Choosing an Au Pair

Au Pair Applications: What would you *really* like to know about an Au Pair Candidate?

by cv harquail March 17, 2013

There are only so many questions you can ask a potential Au Pair candidate in an interview. It took us only a few posts about interviewing candidates to come up with over 318 questions! (Well, maybe not that many. But it was a lot.) Even if we were able to ask that many questions, there would still […]

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Cut Your Losses: When your Au Pair starts lying before she even arrives

by cv harquail February 10, 2013
cut your losses, au pair who lies

Our conversation about “when you discover that your au pair is lying” could go on forever, since there are so many different situations in which a lie can be a problem — or something to gloss over. We lie (parents and au pairs) to save face, to avoid consequences, and sometimes to deliberately deceive someone so that […]

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What Do You Look For In A Male Au Pair?

by cv harquail January 18, 2013
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When we talk about how to choose an au pair, we’re usually talking about female au pairs. Although I/we try to make advice on this blog ‘gender neutral’, most of the time we’re discussing how ‘general’ desirable characteristics get demonstrated by young women.  And, while the characteristics we look for might seem gender-neutral, they are laden […]

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What Can This Host Mom Learn From Her Experience?

by cv harquail October 19, 2012
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It can be so hard to do better with each au pair relationship. I know that I liked to kid myself sometimes that I was actually improving– a better handbook, a clearer understanding of our family’s needs, a nicer au pair room, a sense of the arc of the year, and so on. I actually […]

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Should Your Prospective Au Pair Talk with Your Current Au Pair?

by cv harquail October 12, 2012
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When you are trying to make sure that your potential new au pair has a realistic understanding of what to expect of your family, it seems like it might be a great idea to have the potental au pair talk with the current au pair. Of all people, your current au pair knows your family, your routine, […]

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How do you assess an Au Pair candidate who has suffered from depression?

by cv harquail September 24, 2012

Dear Au Pair Mom, We are currently looking for a new aupair and I am concerned about an application that the agency has sent to me.  We have hosted girls for ten years from all over the world. Our kids are 11, 10, and 7 years old. One candidate looks especially good, except for few things. […]

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When Matching with an Au Pair, Which Signals to Trust?

by cv harquail August 28, 2012
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Each matching cycle, au pair host families get more and more information about au pair candidates to use when we’re making decisions. Where once we had blurry photocopies of handwritten applications sent through the mail (yes, really!), we now have digital files, translated reference letters, online photo collages, au pair application videos, facebook searches, instant […]

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What do you look for in an Au Pair applicant’s video?

by cv harquail August 1, 2012
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Technology changes everything. Or not. When au pair applicants started doing their own YouTube application videos, and when au pair agencies started to host au pair applicants’ videos as part of their portfolios, it looked like host families would get a great additional tool for evaluating whether or not an applicant fit what they were looking for. […]

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Choosing the Right Au Pair, Expert Advice from CalifMom

by cv harquail June 23, 2012
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CalifMom has been a key part of the AuPairMom community since Fall of 2008. She was one of the first au pair host moms to contribute wise advice, regularly and generously, on many of the toughest situations. Every now and then CalifMom leaves a treat in my inbox — a guest post. Here’s her latest… […]

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Would you choose an “older” Au Pair? (Poll)

by cv harquail March 25, 2012
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Is there an age past which an Au Pair candidate is just “too old” for you to consider? We got a note from OlderAP asking: Would Host Families consider accepting an older au pair? I am 26 years old. I graduated from university with MSc, extremely good grades, and have childcare experience with children aged […]

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