User Guide
1. Introduction
Au Pair Selection is an online service offering quick and concise childcare solutions. All of the au pairs whose details are available on this site have been vetted and reference checked by us.
The site is run by The Childcare Company.
The Childcare Company has over 25 years of experience in childcare recruitment, so you can have confidence in the advice and service they provide. They are members of the REC (Recruitment and Employment Confederation), IAPA (International Au Pair Association) and BAPAA (British Au Pair Agencies Association). These organisations control the professional standards of childcare recruitment agencies.
This document describes the process of finding an au pair with Au Pair Selection.
The stages of the process can be seen in Figure 1 and descriptions of each stage can be found in the remainder of this document.
Figure 1. Stages in the process of finding an au pair.
2. Your Account
You need to create an account in order to use this site.
Creating an account is free and you only need to provide your name and a valid email address. In order to establish that your email address is working we will send you an email entitled "Au Pair Selection Account Confirmation" containing a link that you must click on in order to activate your account.
Creating an account constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions, please make sure you have understood them before creating an account.
Once your account is activated you can log in and compile your family profile and search the au pair database.
A summary of your account and links to account management facilities can be found on the Your Account page, which is always available from the main menu when you are logged in.
3. Your Profile
The information you provide in your profile is used to create a file that we use to market your family to au pairs and their agents.
A summary of the current state of your profile can be found on the Your Profile page. When all five sections of your profile are complete a file will be generated and made available for you to download from a link on the Your Profile page.
The profile is produced as a Portable Document Format (PDF) file, which is a format created by Adobe Systems and has become the standard for electronic document exchange.
In order to view your profile you will need software that can read files in PDF format. Adobe Reader is free software that lets you open, view, search, digitally sign, verify, and print PDF files.
3.1 Photo
A family photo is an optional part of your profile. If provided, it will be included in your profile and distributed to au pairs that you are interested in. Au pairs like to see a picture of host families, so it may help you get the candidate you want.
In order to manager our storage space you can only upload photo files that are less than 1MB in size.
It takes longer to upload large files, so it is more convenient for you if the file is no larger than necessary and we recommend that your family photo is no larger than 600 * 450 pixels. The following instructions explain how to do this with Microsoft Paint:
- Run Paint.
- Select menu "File > Open". The open dialog box opens.
- Locate the image file and click the Open button. Your picture will be loaded into Paint.
- Select menu "Image > Attributes". The Attributes dialog box opens.
- The dialog box tells you the width and height of the picture, make a note of the values.
- Enter the width and height into the fields below and the button for further instructions.
4. Search
The search facility is for searching the au pair database and is accessed by clicking the au pairs menu item.
The search results can be refined in terms of driving ability and length of stay by making selections in the Search Criteria.
More details on an au pair can be seen by following the 'more details' link from the search results page. Once the registration fee (see fees) has been paid it is possible to download and examine all the files we have in relation to an au pair from their au pair details page.
5. Shortlist
Your shortlist is a way for you to tell us which au pairs you would like to have a phone interview with. As you come across au pairs you like you can add them to your shortlist by clicking on the button labelled 'add to shortlist' that can be found on the search results page and the au pair details page.
When you are happy that your shortlist is complete you can submit it to us by clicking on the 'submit' button and we will make contact with the relevant agents to discuss a possible placement. You can submit as many shortlists as you like.
We need your family profile for discussions with the agent, so please make sure it is complete before you submit a shortlist.
You need to have paid the registration fee (see fees) in order to be able to submit a shortlist.
6. Interview
If the au pair is interested in a placement with your family we will contact you to make arrangements for a phone interview.
This is your opportunity to ask any questions that you may have and to find out a little more about the au pair. Here are some ideas for questions:
- Introduce yourself and ask your prospective Au Pair a little about herself/himself.
- Tell a little about yourself, your partner, the children, where you live and how you would expect help around the house and with the children.
- Why do you want to be an au pair? What do you hope to gain out of the experience?
- What sort of person are you?
- What experience do you have of being with children? Of what ages?
- What type of activities would you like to do with the children?
- What do you enjoy about being with children?
- Do you have any special dietary requirements?
- Do you smoke?
- What do you like to cook?
- If relevant, ask how he/she feels about pets.
- If relevant, ask if he/she is happy about driving a car in the UK and if some lessons will be needed. Ask whether the au pair has previously driven a manual or automatic car.
- Discuss the hours and the pocket money and any other benefits.
- Have readily available information about the local language classes and ask how often they ideally would like to attend.
- Give him/her the opportunity to ask any questions they may have.
7. Arrange Placement
If the phone interview goes well and everyone wants to proceed then you need to finalize the arrangements. This involves some paperwork. You will send the au pair a letter of invitation (Au Pair Selection will send you an example letter). Once we have received the signed invitation letter and the engagement fee (see fees) has been paid then the au pair will book their travel.
8. Our Fees
Creating an account and the search facility are free but there are fees for other services that you may want to use.
If you want to view an au pair's files, or if you have a shortlist of au pairs that you want to submit you will need to pay the registration fee. We will contact your shortlisted au pairs and if they are interested in your family profile will make arrangements for a phone interview.
If the phone interview goes well and you want to proceed with a placement then we will guide you through the rest of the process and ensure that all the necessary arrangements are made. If this results in an engagement then an engagement fee will become due.