‘Au Pair’ is a
French word meaning ‘at the same level’. Au Pairs are committed, adventurous
and educated young people from around the world who travel to another country
for learning and improving a language and experiencing new cultures.
In exchange for
receiving accommodation, meals and weekly pocket money, you will provide the
family with help towards child care and/or light housework. If you are a male au
pair, sometimes you may help with gardening or other heavier tasks around the
home.
All of our families
who have successfully registered are: -
If you are unmarried,
aged between 17 and 27, an EU citizen or come from a country that is part of the
au pair programme then you may work as an au pair. Now that Slovakia is part of
the EU, you can travel and work for a family as an ‘au pair plus’ which
means you can work up to 40 hours per week for a higher sum of weekly pocket
money.
If you get to hear of 1st Choice Au Pairs at one of our Slovakian, or Romanian presentations, then you will have the opportunity to speak with a member of our staff to determine if being an au pair is suitable for you and to complete the necessary registration forms.
You will be
interviewed by a member of staff, where you will be asked questions relating to
your family background, experience, interests, personality and leisure
activities. It is important you are honest with all your answers as it will
greatly improve the matching process.
You will also be asked to provide references, a health
check sheet and a certificate of good character. These documents can be provided
at the time of interview or later through our Free Post service.
Your passport or ID
will be checked and a photocopy will be required.
Yes you can click here to register on line
You should check where and when we are next holding a registration event convenient for you. You can send us an email with any questions to info@1stchoiceaupairs.co.uk
You can also send an SMS text message to register your interest and we will call you back. To do this, send the SMS message to +44 77 66 40 41 42 with the first word of the SMS message info@1stchoiceaupairs.co.uk followed by your message. We can then telephone you, email you or SMS you further information about registration.
This facility is also
very useful once you are registered for receiving instant updates on progress.
Remember that even
with an on-line registration, we will still need references and other documents
that you can scan and email to us, or send using our Free Post service.
If you have any question write us on info@1stchoiceaupairs.co.uk
1st Choice
Au Pairs prides itself on helping you find a family that most closely matches
your own personality and lifestyle. We spend far longer on the interviewing and
screening process of both family and au pair to make sure as much information is
considered when matching is being done. It is better to spend time performing
this well than run into problems in the first month because the match isn’t
ideal.
We can take special
requests from you about the type of family you are looking for, or maybe that
you want to be matched with families along with one or two friends
It is of no use
trying to build what you think is the ‘perfect picture’ if it isn’t really
you. There is no such thing as the ‘perfect au pair’ and claiming to be
something you aren’t will only cause problems later. If you are a very neat
and tidy person, it is something you should state in your application because
you may feel very uncomfortable if you are placed in a family who live in a very
untidy house. Likewise if you are naturally untidy but don’t let us know, you
may be placed in a very tidy house and have a very annoyed family who
continually seeing your socks lying all over the place. If you smoke then say
so, there are still many families who smoke themselves without upsetting the
families who may be upset if you withheld this from them at the time of
selection.
We will provide you
with information about a number of families that most closely match you. You can
review this list and reject any outright, and inform us of the ranking of
families you wish to progress to the next stage. Remember at this stage the
families are doing the same. From this we should have a preferred family that
also sees you as a preferred au pair.
We will then provide you with even more information about
the family via email. This will include details about the family (children,
ages, and hobbies), their location and proximity to amenities, the family
personality (typical weekends, typical mealtimes, values and beliefs),
photographs of the house and your accommodation, details of the duties and hours
and the pocket money offered.
In all cases we strongly recommend that you speak with the
family and we will organise these telephone calls. We can also facilitate a
3-way call to ensure that both you and the families have covered key areas that
need to be discussed and/or ask questions on your behalf if you prefer.
If you are unsure at this stage we can always set up
another telephone call to check a concern out, but if you decide to reject this
family then we will review the reasons and adjust your requirements sheet as
necessary and provide you with details of another family on your preferred list.
Remember the families can also reject you at this stage.
We help by
highlighting to the families if they seem to be asking too much of their au
pair, we can also help by negotiating your pocket money and any other benefits
if this is something you are uncomfortable in doing.
We can offer information on all the language schools in the
This is something to
be discussed at the time of the telephone calls with the family and we can help
to prompt these questions. Sometimes the family will offer to pay for a flight
home after the au pair has been with the family for a certain period; this may
be at Christmas, Easter or when the au pair wishes to return home to see their
family.
You are expected to
pay for your own language classes but it is often normal for the family to offer
up to 50% towards the class fees up to 6 hours per week. This depends on class
times and duration and can be negotiated on your behalf.
You should first try to resolve things with your family.
Most issues can be resolved by sitting and listening to each others point of
view and trying to adapt accordingly. If the issue is major then you or the
family can contact us and we can facilitate a resolution to the issue.
If at any time the situation is completely unbearable and
nothing more can be done to resolve matters then we can make arrangements for
you to move out. In very extreme cases we would ensure that you were
accommodated in a local hotel or guest house prior to other arrangements being
made.
We will check on how you are getting on in the first few
weeks that you arrive. After this we will generally check how things are going
every month unless we know there are issues and we will be in touch more often
as appropriate.
It helps to develop a good network of friends in your area
that you can see regularly and apart from people you will meet at language
classes and through your own social life, we will let you know when someone
starts working as an au pair in the same region so you can pass on your own
advice.
We will arrange events and trips for you and other au pairs
in your region and these will be a great way of meeting new friends and seeing
more of the country.
We produce a news
letter that is distributed every two months that contains tips and advice for
the
If you are interested
in developing a career in the
We hope you enjoy your time as an Au Pair and look forward to working with you.