So you want to be an Au Pair?

“Today is a good day to try.” – The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Here is my step-by-step process of joining an au pair agency. I applied online on the agency’s website. At this stage in the process you have the chance to fill out your application form straight away.

Application Form
✖PERSONAL DETAILS – This page is for you to fill in your personal details (name, date of birth, languages you speak, how many siblings you have, your religion, passport number and expiry date.)
✖️CONTACT DETAILS – Skype ID, email, phone number, home address and emergency contact.
✖️TRAVEL & PROGRAM – This part asks you if you already have a family you would like to match with, your earliest and latest date you would be available to leave for the US, if you have been to the US before and for how long and if you have been denied a US visa previously.
✖️HOBBIES & INTERESTS – Here it tells you to look through a list of activities and to tick the box next to it if you enjoy it as a hobby. You can also write your own hobbies if they are not listed. It also asks if you know how to swim and how well you can swim, if you have lived away from home for more than two months and to provide details for that.
✖DRIVING – This page asks if you have a valid drivers license, what date you passed the test, when did you first start learning to drive, how often do you drive per week, did you take lessons with a qualified instructor, what kind of roads do you usually drive on, have you ever had a car accident, have you ever been penalised for any driving offences.
✖CHILDCARE – Here it asks you your Childcare skills. It provides you a list of ages to tick off which ones you have cared for and what ages you are willing to care for in the US. It also asks if you have prepared a baby’s bottle, changed a diaper, fed a baby with a bottle, burped a baby, fed a baby with a spoon/fork, bathed an infant, put a baby to bed, bathed a toddler and bathed a child older than two years.
✖️EDUCATION – Name of high school, dates you attended there, subjects studied, name of university – if attended – name of qualification and dates you attended.
✖️WORK EXPERIENCE – It asks you if you have had any other jobs that are not related to Childcare – the dates you worked there and your responsibilities. At the end it asks you what job or career you would like to do in the future.
✖️MEDICAL & HEALTH – This page asks you if you suffer from any allergies that are listed, if you follow a special diet, if you have any problems with your health, if you take any medication, have you been hospitalised or in the care of a doctor in the past 12 months, have you suffered from an emotional condition or depression, have you been a victim of abuse, do you smoke cigarettes, have you been charged or convicted of a criminal offence.

Childcare Experience
Once you have completed all of that 🔝 you move on to listing your Childcare experience more thoroughly. You need to fill out the dates you have worked, the names and ages of children and what your responsibilities were in that job. You also need to add up all the hours you worked in each Childcare situation. *Remember you need at least 200 hours to qualify.*

Host Family Letter
Up next is your Host Family Letter. Here you can write your own personal letter to potential host families. They ask for your letter to be more than 600 words and should include who you are, about your family and friends, what your hobbies and interests are, your Childcare experience and what you learned and enjoyed from it, what you hope to gain from the experience and what interests you about American families and culture. Of course add in anything and everything else you think the family should know or you would like to tell them!

After you have completed these things you can submit your profile for your future interviewer to review and either approve straight away or give you some tips on things to change. After this you will be given a choice of interview times and dates in your city and before you attend you will need to complete the upload part ⏬⏬

Uploads
Here you can upload a profile photo (they recommend one showing a clear picture of your face and smiling) and below this is where you will upload your family/Childcare photos. The next tab is for you to upload photos of your printed off reference forms. You need three references – either Childcare related or someone non related to you for a character reference. You then have a medical form you need to print off and take to your doctor to fill out and sign and then upload to your application. You will also need either a terberculosis test or a chest X-ray. I had my doctor write me a referral to get the chest X-ray so it ended up being bulk billed and therefore free from Medicare. If you are not in Australia then getting the terberculosis test is likely cheaper than getting the X-ray. You then need to upload the results of this to your application. Other documents you need to obtain to upload photos of are your drivers license, your passport, your education certificate, a police background check, and a fee sheet (receipt) to prove you have paid the $100 to attend a private interview with someone from the company.

After all this is done and you attend your interview (assuming all goes well there!) then your profile will be given the green light 🚦 and will be available online for host families to view you! This whole entire process can take awhile or can be quick depending on how long it takes you to get all your references, visit your doctor, get the tests done, receive your police check back etc. It is tedious. Originally my interviewer asked to have our appointment 2 and a half weeks after I had submitted the first part of my online profile (before I had uploaded anything). I asked for a later date because I knew in that time I wouldn’t of been able to get everything together as I’m also busy working so I scheduled it for 4 weeks later. Side note: if you’re in Victoria and apply through Vic Police your police check can take up to 10 days to get back.

So all in all it does seem like a lot to do and get done (this is also minus the US embassy interview 😅) but the end result will so be worth it!