, qualifications and the relevant checks on background etc for sole care. Hth.

thanks simply! very very helpful info... can i ask where you got your au pair from?

I used the new au pair (no spaces) dot com website. It was okay. I deleted my profile once thinking that surely I could find a better one but found that it suited me better than the others I found and went back again. I've now suspended my profile but not deleted it as I've got another ap due to come next month (from an agency) and one (from the new au pair website) lined up for next year. As there's many a slip 'tween cup and lip (or something like that) I thought I'd not delete it in a hurry again. All 3 are from Germany and want to improve their English. Hth.

great! thanks ladies!

I've now got used to both great au pair and au pair world websites and think they are both good value compared to using an agency (mind you the last agency I used was a) extortionate and b) rubbish, so I am biased and would not recommend Smart au pairs). I'm quite nosy, so I enjoy reading all the profiles. Great au pair gives more detailed summaries eg religion. Is it me, or is there a sudden explosion of prospective German au pairs ?
I have never paid tax or NI contributions for au pairs. I pay £80/week for 25 hours because we are quite remote, so it takes time/money to get anywhere from here and I need an au pair who drives.

we are about to have our first au pair arrive today - found through APW. we are paying £75 per week for 25 hours, plus £25 on mobile each month, with unlimited internet at home and phone calls whenever she likes (we get cheap calls).

found APW to be very easy to use

congrats flicktlf

I am groaning at just how tedious the whole process is.

we must be an unattractive option, get plenty of initial interest then no follow-up. Maybe it is the 60 hour week or sleeping in the shed which is putting them off

our nanny has stayed for 3 years so we can't be that bad.

you wouldn't believe the problems we had getting to this stage though! 3 yes's then "i think i've decided I can't be away from my friends and family for that long" - err did you not think about this before you put your details on APW??? the last one kept us going for 7 yes 7 weeks before she pulled out. hopefully our aussie girl for september is going ahead - she does seem very positive and is asking lots of questions for her working holiday visa as i write... also she gets (if she wants) a holiday to malaysia in october with grandparents as well so childcare duties pretty limited, a holiday to NZ in march next year again with limited childcare, and we are moving to HK sometime next year so if she wants to stay on with us and go there to live for a while she gets that as well. All in all I think not a bad deal as if she doesn't want to come to these places with us (all paid for and paid pocket money as well) she can stay in the house for the time and have her holiday then (running total for those vacations will be 5 or 6 weeks).

so.....if she falls through I'm sure there will be a queue of MNers with people they know who would like the job

7 weeks!!!

I would be tempted to catch a flight to her house and have a few choice words on the doorstep.

her email started "it is with great regret blah blah blah....and she ended it by saying that she felt a real connection to our family and perhaps in the future we would bear her in mind"..... i thought my response would be perhaps a little too shocking

Iheartdusty, it occurred to me that maybe prospective au pairs don't like the sound of sharing your kids with your nanny, IYSWIM.

thanks cheapskatemum, but our profile explains she is moving on to another job - we are not up in the giddy heights of having 2 people to care for the DCs!

You never know how applicants are going to read things though; I said that she had stayed 3 years and one applicant said she would not be able to stay 3 years and didn't want to disappoint me.

I dunno. Am still undecided whether I should be recruiting another nanny or an au pair, and I am really looking at both. I do think that we are asking quite a lot of an au pair; I did initially specify 'au pair plus' ( and I do explain that in the profile, we want 30 hours p/w and will pay a p plus rates), so probably that is what is putting them off.

I have a very promising nanny coming for interview on Saturday, but if that falls through there is nobody else I am interested in.

groan.

Best of luck, I think I was confusing your thread with another I read recently and adding 2+2 and making 5 - apologies! I know what you mean about how people read things though. When I mentioned that a previous au pair had said she could drive, but couldn't, the PAP thought I was accusing her of the same and started assuring me that she really could drive! I hastily explained that I only mentioned it to explain why she didn't stay with us very long!