How to find the great Au Pair

   I am currently searching for my ninth Au pair. You would think after having done the process so many times you get better at it and it becomes easy. I am always overwhelmed at the process. But I have developed a system that seems to work pretty well for me, 7 out of 8  of my au pairs have been great! I start the process by looking at pictures, if the profile photo appeals to me I save it in my favorites. I skim what they have to say but really the photo is what determines whether you end up in my favorite box or not. After looking through photos for a few days going back over them many times i determine who to interview. I read through the essay and get a feel for the persons family life and their enthusiasm for kids. With my current Aupair I only interviewed her and no one else. I was sold on her photos and our first Skype conversation. You can tell a lot by talking via Skype.

    I remember when I started with the aupair care service the process was not on the internet, you recieved three profiles by fed ex , that the office in San Francisco picked for you. You would read through terrible hand writing and horrible second generation copied photos. If you did not like what they sent you would have to wait another week to get the next batch. Thinking back on it I can't believe how easy it has become now. The fact that you can view over 100 profiles and narrow down at your own will who you like and save them so you remember who you liked  is amazing!

   So back to my current search, I have used my same process of photo elimination and only one person stood out. We are in the process of interviewing and she seems like a winner. Let's see if the photo process worked this time too. Stay tuned.

Our wonderful Au Pair Sabrina one of the best!

Our Au Pair Experience (Part2)

As I mentioned we have had 8 Aupairs so far and I am not sure we are done yet. I feel there is more of the world we need to explore through our au pairs. We have had Denmark, then Norway (which did not work out so well, but that is another story), Estonia, Four from Brazil one of which stayed two years and our current girl is from Germany. They have all been great and we are in touch with all of them still. It is fun to watch where they end up and what they do with their lives. My girls view them all as big sisters from around the world. This year we have had the pleasure of having two of our previous Aupairs visit which was great. Leticia from Brazil was here and we had not seen her for five years. She now works in Brazil helping to save the rain forest which is amazing. Andrea, also from Brazil came for a visit, she was with us three years ago. She is now an aupair again in California.