Au pair help

[fireupthequattro]

Apologies if you have seen this type of thread before but I am new to this section.

Have just been offered stupendous job in Switzerland. Looking good for dh jobwise too, so we are thinking of an Au Pair for DS (5yo). He can go to primary in Switz from next term, so we need someone to basically stay in the house, do maybe an hour of cleaning, ironing, walk him to school, possibly pick him up at lunch time (don't know how it works there yet) and home time and make him a couple of sangers in the evening.

I would take over or DH in evening and weekends.

Is this basically within the remit of an au pair? (I only ask as my friend used to work hers like a dog, IMO)

Where would we find a good one? Is it normal to find one here and take over? I see some agencies are worldwide but are they ok?

Any agencies MN's would recommend?

What do i need to look out for?

Some initial advice would be great, not too many horror stories though please

Sounds like a great au pair job.

I've had two... I was very nervous about it at first, but it was great...both were trust worthy and great with DS. One girl was a real self starter. and the second wouldn't do anything unless it was in 'the contract' especially cleaning, and we eventually fell out over that.

My advice would be to write down exactly what you want done on a timetable so you can figure out how many hours you need, also what you are prepared to pay ( I paid £80 a week plus board and food - own room- for about 25 hours childcare, school pickup and cleaning plus a couple of eves babysitting thrown in) It worked out great ... both girls seemed to think this was a very fair amount
The second girl said that a former employer had written out a list of duties and stuck it to her wardrobe door.. that she preferred that to my more casual approach because she knew exactly what was expected and when.

I tried 'aupair world' website, but there are a huge amount of girls on there it can be overwhelming, and many are still in their home country so you can't meet them I wouldn't recommend that one. Also when you use someone you like you have to be quick. haven't tried others, but there are bound to be some swiss ones.

I actually found both my girls through gumtree because I wanted to find someone in the UK who I could meet before taking them on. girls advertise for jobs on there, and also you can post up an advert yourself. I got a lot of replies. I found you can tell quite a lot from a couple of emails.

Sounds like a fab job but do thoroughly investigate the regulations for Switzerland. I know some nationalities are banned and you will need to obtain a work permit for them unless they are Swiss.

I personally wouldn't go into the mess of finding and taking. Different cantons have different rules and you don't want to find a lovely French girl and then be in Geneva where she can't work as an au pair.

You may be better contacting Swiss agencies for advice (but do double check everything they say to you with relevant govt websites).

I'd say the job itself is fine to ask an AP to do; would you want someone British so DS just had the 2 (3?) languages o contend with?

I think, as we would be putting him in state school that we would like a german speaking AP, possibly English wanting to learn German, so at least they get a good experience out of it. As they are picking up from school some passable German at least.

Just glad to know that I'm not expecting too much from one, as i said one friend used to treat AP like a slave, and then expect her to stay up all night listening to rantings about ex-p. uuugghhhh.

I did look at some websites last night, and actually found some Germans/Swiss wanting to Au Pair in Switzerland. I'm just not sure how reliable these sites are, some asking for money upfront, like a nanny agency?

Lots of people rate Au Pair World - I think you pay a subscription fee and then can contact au pairs directly.

Au pair world very good. I reckon you don't need to use an agency to actually source one but they might be a valuable source of advice.

If you are in a German speaking canton you not be able to have a German speaking au pair but English with some German would be okay. Probably. You would need to investigate work permits etc.

I know someone who's looking for a job in Zurich and wants to learn German if that's any help?

Thanks Frakked, but they wouldn't be needed until August/Sept and probably in Canton of Solothurn (on the border)?

Do they know some German?

I'll have a look at recommended websites later tonight thanks ladies.

All I know is she's looking into au pairing and wants to go to Zurich - not sure on timing or anything!

I was encouraging her to go overseas because I loved nannying overseas and in some ways I wish I'd taken a nice au pair job which let me take language lessons and explore the city a bit.

I nannied myself in St Louis for a summer before Uni, loved it. If she is interested is she on a site somewhere where i can contact her or supply my details?

I have no idea. I shall prod her into it.

Or tell her to come on here.

Do you accept CAT?

dont know what that means lol

We are in Germany, and are not allowed to have APs from either a German speaking or an English speaking country, because we are British. Definitely go via a local agency - they will help with the paperwork.
You will probably need the AP to get a visa, then a work permit + health insurance + language school.

CAT is the contact poster method. You can enable it in MyMumsnet at the top of the page.