so I think I've found an au pair - what do I do now??

[Looster]

Hi
We have found our first au pair - we think! A lovely German girl. We did sign up with an agency but actually found the best candidate on au pair world.

I've received a reference now from her previous host family and we've had emails back and forth and I am going to speak to her to finalise things and break the ice next week. Agreed hours, pay, extras - need to put it into a contract still though.

Is there anything else I need to do? When the agency sent through candidate details, there were medical forms, police check forms, copies of passport, driving licence. Do you ask for these things if you are not going through an agency? I do need to get some details from her driving licence in order to put her on my car insurance, but she's not coming til September so I have time to do that.

Anything else I should think about?
thanks!

You could certainly ask her to get a copy of her police record - it's a much simpler process in Germany than the CRB here, I got mine back in about a week! It's called a Führungszeugnis.

Thanks Missus- I'll do that

I would ask for a copy of her passport and driving license (proof of ID and you can check the driving with your insurer if you have her exact details), a note from a GP saying she's fit to work with children and a police check.

That said I do err on the side of caution. It's not difficult to get these things and it does give a certain peace of mind that they're who they say they are, not certifiable/a criminal and dedicated enough to do those things to be an au pair. Someone who refused to fill in the (fairly easy IIRC) police check form would be ringing alarm bells for me.

The most important thing in my opinion is to think about her first few weeks with you and how she will settle in. Each of our au pairs have arrived a few days before or very soon after the previous au pair has moved on - so each has passed on lists of contact names/numbers for the next au pair to utilise. You need to think about how to help her set this up from the beginning in order for her to settle in and meet new friends.

Apart from that you should put together a guide to living/working in your home covering all of the little things that you will forget to tell her if you leave things until the last moment.

I would also think about contingency planning. What happens if she doesn't arrive, changes her mind and goes to another family. what will your back-up plan be. What will you do if she proves totally unsuitable.

I would definitely ask for medical forms and police check forms. I recently had a bad experience with an au pair agency called Cinderella (based in London - Sydenham) whom I have also used in the past. They have never sent me any medical or police forms and last month they sent me the CV of a girl whom one of my ex au-pairs happened to know personally. She told me this girl had psychological problems and strongly advised me not to invite her to our house. The agency denied everything but still did not sent me any certificates. It's reassuring to know that the agency you had contacted provided you with all the forms. Could you give me the name of the agency? I'm definitely not using Cinderella again!

Hi all - thanks for all your tips. Sadly, the first possible au pair decided to go to another family. she needed to study 10 hours per week in order to retain ability to claim a german child allowance. It was just proving impossible to arrange near us - courses that were reasonably priced were much less hours and courses that were the right no. of hours were extortionate!

So, we are now onto late stage discussions (again) with 2 possibles, like the sound of both of them. No idea how to choose!!

Ascoli- I used Larah Au Pairs. The lady i dealt with was Nicola - it is her agency. They are based in Woking, Surrey I think.