Au pairs – see them on video first.

[AllyPallyPark]

I am raising two girls in north London, and we are on our fourth au pair. A 6 - 9 month stay is normal, so they turn over. We have hired through aupairworld.net which has huge choice and charges 39?. But you only see a still pic, and talk to the girl on the phone. We have had girls that are fluent in English on the phone, and ..ah, not so good at Stanstead when we collected her (go figure). But there is a video au pair site now where the girls talk in English on video and it?s more reassuring. It?s free (but for how long?) It?s videoaupair.com. Our current au pair came that way, and so far so good.

Nope - don't understand how you can be misled about an au pair's level of English if you have spoken to them for a decent length phone call. Videos can be edited - phone calls are live.

It is mighty unusual for someone to make several posts all recommending the same company for their first posts on this website, especially re-visiting very old threads in order to add to them. You must be very impressed with this company which of course, you have no relationship with!

One word. Skype.

Reported.

Go and pay advertising like everyone else has to

millarkie, thanks for expressing your view so I can put you at ease. And, with that view of the world, how do I know who you are? Hope you see the point.

I am on my fifth au pair. The first was from a London bureau, very expensive and the reassurances proved hollow. The next three were from the net's biggest online place, aupairworld. To make absolutely clear for you, we hired a French girl from Le Harve and had a fluent French speaker in the house too when we called. I spoke to her in English - that was fine. My friend covered other things in French. everything charming. I wrote previously that meeting au pairs at Stanstead revealed worse English than we expected. It was actually Victoria Coach Station. For three weeks, the tensions grew and we explained - gently - her limited English (fine on the phone remember) couldn't go on. We took her back to Victoria Coach station where she said she had a ticket booked, then we went for a coffee, and saw her, wheelie and all, leave the Station and head for the tube. To where? Who knows. The last site we have used yes, that's right, video au pair.com is the best I have used because of the video previews. The advantages are too obvious to list. And yes, I have explored old postings. I only joined mumsnet for the first time this morning. I've avoided the sarcastic use of exclaimations through out. Maybe you might do the same if you reply.

OK, the accusations above have really ticked me off. At the moment, it's 3 to m1.
millarkie doesn't think I have found something new that is demonstrably better that I want share.
frakkinaround thinks that Skype would eliminate the problem of talking 'blind' to a voice I can't see: to me all that does is eliminate the bill.
Bumnoise thinks I am trying to get advertising for my self interest under the wire.
Is there no one out there that has talked to an au pair on the phone and then suspected that the individual that turns up isn't the same person? I'm not saying it happens often. But I know it is a degree of risk, and I think I have been a dupe for it.
Is there no parent out there that has not had an experience similar to the one I have described above? A good call on the phone, and a tiny, barely adequate English vocabulary upon arrival. If you have, please post. I cannot believe I am the only one.

Sorry the rudeness and abruptness has upset you Ally. I would like to thank you very much for your tip re the website. I have always used apw but it's fascinating seeing someone properly and hearing them talk in the flesh BEFORE you make the first contact with them.
I would be quite nervous about getting my unpredictable lot to talk to camera to try to attract an au pair, but would love to give it a go myself. Definitely something to consider for the next one.
I don't know however if this system would have alerted me to our mad Austrian girl who came across as lovely and who had impeccable English, but who was a complete barking nightmare to live with once she got here.

I think being able to see a potential au pair on video is definitely helpful for some of the reasons that AllyPallyPark has put forward.

I prefer the assurance of having an agency to support me with any questions or problem sorting before or after they arrive so I was very happy to find a normal agency that does videos of candidates. See 1st Choice Au Pairs

I've used them over the last four years and they have short video introductions for each of their candidates. The staff from the agency here in England travel overseas to meet each of the girls themselves, so you know the video is of the person they have met with, checked and interviewed.

You can use Skype for video, not just phone calls.

I always interviewed (the other way round so as a candidate) via skype BECAUSE I can use video. I don't want to go blind to someone I've seen a photo and had a phone call with.

One potential explanation for good English on the phone is that they've thoroughly prepared for the interview and a way to circumvent that preparation is throw a completely random question into the mix. I now teach EFL and do lots of interview practice with people who, when you try to have a general conversation with them, aren't that great at English but if all I saw was that interview then I would be very impressed!

The same applies to a prepared video - they can have prepared and learnt a script, reel it off to the camera and still have rubbish English. I'll grant you that it affords a measure of security in terms of 'I see the person on video, I see the passport in that name, I speak to a person of that name and I recognise the voice from the video' but I promise you video-skype is easier!

I'm sorry if you've had a bad experience with a previous au pair, allypally (incidentally I'm sure there's another MNer with a similar name!), but seeing an au pair on a video isn't going to change everything. The best process that I've found, for interviewing families as a candidate when they or I are overseas, and now teaching EFL is to do it where you have simultaneous video and audio input which means web-conferencing, usually via Skype.

Are you on your fourth or fifth au pair, though? I'm a little confused.

By AllyPallyPark Sun 21-Feb-10 10:46:31
I am raising two girls in north London, and we are on our fourth au pair.

By AllyPallyPark Sun 21-Feb-10 14:08:15
millarkie, thanks for expressing your view so I can put you at ease. And, with that view of the world, how do I know who you are? Hope you see the point.

I am on my fifth au pair.

Do be aware, though, that what millarkie said is very true and quite suspicious behaviour -dragging up old threads, introducing videoaupair.com at every tenuous opportunity and using phrases like 'It?s free (but for how long?) It?s videoaupair.com.'. It just makes you read like an advert, which is banned for very good reasons.

It does come across as an advert, especially when the Whois entry for the domain name videoaupair.com shows up coincidentally as Alexandra Park Road near Alexandra Palace near Muswell Hill. The area of Alexandra Palace is shortened to Ally Pally locally.

Oooh, nice investigating! You've been rumbled Ally

And we all know who Millarkie is - she has been on here for ages and dispenses impartial sound advice - unlike you.

Notice MN have deleted some of your posts but not this one where you have been thoroughly rumbled.

And as for testing the level of English - I let the kids do the testing- if you can survive 10 minutes on the random thoughts of a 6yo your English is good enough for this house.

Detective BettyandLenny. I must admit I did look at the site to try to work out who was behind it, but you got a lot further than I did.

Another sign of dodgyness is when you accuse them of being dodgy and instead of 'oh well I was only trying to tell you of this great thing' you get 'but it really is sooo great, it's fab and new and wonderful'.

Oh, it's easy, just google whois domain names and type in the website address and it tells you all kinds of information so you can check out who's behind the website.