Anyone with Interexchange?

[Anonymous]

I have found a decent AP candidate with Interexchange and am thinking of switching because of her. I have met the LCC and she seems nice. Anyone have experiences with this agency and how have they been? Old searches here and on the web prove semi positive...

Previously I have used CC and APIA.

Thanks.

[Anonymous]

I was with InterExchange for 7 years until we left the program last year. I like the agency and never had any problems. There are some pros and cons.

I did write up a few things on this board over the years, so this might be saying the same things twice.

PROS:
My LCC was very good and experienced, and so was the other LCC in our area. She was a host mom previously. She was very available whenever we needed help, and very available for the au pairs. Our cluster was a nice size, around 15 families, and very stable with most families staying for years. We typically met up with another local cluster in the area which meant app. 30 families with 2 LCCs and they worked closely together so that when one was away, the other one covered. Rematch rate in both clusters was about 12% according to our LCC.

It’s a non profit. Maybe it doesn’t matter, but I tend to think that it reflects in how they do business. It doesn’t feel like a they are out to make money. For example, I really like that they don’t try to hit us with extra fees for orientation baskets and sweatshirts and crap like that.

Orientation is in NYC, which our APs really love.

The agency is rigorous when it comes to regulations. Some people might not like that, but I do. They don’t balk at kicking out a family or sending an au pair back home for not following regulations.

Once I apply my discount, I have found them to be between 800-1200 cheaper than APIA, CC and APC. I also prefer their refund policy. If you decide to leave them, they will refund you 70% of the reminder of your year, no questions asked (unlike some other agencies who will give you a credit).

Although the website is not great, you can see everyone they have available (they don’t hide the infant qualified if you don’t need them for example, or the au pairs that are interviewing). You may not be able to interview someone because s/he might be interviewed by someone else, but you can see the profile and put the person in your favorites for when she comes available. It is a true exclusive matching system and if you or AP try to circumvent that, they will give you some crap about it.

CONS:
The website is pretty barebones in terms of doing your search, but it does the work. Biggest problem though is that you cannot rematch candidates on the website. Just like APIA, rematches are done offline. With IE, it goes through the ‘transition coordinator’.

The rematch pool is small. We went through rematch once, and to be fair, we go one of our best AP out of rematch, but it is a small agency and the pool is small, so we had to make concessions on language. And the AP we went into rematch with was not that lucky and had to be sent back home.

Not a pro or a con, but I don’t deal with matchmakers, so I can’t tell you much about how helpful they are in helping you find the right candidate. In your case, since you already have someone in mind, it probably doesn’t matter anyway. But nice thing is that you could get a $500 pre-match discount! Good luck!

[Anonymous]

We're on our 3rd Interexchange au pair. We have had the same LCC the whole time in a cluster made up of CC/SS. We weren't happy with au pair #2 and the rematch pool was pretty much nonexistent and we kept her for the whole year and just had lower expectations after month 1. I would go with them if you found a good candidate. I looked at APIA last year and girls who seemed interested were playing us against other families and after missing out on a few, we stuck to Interexchange where the girls can't officially interview with anyone else while you have them.

[Anonymous]

I've been pleased with Interexchange but never used another agency so I can't really compare. I especially like that it is a non-profit and they seem to do fairly good vetting of the candidates. LCC has been helpful and is available when needed. Other staff have responded immediately when I've had questions. Only drawback is small size. I've not had to rematch but it has been tough for our au pair to make friends because the au pairs are scattered over a large distance and there aren't many people from her home country.

[Anonymous]

Not happy with InterExchange. We had to rematch after our au pair totally bailed on us and was having major issues and they just went ahead and placed her with another unsuspecting family. And our rematch au pair is not a good fit for our family at all but we had very very limited options.