Best Agency to Work With?
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Anonymous
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Hello All,
My husband and I are expecting our first child in October, and are interested in exploring the option of an au pair. We've found a couple of agencies online only to find that they had horrible reviews. Can anyone recommend an agency to use? We'd love to know where others have had good experiences. Thank you! |
Anonymous
| I had a good, but not great, experience with APC, but decided to switch this year after experiencing frustration with their new website upgrade, which offered much less information about the candidates. Had much better luck with APIA, loved the thorough information and interviews regarding each au pair candidate, and I ended up with a much more organized and helpful LCC. I suggest signing-up with at least a couple of agencies, compare profiles of candidates, and meet with the AD or LCC (ask how many are in their cluster, how many re-matches, etc) before making a decision. |
Anonymous
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I have been a host mother for many years, and have been with many agencies. I used to sign up for two or three, and go with the one where I found my au pair for that year.
After all this, there are agencies I would consider returning to, and those I would never again go back to. I have been with: 1. Interexchange (also called AuPairUSA). I was with them many years ago, but they always had a pool of candidates IMHO inferior to other agencies; it was not easy to find what I was looking for (but I may be looking for someone with a different profile than you, so this is something to keep in mind.) Their pool of candidates at the time skewed very young and european, especially Eastern european. They also have a rematch policy where if you rematch after 6 months you lose a lot of money; they restrict rematches, and they also don't let you talk to the previous host family of a rematch candidate. They enforce this policy so it is not so easy to go around it. They are also small and if you do go into rematch, it is may be hard to find a good in-country candidate. However I would return to them if I found a perfect candidate, because I loved their customer service, both local representative and the front office. They have very low turnover at the front office, I think same people are there that were a decade ago, and they are truly great, and that is something. They are one of two non-profit agencies so their prices are very good and they offer generous discounts. 2. AuPairCare - would go with them again. Not my favorite because in matching they restrict the number of candidates online so it is hard to get a great au pair because lots of families will compete for her. Only stayed with them for a year because in the second year could not outcompete with other families for good candidates. 3. Cultural Care. Never again. They are very nice on the uptake, when they want you as a client. Don't be deceived. Very profit driven, and cannot be trusted. I had a horrible experience with them and lost lots of money. 4. Au Pair In America. Was with them for one year. Didn't like their matching system much, the au pair profiles very bare and basic, many girls were very picky with me. More expensive than other agencies and service is very slow. However for a right candidate will consider them again. They are OK. 5. GoAuPair. My favorite. This year I didn't even try registering with multiple agencies, went with them again. No restrictions on rematches policy, let you talk to prior host families of rematch candidates, and my favorite - great matching process and lots of very attractive candidates, and the ratio of available candidates to searching families very favorable to families. Prices are fair, on the low side. |
Anonymous
| We've been with Interexchange, APIA and Cultural Care. I agree with the PP's comments about those two. Unfortunately, I felt Interexchange never had good candidates and after experiencing a rematch, I would never use a smaller agency again. Had an awful experience with cultural care - don't be sucked in by their great website and what appears to be slight fee savings. We'll always use APIa from now on because of their policies, our great LCC, their better candidates and the matching process. Yes, you'll have to compete with other families, but I think this is a good thing for all involved. And if you add up literally all the expenses, you'll find they're not that much more than CC. |
Anonymous
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I have been with InterExchange for many years and enjoy their lower prices (non-profit) and excellent service. Though I agree that if you want to edge your bets in case of rematch, their rematch pool is thin and you cannot 'shop' for rematches yourself on the Website. That being said, our coordinator hails a 12% rematch for her cluster, and so do we (1 rematch out of 8 APs). I wonder if their rematch rate might be lower? (I guess we will never know...). We experienced one rematch and quickly rematched with one of our best APs.
Personally, I have found the candidates to be well qualified, but I have often pre-matched with au pairs I found myself online who were already with APC or CC and brought them to InterExchange. All of the APs I brought over to IE told me it was much cheaper for them to switch over anyway (especially true for the CC candidate). My impression of other agencies is primarily based on my interaction with the LCC and matching specialists. I found CCs search engine to be great, and their matching specialist was very eager to help, but the LCC was a complete dud and I don't like their refund policy, so I would never go with CC. APCs coordinator seemed really great, and diligent. They have a similar refund policy to CC though, and I really dislike their search engine. They hide a lot of candidates for various reasons (CC does it too...). Finally APIA's coordinator was my favorite but her cluster was over 40 families! I can't imagine how she can provide a personalized service under these circumstances (we are about 15-20 families in our IE cluster). Their search engine is pretty bare, and I found the profiles to be not very detailed, but I could see everyone, which I liked. And although I appreciate the exclusive matching of IE and CC, I can also get behind the 'free for all' of APIA's matching system which basically allows APs to speak with multiple families at once. I would suggest you sign up with multiple agencies and experience the difference for yourself. You don't have to pay for anything until you match anyway. It may seem like you have to pay to register, but if you call the office they should be able to give you free access. Also if you are looking for one country specifically, it may help to call the agencies in advance and ask how many candidates they have from that country, and ask about how they vet candidates from that country. For example, CC has their own offices in countries they pool from (which some families like a lot), and IE (and others) might work with partnering agencies abroad. I really really like IE's partnering agency from the country I pool from. I feel like I know them personally and really trust their interview/assessment. They also stay very involved once their APs are here in the USA. |
Anonymous
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22:07 -- are you in the DC area? We've been with APIA for several years but I am considering comparing another agency's candidates for the next go-round. I already know I don't want to look at CC or InterExchange again.
I will add that our LCCs for APIA (Montgomery County) have been good. I also think the profiles and the availability of all the interview info etc. are good -- I don't find them that bare bones but I like seeing everything at once. I also actually prefer the free-for-all/no exclusives with candidates because I want the widest pool possible and I want to be anonymous while I look at applications rather than just being able to look at the in-depth info for a few at a time and having that open up communication with candidates. Given that I read hundreds of applications and am very picky about who I even email to start out with, and I don't like having to outright reject candidates who aren't the right fit directly, I prefer the APIA matching process. To the OP: I am a big fan of the AP program, but my kids are also all school-aged. For infants, I think an AP program is less ideal -- not impossible, but maybe not what the AP program is best suited for. I would look into all your options if you're not already doing so -- both institutional and in-home daycares, nannies and nanny shares, etc. For me, the turnover in caregivers every year is not a big deal because it's the trade-off for the split scheduling that is the huge advantage of the AP program for us. When I had little babies and toddlers, however, it was a different story and stability/responsibility/maturity were paramount. |
Anonymous
| Great, we just switched from APIA to CCAP because the candidates this year on APIA were weak IMHO. I hope we have a good one from CCAP and do not have to deal with any issues, I was concerned about the bait and switch with them....plus they took a ton off the fees to get us to switch from APIA. We loved APIA, and our LLC. Just not the candidates this year. |
Anonymous
I agree with the above- the AP program is not the best option for a newborn/infant/toddler, and I have heard of many re-matches due to safety issues with infants. I would suggest waiting until your child is in pre-school. |
Anonymous
| I would not get an AP for a newborn. I would find a nice day care - it is better socialization and interaction for them, probably safer. Our APs are constantly taking the kids out to do things b/c they want the APs like to get out of the house. We chose active APs and it works for us, an AP at home all the time with an infant would drive me crazy. Probably the AP too. That would be a tough gig unless there are quite a few other nannies/APs in your immediate area that the child and AP could engage with. |
Anonymous
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I didn't have an AP for a newborn, so I can't speak to that, but I have used 3 agencies, and CCAP is the only one I have used multiple times (3 out of 5). For me, APIA was the worst, and that was the year we struggled the most, so I was disappointed not to have much, if any, support from our LCC. I also didn't like with APIA that apparently they don't have to call to speak to me each month. Rather, I would just get a quick e-mail, and the LCC didn't seem to care whether I even responded. With APC and CCAP (the other agencies we used), they HAD to speak to me each month. I have mixed feelings about the exclusive matching technique with CCAP, but I find their profiles to be really complete, and I appreciate seeing things like the personality profile and seeing candidates affirmatively declare what kinds of families they feel comfortable working with (i.e. religious, single parents, same sex couples, etc).
In the end, I think it really comes down to your match, though, not the agency. |
Anonymous
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Thank you, this is very helpful and I appreciate you sharing your experiences! We are in Northern Virginia, and our baby girl will be 14 or 16 weeks when I have to return to work, so it's very helpful to hear where others have had bad/good experiences with infant care.
My husband is Italian and we are going to raise the baby with both languages, so we initially became interested in an au pair as a way to also reinforce Italian for our daughter. It's a bit of a scary leap to take though, as I agree that it almost all hinges on who the match is and it's tough to feel like you really know enough about the person. |
Anonymous
| Used CCAP for a toddler and newborn (started at 4 months). Was amazing help-- especially since we could choose the schedule each week. We picked an enthusiastic, slightly older girl with a lot of solid baby experience from a daycare (3 years) but had less English proficiency-- she was also church going and didn't drink. Worked very well for us. Not that excited about the agency but the match was good. |
Anonymous
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Customer service with CCAP is underwhelming at best. It wouldn't be so irksome if they didn't promise up front that the higher fees mean more staff and more attention. They definitely have lots of people on payroll, but what they do ....
At the end of the day, go with the agency that has the best fit au pair for you family. |
Anonymous
We are with APIA and I ditto the comments from PP. I like our LCC and feel like she does a good job vetting families and candidates (especially from our successful rematch experience). I also like the open matching process - it can feel a little like speed dating, but I like that the candidates can compare for themselves and hopefully choose our family because we're the right fit for them, not because they haven't seen enough families to know what they would and wouldn't like. I also ditto PP that if you want to look around with other agencies, they should waive the fees for you to look at candidates until you're ready to match. |
Anonymous
| I'm also with APiA and I feel lucky that we chose them right off the bat. It was really a fluke for us, it was based off one recommendation and the fact that the LCC seemed professional and discerning. We are in Montgomery County with Imelda as the LCC. I know host moms with APC and CCAP and it seems like those companies have some issues that we don't have to deal with. For example, with APC, if you rematch after 6 months, you lose money. As a new Host Family, I'm sorry to tell you, rematch is very possible because you don't know enough about your needs yet to reliably pick a good AP for your family. So good rematch policies are important. CCAP seems to have a lot of drama, for example, they are actually sending emails to HFs that participate in Facebook groups about au pair/host family relationships and asking why they are doing that-- very creepy and strange. With APIA, I feel like I'm dealing with professionals who treat all involved (HFs and APs) very well. |