Au Pair of the Year Award - 2012

AU PAIR OF THE YEAR AWARD 2012

It Is That Time of Year Again!

Most American au pair agencies are members of the International Au Pair Association (IAPA) and are annually invited to participate in their search for the "Au Pair of the Year Award." This is a great opportunity to showcase the unique experiences of the au pair program!

How does it work? If your agency is an IAPA Member in good standing, they will receive permission to begin to send in candidates. Host families are encouraged to submit their au pairs and a letter outlining why they think their au pair should be nominated for Au Pair of the Year Award.

A selection panel will select one winning au pair that will be required to attend (all expenses paid) the award ceremony which will take place during the IAPA Annual Conference and Work Experience Travel Market in Budapest, Hungary, March 2012.

If you think you have a terrific au pair and would like to nominate her/him, please check to see if your agency is an IAPA member!

Read the winners of this prestigious award for the past several years. Winners are from all around the world! Click here now to read the entire list of Au Pair Winners

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AU PAIR OF THE YEAR 2011

Luna Vazquez de la Rosa is the Au Pair of the Year for 2011!

The Au Pair of the Year 2011 is Ms Luna Vazquez de la Rosa, a 20 year-old Spanish native.


She was given the honour during the annual Welcome Reception of WETM-IAC on Wednesday, March 16th.

Luna was hosted by the Packham family in Hove, UK, for a period of 9 months. The receiving organisation is "The Childcare Company” from the UK and the sender is International Au Pair and Language Abroad Group form Spain.

The award was given to Luna by Mr. Jack Hompes, IAPA chairperson, in the beautiful "De Munt” theater in Brussels.

Other finalists for the Au Pair of the Year were Nadine Kuehlkamp from Germany (Au Pair Ecosse) and Melanie Bluhm from Germany (EurAupair Intercultural Child Care Programs).

Said the Packham family: "There really is no better au pair experience than the one our family had with Luna. We were so very blessed. We have the most amazing memories of Luna's stay with us and a family friend for life."

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AU PAIR OF THE YEAR AWARD 2010

Au Pair USA Au Pair Agency USA Winner!




Congratulations to Mayumi Yano (Japan),
 2010 Au Pair of the Year!

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AU PAIR OF THE YEAR AWARD 2009

Cultural Care Au Pair Agency USA Winner!

TOP TIPS - Working with Your Au Pair Agency Placement Staff

Work Closely with your Agency's Placement Coordinator

Every agency has a placement staff to assist parents with au pair applications and matching. You might be assigned to work with one person, depending on your agency's procedures. Working with your placement counselor is KEY in getting the applications you want to review before you interview an au pair!

Follow these Top Tips and to ensure that you and your placement coordinator are on the same page:

#1. Gatekeepers to Au Pair Applications

Spend time to develop a good, friendly working relationship with the placement staff at your agency.

They punish parents who treat them poorly - either by not giving you any applications in hope that you will switch to another agency, or they will sabotage your efforts to get a great au pair by withholding quality applications! Agencies know that if host parents treat their staff badly, they might do the same with their au pairs - so this part of the process becomes part of the host family screening process.

Make your placement counselor your new best friend - a cordial, friendly relationship will reap benefits that you need to match with a great au pair.

#2. Slow Boat to China

Some agencies are slow to respond to a family's urgent need for immediate childcare and they will not release enough applications fast enough for you to review.

If you have tried to get more applications and help (and you have been consistently friendly and pleasant), but are beginning to feel you are stuck on a slow boat to China, tell your local counselor or LCC to intervene on your behalf.

That usually does the trick!

#3. Reminders Are Key to Better, Faster Matching

Don't assume your placement counselor knows 'exactly' what you are looking for in an au pair - they have your application, which lists your preferences, but they often do not bother to read this.

Send them email reminders and leave phone messages reiterating what your top preferences are (example, driving, German, good English). Leave up to 3 reminders, any more and you might be labeled as a 'difficult' host parent...

Remember, a squeaky wheel does get the grease, but only in moderation!

#4. A Good Match Depends on Quality Au Pairs

Be honest and upfront with the placement office - if you are busy and don't have time to review lots of useless applications, have a frank conversation with the placement counselor.

Tell her how busy your job is and how time is scarce. Make sure she knows how important it is to you to receive top, quaility applications for your review - this can cut your matching time in half!

To read more about matching, read our Matching Services Ratings by Agency

Au Pair Agency Websites - Winners & Losers

We often receive email questions from parents who are dismayed by their efforts to get and find information on au pair agency websites.

Here is a typical email:

"Dear Au Pair Clearinghouse, why is it that many of the au pair sites, in business for 20 years and more, don't have good, functional websites? Some of the sites are so basic and outdated, I click away, because they don't even look 'legit' - in these days, when everyone including their grandmother, is virtual and on the internet, why would companies like this, who deal with parents looking for something as important as childcare, skimp on their websites?" Host Dad in Vermont

A Company's Website is Worth a Thousand Words

I have to agree with this host dad! It is true that many, if not most, of the 14 au pair agency websites lack essential information and resources. This makes researching au pairs/agencies very difficult and frustrating!

For example, many sites do not have a Host Family Resource page, where you can read about the au pair program, what an au pair is, what is involved in hosting an au pair, etc. Agency Program Fees are also difficult to find on au pair agency websites!

Au pair agency Website Reviews are all part of our comprehensive reviews and ratings of all 14 agencies in the United States. We call agencies, we rate their phone service, we visit their sites daily, clicking around to research material on au pairs and hosting au pairs, asking questions like, "how easy/hard is it to find costs, au pairs by nationality, matching/placement time frames, etc."

All of these searches really comes down to how efficient and streamlined an au pair agency's website is. A small handful of au pair agencies have updated their websites in the last 3 years:

• GoAuPair has a colorful, user-friendly site that is chock-full of helpful and useful information and they recently added new features, such as Au Pair Statistics, Country of the Month (where they feature different nationalities) and a fun and informative Blog.
• Cultural Care has one of the better sites, very professional looking, fast and easy to navigate, with their very popular Au Pair Answer Mom videos, featuring Susan Robinson, the "Martha Stewart" of the "how-to-guide video blog" on everything au pairs.
• Au Pair Care has a great site that has been recognized for its ease in finding and matching with the au pair that fits your childcare needs. They were the recipients of tech 2006 CIO 100 Award, in recognition of the highest level of strategic excellence in information technology. You can read more about the award here. Au Pair Care's advanced search option allows host families to search by multiple criteria, including education of au pair, child care qualifications, language & driving skills, hobbies and more. After that award, several of the larger agencies rolled out their own online search features!

You can read more about au pair agency performance on matching by viewing host parents ratings here.

What About Agencies that Don't Deliver User-Friendly Matching Services?

Some agencies are hard pressed to deliver fast and useful information at critical service points - many of our host parents complained about the slow turn around time at Au Pair in America, beginning with ease of viewing applicants online:

• Au Pair in America: The majority of host parents were only “somewhat satisfied” (72%) and the major complaint was the length of time it took to receive applications and to finally match with an au pair. The other complaints were the slowness of the program to get the family started on viewing applications, getting applications, and matching and receiving “dead leads” (i.e., host parents who are assigned au pairs that have already been matched with another family).

“I would go through the 3 applications they released to me, and find only one appropriate for my needs. Once I called and rejected the au pair based on the interview, I would ask for more applications. I don’t know why, but the office staff was very slow to release more au pair applications to me. It was one of the reasons I finally switched out of Au Pair in America.” Host Parent Survey Respondent

“We signed up with 3 agencies all at once, all at the same time. Cultural Care sent out a counselor that weekend, Au Pair Care scheduled a meeting for Monday evening, and we never heard back from Au Pair in America until after we signed up and starting interviewing through Cultural Care! Au Pair in America were late getting to us and as business man, if I did this with my customers, I would never make any money.” Host Parent Survey Respondent

We also have a recommended list of au pair/host family resources that include au pair agency specific resources, but other sources as well, including books, blogs and other online au pair resources. Read our Host Family Tips page for lots of essential and expert advice on finding and matching with a great au pair.

Let us know what favorite au pair or host family resource you use!