Step One: Becoming an Au Pair and Finding a Host Family August 7, 2008

If you’re at this website, you’ve either decided or are still researching becoming an Au Pair. Hopefully, you’ll find my little corner of the world very knowledgeable and helpful.

For me, my journey to become an Au Pair started when I left my job as a TSR in Death Claims at an insurance company. I was looking around the internet for local jobs when I made a sidetrack to studying abroad and found a site that showed an agency program to become an Au Pair in The Netherlands or Germany. It cost money and at the time I just wasn’t into paying an exborbadent amount of money to work overseas. So I did a little more searching and though it took me quite a bit to find plenty of information for me to even say, “I want to become an Au Pair.” I finally did.

My next stop after determining that I wanted to become an Au Pair was finding a way to actually FIND a host family. I saw many places that required you to pay to use their service. But seeing as how I was very interested but not wanting to spend money on something I wasn’t sure would work out (I was afraid there wouldn’t be a family interested or there would be a family but I wasn’t interested in them) I found aupair-world.net.

APW (Aupair World) is a very simple and easy site where you create your own profile, with your preferences on working conditions and where you write information about yourself. Advice: write as much about yourself and what you’re looking for as much as you can with as many photos as you can. I found that I had more interest in a host family when their profile was written out very well and extensive and with lots of pictures of their children.

I felt more confidant in what a family was looking for in an Au Pair espeically since I didn’t know what to expect. I have a hard time talking about myself (I’m modest and hate being center of attention) so I try to stay away from things that make me say things about myself. But with this time of website and profile it provides, I found it very helpful to list out everything that I was capable of, everything I expected and what host families could expect from me.

In my profile, I wrote that my chihuahua Rico Suave would be coming with me. This isn’t normal from what I could tell but I’m completely addicted and love my dog that I couldn’t bear being without him for even a week. I didn’t know whether having Rico listed as a requirement in finding a host family would work but in fact it work especially well.

From what I gathered from the emails of the host families that were interested and returned my emails, they had been looking at profiles with their children and having Rico in my photo with me drew lots of attention. I had 1000 views and 110 applications from families.

You may wonder how I narrowed down my search? Well initially, when looking on whether to accept or decline an application I looked at three things.

First, I work really well with teenagers and older children…EXTREMELY well. I find them to be a lot of fun and they already have an idea of what is acceptable and what isn’t plus…I kinda want to be remembered by the children. Also, I’m not into changing diapers or constant crying as in the case of infants and toddlers.

Then, I looked at how many children I would be responsible for while being an Au Pair. I am only one woman and I can’t watch 4 children under the age of 10 alone. Simple as that.

I also don’t mind if I watch a girl or a boy. I think boys are very independent and relaxed but I find being with girls very fun. I am in fact a girl and I like being girlie. I like makeup and costumes so girls would be great. But it really didn’t matter whether they were boys or girls.

Lastly, I looked at where they were in the world. I am adventurous but I also like having constant stability and security so I chose well developed countries in Europe and in the Pacific Islands. I have been Europe before and really enjoyed my stay. I was looking initially for a place in Belgium or Netherlands because when I went to Europe in 2004 with People To People Student Ambassadors, I wished I had had more time in those countries.

After the initial inspection on whether or not I was interested, I looked into what they wrote about themselves and what they expected. I personally wanted to know if the family had animals, were they very active, where they lived and espeically what my accomodation would be. I am really big on my personal space and don’t want to have to fight for time in the bathroom. So my personal requirements was either an attached flat(guesthouse/section of the home) or my own bedroom and bathroom.

I found after awhile, I really really wanted to have my own flat area so I went looking for host families with what I wanted. So I used APW’s EasyFind feature and looked inside the profiles to see the accommodations they offered. NOTE: Getting your own flat or guesthouse is not typical. Having your own bedroom is legally required but having your own bathroom is not required but usual.

Upon receiving an application, if the family is premium with Aupair World.net, it provides you with their email address so what I did (and what I noticed many families did) I drafted up a generic initial email that laid out my expections and other requirments, tons of information about myself and what I wanted to know about the family. Below is my email…Do not copy and paste this information, please update it to reflect yourself and your personality.

Dear Family,

Your family sounds fantastic. I am interested to know a little more about your family.
Do you have a mock schedule and vacation days?
Would you be willing to help me learn your language?
Could I possibly see a picture of the room?
Last but not least…
When do you need me?

Please let me know if you have any further questions about me. I’m always never sure what people would like to know so just ask. Just a few things offhand. I don’t smoke, or drink very often (I’ll have 1 malt drink MAYBE once a month). I don’t party and I love to travel and check out towns. I love meeting new people and would be honored to meet your friends. I would love to take a language class if I were to au pair with you so that I could learn your language faster.
On my days off, I would be traveling all over your city and the country side. On my vacation days I would take a trip to farther surrounding areas and visiting the sites. Anywhere I could get to during my days off. I plan on being an Au Pair for the next 2-3 years and hope to travel often.
I love to write and listen to music. I want to learn how to ride a bike again (I haven’t been on one since 2004 when I last came to Europe as a Student Ambassador.) I also have my driver’s license and I’ve never had a single accident (Knock on wood!) I also know CPR.
I love racketball and swimming. I enjoy Canoing with my family and being with Rico and my two kittens Taavi and Audio. I still currently live with my parents and for the past 2 years I’ve worked at an insurance company but decided recently to leave the industry to pursue au pairing and travel.
I hope to become a graphics designer or Art Historian, learn Japanese and my ultimate goal is to live in Japan and own my own Music Shop.
Please let me know if you would like to know anything else.

From there, it was up to the family to respond. Despite getting 110 applications and sending just as many intial emails I probably only got about 34 back. It could have been discouraging except its not about quantity, its about quality. I found it quite easy to determine which family I was interested in joining. It was between a Denmark family that offered a separate flat, 400 Euros a month and shared use of a car and a French family outside of Paris that offered a flat, 300 euros a month, use of a personal vehicle and older children.

How did I decide to go with the French Family? It was a real toss up. I decided to go with the French Family because I would have better travel with them (Paris being 40 minutes away), older children and personal use of a vehicle. But what really got me was that that they were very attentive, returned my emails immediately, we even set up a meeting through Skype. I just got a great vibe from them and in the end it wasn’t hard to determine where I wanted to go.

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