Do you Contact References?

[Anonymous]

Four-time HM here. I've never contacted any AP candidate's references and another thread on here made me question whether or not it was common to do so. Do people generally contact AP's out of country references? Just curious. (To be clear, I'm talking about new AP candidates, not rematch or extension APs - if I was considering an AP who been with a US host family, I would definitely contact that family).

[Anonymous]

I just had the exact same thought! I never contact references because you have no way of verifying the information and of course people will select someone who gives a glowing review.

[Anonymous]

Same... I think references can be extremely unreliable especially across country/language/culture differences. I read them but I’ve never contacted any. Successfully matched and hosted 5 au pairs.

[Anonymous]

Same here. We never contact the references and, in general, put little weight on them.

[Anonymous]

I have a nanny who is Canadian. We absolutely contacted references.

(I know it's not an au pair, but it's still a person in our home, watching our children.)

[Anonymous]

I've done it once, when the candidate had been an AP before. Otherwise I don't.

[Anonymous]

I had the same thought when I read that thread. But also had the feeling that OP was not from the U.S. Because she talked about AP being 26+ and trying the match with an AP who has been in the family for 2 years. U.S APs cant be here for more than 2 years.

[Anonymous]

Yes I have contacted references with OOC APs and BPs. I do not trust the agencies to verify references at all, so I do think it is important to have these conversations either myself or conducted by a friend who is fluent in the language our APs speak. It is amazing the information you can get on candidates by asking their references questions. You can definitely find out when APs have not been fully honest in their descriptions of what they have done in previous jobs, and you also get extra info on their personalities - how much they do or don’t pitch in extra, how they take feedback, etc.

[Anonymous]

OP from the other thread. I was born and raised in the US. For our first AP I did not contact references. For our second, which I am now interviewing for, I am doing a more thorough job, in part because I learned a good but from what I did not do the first time around and in part because I switched to a smaller agency that has a very limited rematch pool (doing all my homework now to hopefully avoid rematch potential later). And I speak the lany of the APs references at about an intermediate level so it's not too difficult. I learn more about the AP based on the responses I receive. And

[Anonymous]

And also I clearly cannot phone type no matter the language ?!

[Anonymous]

In most cases yes. I ask questions that focus on things i want to probe about her personality, her relationship with ppl, how she handles conflict and correction, etc. I ask the basics to make sure they match what sh esaid on the application. I also ask why she left, and if they would employ her again. I only do it when I close to offering a match, so for about one au pair per year

[Anonymous]

Why wouldn’t you contact references???