Finding Good Au Pair Candidates 2: Best Practices for the “they give me a group to look at” system

by cv harquail July 21, 2009
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Okay, so you’ve set your basic preferences and sent them to the agency. The agency’s computers churn a bit, and out come 4 recommended candidates, right into your online family folder. Now what? How can you make this process really work well for you? Welcome to Au Pair Mom! Please be sure to check out […]

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Finding Good Au Pair Candidates 1: Best Practices for the “1 at a time” system

by cv harquail July 21, 2009
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How do you manage the process of interviewing candidates one at a time? What can you do to make sure that the candidates you are sent are a pretty good match to begin with, so that you don’t have to weed out girls who surely wouldn’t fit with your family?

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Interviewing Au Pair Candidates: One at a time, or a few at once?

by cv harquail July 20, 2009
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The process for interviewing, selecting, and matching with an au pair candidate differs for each agency. Some send you one candidate at a time, some select a handful of candidates for you to consider simultaneously, and others let you have pretty much free run of their data base. But, if you had a choice, would […]

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What a little bird said about Au Pairs

by cv harquail July 19, 2009

RT @CravingBalance: Women to Jack Welch: We don’t separate work and life, and we don’t want what you think we want. New paradigm. # RT @TheMamaBee: via @TimeforMom & @momadvice 9 ideas for date nights for broke parents with no babysitter http://tr.im/sgXx Really sweet . # Size Matters! RT @lesmckeown: < 50 emps? Business success=your […]

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Auto Insurance: Is your AP on your policy?

by cv harquail July 17, 2009
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Here’s a quick question from the suggestion box: Do you put your au pair on your auto insurance policy? For me, this one is a no-brainer. If your au pair drives your car(s), she should be on your policy. It’s not just the law, it’s a good idea. h As younger and less experienced drivers, […]

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Medical Care for your Au Pair: Your responsibility?

by cv harquail July 16, 2009
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What happens when your Au Pair gets sick and needs some medical care? We already know that as good host parents we need to provide them with reasonable ‘sick time’ off and not dock their pay (although I think it’s fine to reschedule their hours in the same week). But what about the cost of […]

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What a little bird said about Au Pairs

by cv harquail July 12, 2009

@dawnpopp Dawn, how is it that your AP wants to cook for you, but (seems like) everyone elses just want to eat? Spill the secrets! # @CaliYost rt @CravingBalance Wally Bock: work life balance comes down to choices, choices connected to what you value. http://ow.ly/gzqQ # @AuPairAnswerMom To me, some of these reasons 4 APs […]

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Can she wake up to her responsibilities?

by cv harquail July 11, 2009
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Here’s a request for advice from a Host Mom in VA Our au pair (our 4th) has been with us 2 weeks. She’s 20, fluent in English, is a rematch from other family (no fault of her own) after several months, and has 3 months left. We have 2 kids 2 and 4. I work […]

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Saying Goodbye to an Au Pair you Parents really love

by cv harquail July 8, 2009
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Last year I wrote a post about “Her Next Adventure”: Telling your kids that your Au Pair is leaving which elicited a lot of good advice for helping the children say goodbye to their au pair. We just got a request from a mom with a different version of the problem– a version which, if […]

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Food secrets from the West Coast: Calif Mom shares all!

by cv harquail July 7, 2009

Calif Mom gets her own post this time! Just TOO MUCH good info to tuck in there as the 27th comment on the Groceries post. Calif Mom writes: For the broader discussion I can vaguely imagine for myself, in some sort of idealized parallel universe, a life in which I would have the entire week’s […]

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