TALK. How to interview an au pair
Tuesday, 8 November 2016
Our Placement Team have a wealth of information
about how to find your perfect match. Remember that an interview is
to help au pairs and families to figure each other out, and whether
you're going to be a great fit! We've got lots of great ideas in
our
Interview Guidelines, but here are our top five tips:
- What kind of host family experience is the au pair
looking for? Ask questions such as "what do you and your
family do after dinner?", "do you spend time with your parents on
the weekends?" How they spend time with their own families will
most likely reflect the kind of relationship they are looking for
with their host family. Asking open questions like this will help
you to see if their expectations of the host family experience
match up with yours.
- Be up front about what sorts of household jobs they'll
be helping you out with. Ask them if they help out at home
or if there are any chores they are currently responsible for. If
you would like someone to help out with the family meals ask the au
pair if they actually like cooking and what they are used to doing
at home in the kitchen.
- Sell yourselves! Au pairs will often be
talking to two or three other families. Not only do they want to
know if they'll like the job, they also want to know what life will
be like with your family. What fun things can they do in your
neighbourhood, or region? How do you spend your weekends and
holidays as a family? Do you follow any sports (even if it's just
the kid's soccer team!)? Do you like to go to local events, the
farmers market or the annual Christmas in the Park? If they can
picture themselves in the area where you live, then they are half
way to imagining being your au pair.
- Twice as nice! Have more than one skype with
an au pair before choosing to match with them. Get them to meet
your children on one of the skypes and save the other meeting for
the more serious questions. You could also offer to meet the au
pair's parents during one of your meetings, au pairs often ask
their parents for advice on which family to choose. Their parents
will be in a better positon to help their daughter or son choose if
they have met you.
- If you are interviewing for your second au
pair, ask your current au pair to help with the process by
having a chat with the potential new one.You current au pair knows
you and your children well and would hopefully have a good idea of
what might suit you. Also, they are able to give a great reflection
of what life is actually like with your family and in your area,
that's pretty invaluable when interviewing au pairs!
Once you've found the au pair for you, keep in touch right up
until they arrive. Send them regular photos and emails, catch up on
Skype. Share with them your plans for the first couple of weeks of
when they arrive. It will make arriving feel a lot less scary
because they will already have started building a relationship with
you, and it will help them to hit the ground running.