AU PAIR - AGENCY OR IS BETTER TO GO ON YOUR OWN ?!

Hello guys, welcome to a new video. Today I decided to share with you all the tips and the tricks how to become an au pair and I myself was one. Well, first in Croatia I was a nanny for 11 years, something like that. So I decided to try also an international experience and I found out for AuPairWorld. I will show you how it looks like. So for au pairs it's a free site, you don't need to pay any fee to log in and to make your own profile. And for the families who want to have an au pair, they need to pay some fee. And basically that's it. You make your own profile, you put your own picture and you write a bit about yourself. There's also an obligatory to put where are you coming from, where are you living right now at the moment and also you need to put something about yourself. For example, how many languages do you speak, on which level and about your hobbies, your previous experience. Have you ever been an au pair before? If yes, where? If not, you just describe if you've ever been a nanny before. And basically that's it. You're starting with your search about your new family. Also you can pick up up to seven countries where you want to go, where you would like to be an au pair. Also on their site there are some general tips and tricks, also a month or a week salary for each country where are you going to. And most of the families are stuck with that. There are always good and bad experiences, for example CDC. So for example, when I was searching a family it was really really hard, because people are expecting that you are more a cleaner than a nanny and it happens. And they get offensive when you mention that, because there are a lot of profiles where they are describing how much you need to clean, what you need to clean and there's no one single letter about taking care of their children. So they can be also very rude. I had an experience lately with one lady from Germany, where she started to be very offensive. She told me that she's going to suit me, that I want to enter to Germany, because she had, I would say, a boring Friday and she was just looking for somebody to fight with. And she was not actually looking for an au pair. And she, of course, you have people who think that they are right and there's nothing else matters beside that. So be careful about that. Also that I don't like combat sites anymore and I think it's not a good option anymore. Before I think it was much much better. So they don't even read your profile, they just send you a request. And after one message they are also requiring a video call, which I don't like. I like and I prefer to get arranged everything on the site, to have everything legal. Because on the videos, you know, they can say whatever they want. Of course, there's also a possibility that you film that, so you have a clue and everything. But I'm not such a fan to film other privacy, so also that. Also when you get into the family, well, I had a bad and a good experience, I would say, at the end. And I was supposed to stay for three months, but at the end I stayed only for a month and a half. Because I couldn't stay in that family anymore. First, because it was like, from my experience, I needed to quit my job to do it and to go to spend the summer in Spain. And they were like, you know, like not this month, the next month, the next month. I was supposed to go in May or then it was June, at the end I went in July. And it's not easy, you know, it's okay when you don't have a job, when you're a student, but it's complicated when you have an actual job and you're quitting it because you want some international experience and then they are acting like that. So, and I was like asking, okay, but I need to know, because we have some restriction rules when you are quitting your job. You basically have, depends on the company, but it can be up to three weeks, like the final work before you can quit your job. So in front of me were three weeks of completing that. So I said to them, like, you need to be aware of that. And they were like, yeah, yeah, you can start with all that, blah, okay. And when I get to the family, okay, they were not paying for my flight. You have families who are paying for your flight. And I think that they are not respecting not nannies, not outbears anymore, especially on that side. And so be aware that you find a family who is really taking care and who is ready to pay for your flight. I think that's fair enough. And then when I get into the family, first weeks, it was all fine. I supposed to have my free afternoon, after lunch, after 3 p.m., 3, 4 p.m. Then also a free weekend. And of course, I had a possibility to hang out with them if I wanted, if they are going somewhere. And after that, they started, I don't know if it was, like, two or three weeks later. These afternoons were not free anymore. I was with kids up to the time when they needed to go to sleep. I was putting them to sleep. It was not only one weekend per month. When the parents were going out, it became every single weekend. And during the weekends, when I was supposed to be free, they would say to kids, like, okay, just go into her room and ask her to play with you, like she is her nanny, she needs to be with you, right? It doesn't matter if I didn't go out of the house for the weekend or if I was still sleeping. So that I didn't like. That became, like, 0 to 24 hours of babysitting. And of course, I was not paid anymore for that, which I also didn't like. And the main thing that I didn't have the keys of the house, which I think is also not appropriate. And they were, like, shocked because I'm not going out. And I was like, it was not possible for me to go out because I always needed to look at the clock. If I'm going out in the afternoon, like, I needed to return until nine. So to still catch them awake, so somebody can open me a door. And that became frustrating for me, like, you know, watching on the clock every single time when I go out, just to be sure that somebody's home that can open me. And so, yeah, I didn't like to stay in that family anymore. First of all, you don't have keys, so you cannot go out. You don't have your freedom. The second thing, you are taking care of the children 24 hours per day. You are not paid more. You are paid as the same as you were paid for your regular shifts. And that was it. After a month and a half, I decided that it's enough of that torture, that I'm going to return to my home, and that's where I will find another family. But later I moved to Spain anyway, and I started my life in another town. And that's it of the things that you need to be aware that can happen. Also, there are families who are not paying their own fares. I read a lot about it. Also about the families who are not respecting the hours, your freedom, like it happened to me. Even if you arrange all that on the video, you know these things can happen and are happening very often. And I think that the salary went down. So for my advice, I'm not sure where you can go as out there. On the first, it's like perfect. You have a free accommodation, you have free meals, you're living in a family in a new town. You are so excited, you are going to meet a lot of people, you are going to learn a new language. But sometimes it cannot end in a good way. It's not like that. And I'm so sorry if I offended someone with this video, but I really didn't have a nice experience from all that out there adventure. And I hope that you'll find a better one. I know one friend who is living in Switzerland, like an out there for almost two years. And she says why she has such a good family. So it really depends. I think that only countries where you can get well like as an out there right now are or the first countries like Australia, New Zealand or Switzerland in Europe. Other countries definitely not. So that's from my opinion and my own experience. Other tips and tricks like you need to know how to say no to a family when they ask you to take some extra hours or to go somewhere with them if it's your free time. And be aware that it can happen like it was happening to me, that they just don't ask you anymore. They just said to kids that they go to your room and that they will stay with you. So of course you're alone at home with kids and you cannot say no because you don't have person to say no and say okay stop it's my time. I don't care and that's it. And also be aware like it happened to me one weekend that they left me with seven kids. I don't remember anymore. I was three years ago and I was with seven or ten kids for one weekend and I was usually not preparing the meals from then for the kids and for the family. But in that weekend I needed to. Okay it's not a problem to prepare a meal for everyone but also no extra money, no extra free time, no anything. So with the time you can get enough of it and you're starting to be nervous. You can see that on your own behavior. They can see it that you're not happy there anymore. So I think that it's important to also take that line and say okay I don't like it anymore. You don't treat me like the humans are supposed to be treated. Like you know the normal things that we sign with the contract. So I'm going home and that's what I did. I said it's enough and I'm going to leave this family. I'm going to make home. Also that you need to know like that mostly our payers are paying for their own transport and everything. Like I was paying for it. Also you have a possibility like if you're staying for longer for six or twelve months then the family is ready to pay for your flight. I never had an opportunity let's say like that. Or I just didn't find the right family. Let's say it right like that. Be also aware that there are a lot of cheaters on that side. I know that was happening especially for UK that you have some especially mens who are single fathers. Because you also have a like a check you can put if you want to work with single parents or you don't want to work with single parents. And if you put yes be aware that there are mostly 90 percent if not even more of them are men who are having kids. And I don't have nothing against but most of them are just like searching for girls and they can have inappropriate moments. I know it happened to me with one guy from UK. He was pretending that he's a doctor and that he's alone with his girl. And we had a video call and he didn't give a chance to a child to speak and she was eight years old. He was with her on the video while she was eating and he was like saying to her no no no you just eat you just eat she needs to eat she cannot speak. And like okay but you know you can if the child is there on the video it's normal that you speak with children too. So that was my experience and after two days from the site I get a message that I don't speak with him anymore. That they removed him from the site because they found out that he's a cheater. So that can also happen. Sometimes the site knows it, sometimes they don't. And I'm sure that I'm not the only one who had a bad experience. So that kind of things can also happen. Or you have families who are stalking you. I remember also one guy from Munich. He's also a single father. I didn't respond for a message and I was online on that site. And I didn't respond for two days. He asked me for a video and I told him that I don't want to have a video. I want to arrange all the details on the site to have everything real. You know if something happens you have all there. So that's my tip number one. Never accept the video before you have everything written on the site so that you can show it to the main director of the site if something happens and to the chat support. And he was like that I'm rude that I was online for the whole weekend on the site and I didn't reply to him. And I was like automatically okay I don't want to continue this conversation with you. So also you have families like that who are stalking you, who are looking when you were online and etc. Also most of them are not reading your profile. They don't even dare to get to know you. It happens to me a lot of times that I ask them I have the main sentence on my profile for example that I am working at the moment or that I'm studying at the moment and that they need to be aware of that. That maybe sometimes I will need to return to my home to accomplish something like for example exams or things like that. And they don't even dare to read your profile. That was like okay we didn't know that. Okay it won't be a problem or it will be a problem they don't want to continue. But mostly they don't read your profile at all. So I think that that site became one big joke and that people are not serious there anymore. So if you're considering to be an outlier I won't say yes I won't say no. From me and from my experience no more. It was my only my first and my last time. I won't try it again that's for sure. But if you want some experience like you can always go and give it a try even for a month or three or more if you like the family. But just to take care of these details so that you know where are you going and that you'll be aware how it can go. And that would be it. Thank you for watching another video and see you in a week in the next one with some new topics and I hope that you find it interesting. If this was interesting for you give me a like, subscribe and see you soon.