Contacting au pair referees

[Millarkie]

How do you take up your potential au pair's references?

Our first au pair was German and I persuaded dBIL (who lives in switzerland) to ring up and check her references.
I'm trying to recruit again at the moment and have a potential candidate who is french - I speak french but have never tried doing it over the phone. I prefer to read/write french but are written references (email or letter?) even easier to fake than a phone call?

What do you do (or are you all fluent multi-linguists?)

I have to admit I do them by email - but I ask for phone numbers and address, but the potential candidate doesn't need to know I'm not actually likely to use them. I then email the referee a few questions etc, wait for their reply and if I feel necessary ask for more. I also now tend to use my current AP to speak to the next potential one, but I have always gone for Germans so far so this has been possible.

Thanks Weegle. I have asked current au pair if she will help find next au pair and she has agreed...and I guess I will email the french ones.

I'm bumping in case anyone else has any advice.

I currently have lovely written reference (in German but I can translate it enough to get the gist) from a perfect- but-very-expensive-to-insure-on-car German (plus she is chatting to my current german AP by email)

Alternative is 2 phone numbers/names from older (and I guess easier to insure) french AP, but the referees don't speak english. I speak french but would be confused by long answers I'm sure (am very out of practice).
Was thinking about writing out a script/list of questions which would have oui/non answers but not sure if they would give me enough info to get a good feel for how they felt.
AP has also asked that I contact them during working hours on Thursday so it is likely that it would be a mobile phone conversation on a park bench (I work in a hospital so no phone use in the building)

Or I could return to my smoking Finn

I can help you (or, rather, my bi-lingual French/German speaking ap can) with written references if you want to know them word for word. I think having a list of oui/non questions would enable you to ask reasonably decent but not open questions and make quick notes as you go along using a tick and cross system. CAT me if you need written reference help.

Thanks Simply - I'm pretty good with written stuff (I studied french, german and russian, albeit years ago)..it's the verbal stuff I'm stressing about. Actually, you have given me an idea - pretty sure my german AP speaks french I wonder if she would be up for the challenge
I wish I could put my finger on why I feel drawn towards the 19yr old German and worried about the 'totally ok on paper' french woman though.

Oh good luck Millarkie. I've only ever had french speakers and I can manage that (more or less). Hmm. Tbh I would trust a written reference more than speaking to someone on the phone. I always ask to speak to the AP's parents btw. Not that it did me much good this time around (don't forget the questions on mental health!)

Oh Quattro you have made me laugh.
I may still copy your idea and send out a health questionaire However, since APs that are happy to live in a village and be banned from visiting London during the week are few and far between, and they get snapped up so blooming quickly, I may just have to hope for the best.

My practically perfect current AP provided us with official AP reference forms in English, with tick boxes on all sorts of attributes, filled in by 1 former employer (a kindergarten), and 2 personal references, and a (equivalent of) CRB check!..and we still rang the kindergarten to check up on her (or rather dBIL did) I think I might ask her about where she got them from tomorrow (along with asking if she wants to practice her french). She is horrified by the uncouth youths whom I am entertaining as potential APs

I use email and internet translation engines (with an apology beforehand for the poor translation), I would look for a business email address where possible. (though got a bit nervous at emailing the local gendarmarie for one reference!)

Have also done the emailing parents thing, AP mothers can sometimes be very honest.

Thanks DIOM
Since I seem to have sorted the car insurance thing, I think I will offer the job to the German with a lovely written reference (which I spent last night translating and then asked current German au pair if I had got it right - I had - just about).
In future I think I will amend my list of questions so the one about references asks for them to be emailable.