matching

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

by cv harquail January 15, 2015
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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 […]

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How to Decline an Au Pair Match — Politely

by cv harquail August 26, 2014
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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 […]

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Improving the Matching Process: 10 Things I Wish Au Pairs Would Do

by Texas HM May 21, 2014
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Matching well matters — for both Host Parents and Au Pairs. Asking good questions and getting thoughtful answers helps a lot when it comes to finding a good match, but there’s more that host parents and Au Pairs can do.  TexasHM had some great ideas (I italicized the points I particularly loved): “In the matching […]

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Don’t try to make your “two toddlers, small house, no au pair car” life “attractive”

by cv harquail April 22, 2014
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“There’s a lid for every pot.” This wisdom was offered by HRHM four years ago, and it’s stuck with me. I love it because it’s just so TRUE when it comes to au pairs and host families. No matter how weird unique your family is or how weird distinctive an au pair candidate is, if […]

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Au Pair Candidate with Uncommon Medical Issue: Would you match with her?

by cv harquail January 30, 2014
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We get a lot of questions from au pair candidates who wonder whether anyone will match with them, given that they ______(fill in the blank here). For example, we just got an email (below) from an au pair with (non-swearing) Tourette’s Syndrome, who wonders whether host parents will consider her application. When you have an […]

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Au Pair Asks: How Do I Ask Prospective Host Families About Guns in Their Home?

by cv harquail June 17, 2013
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Following on our earlier post about guns in the home, here’s a different take on the issue. An au pair candidate writes to ask– How do I ask possible host families about whether they have weapons in their home? When I replied this au pair’s email, I mentioned to her that she’s the first au […]

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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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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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Too Much Generosity or the Wrong Kind? Trust your heart

by cv harquail October 8, 2011
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Dear AuPairMom- The posting from the host mom offering the fancy host family situation make me think of the choices that I made when I was matching with my host family. I talked to many different families. All of them had some different things to offer, cars yes or no, no Saturday nights, babies and […]

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When Facebook Information Raises Concerns: Should she match, or pass?

by cv harquail July 7, 2011
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Oh, the complexities of Facebook. And the generation gap. And the generation gap regarding Facebook. If it’s “true” that “young people” use Facebook differently from us (slightly older) parent people: How much should we infer from an au pair applicant’s Facebook page? Now that many of us ask to ‘friend’ our au pairs and prospective […]

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