Because we value our members, here’s some advice on how to use FindAuPair to quickly find the right Host Family.
How to use the website to your advantage
1. First of all, you have to register. Without an account you can’t benefit from all that FindAuPair has to offer. To start your membership you have to activate your account by clicking the link inside the email received once you complete the registration process.
2. Use the website’s simple, country or advanced searches to find the family that you’re looking for. When doing this, make sure to use the SORT BY feature to sort families by last registration/last login date (getting in contact with recent logged in/registered families increases your chances of positive feedback/quick response).
3. Contact as many families as possible. This way you will get more exposure and the chances of finding the right family will increase.
4. Make sure to add the families you are interested in to your Favourites list. This way you’ll have a history of your choices, and can easily get in touch with them at any time in the future.
5. Get active. Login into your FindAuPair account as often as possible (try doing it once every 24 hours). Families usually sort au pairs by their last login info (since they want to talk with active members), so the more often you login the higher you will appear in the searches and the higher your chances of being contacted by families.
6. Check your messages on a daily basis. Whenever you receive a message from a family, make sure to answer in a timely manner. Within 24 hours is best. Use appropriate language and thank them for the interest shown in you.
7. Enable your email notifications so you’ll be able to receive daily notifications about any activity associated with your account.
8. Your account status has to be “Online” – otherwise you won’t appear in the searches. If your profile is “Offline” families won’t be able to find you anymore.
Tips for improving your au pair profile
1. Upload photos – a big step to gain the trust of families is to let them see your photos. “Smiling” photos of you with children are the best.
2. Be very descriptive – write a lot about yourself in your profile, include information about your family, your hobbies and interests, because based on the profile, families decide whether contact you or not.
3. State your motivation – give reasons why you want to become an au pair.
4. Use their language – you should always write in the language of the country where you want to go to.
5. Put yourself in the parents’ shoes – when you write your description, try to imagine what parents want from the person who will take care of their children.
6. Write down all the benefits that you can offer – state your experience and responsibilities that you had while taking care of other children.
7. Don’t forget to say if you have experience of housework and cooking – because many families want this from their au pair.
8. References – another way of gaining families’ trust is to provide references from previous employers.
9. Complete all the fields when you create your profile – this will help families to find exactly what they are looking for.
10. CPR – write if you have training in providing first aid.
11. Driving licence – state if you can drive, how long you’ve been driving and if you drive regularly. Some families are looking for au pairs who can drive.
12. Level of education – state if you have obtained a higher formal education, because that will create a favourable impression.
13. Be honest! – you want any prospective host family to be honest with you so you should also be honest with them. Don’t hide things such as health issues or anything else that might affect your stay with the family.
View an example au pair profile to get an idea of how a good profile should look.
Do you know other tips? Please share them with us!
I agree with you – photos of au pairs are very important to families, because we can see how they are like.
Great tips! I followed them and my profile looks awesome. I hope I’ll find the appropriate family.
Hallo, can any au pair tell me something about her experiences, please? How did it work? How much money did she need to have with? And can somebody, please, tell me, if I can go there just for 2 month?
Thank you very much 🙂