Choosing an Au Pair

Everything I know about DISC for Selecting Au Pairs — guest post by Should Be Working

by Shouldbeworking March 4, 2015

The always-helpful ShouldBeWorking has offered us her practical wisdom on so many occasions — and now she’s up to it again. This time, she’s put together ALL her advice about how to use the DISC profile tool for understanding potential au pair candidates. Not every Au Pair Agency uses the DISC profile, but for host […]

77 comments Read the full article →

Au Pair Extraordinaires: How Different Are They?

by cv harquail February 13, 2015

The Au Pair Extraordinaire program offers host families the chance to match with an au pair who has additional documented childcare qualifications by paying somewhat more per week. This option seems particularly attractive to families with infants and toddlers who seem to need a more experienced hand (e.g., a colicky child). The idea here is that someone […]

52 comments Read the full article →

Awkward Arrival Time But We Like This Au Pair — Should We Match or Move On?

by cv harquail January 15, 2015

We’re new to the AP process, currently interviewing for our first AP ever. I’m in academia, and was hoping for someone to start in July or August, so that they can get comfortable with my son (will be 3 years old in the Fall) before school starts back up in September. One issue is that […]

61 comments Read the full article →

Is It This Particular Au Pair, or Is An Au Pair Just Not Right for Me?

by cv harquail December 31, 2014

Au Pairs “as a concept” and a particular au pair in real life are two very different things to imagine in your world. An Au Pair “as a concept” is the idea of a young adult living with you as part of the family and as an employee childcare provider, sharing your food, sharing your […]

73 comments Read the full article →

Your Au Pair Handbook: Can it help you screen for the right candidate?

by cv harquail November 1, 2014

Your Host Family Handbook can be a good tool for screening prospective Au Pair Candidates. Handbooks generally outline the concrete expectations of a host family as well as the particular rules and parameters that an au pair is expected to work with. Sure, a long handbook might seem daunting to an au pair candidate, but […]

88 comments Read the full article →

Beware the Homesick Au Pair: Screen it out, or wait it out?

by cv harquail October 28, 2014

Homesickness is completely predictable Homesickness is something that every au pair should anticipate, and that every au pair should make a commitment to work through. If you’re signing up to spend a year in another country, in another family, then you are committing to working through any homesickness that occurs between month 1 and month […]

52 comments Read the full article →

How to Decline an Au Pair Match — Politely

by cv harquail August 26, 2014

No one wants to be rejected — not au pairs and not host parents. But reject each other we must, since we know that even a perfectly lovely candidate (in this case, either a host parent or a potential au pair) may just not feel like the right fit. But how can we let the […]

34 comments Read the full article →