Anonymous wrote:Won't be going with CC next time, for a variety of reasons, including matching issues, quality of candidates and the credit card billing issue.

I will never use APIA again b/c of experience with them.

Will look at Interexchange, APC and others. I usually register at 1-3 different ones to see the pool.

+1, i also register with at least two agencies, since it is not CC and i can communicate with candidates faster, it is actually not that time consuming.

Won't be going with CC next time, for a variety of reasons, including matching issues, quality of candidates and the credit card billing issue.

I will never use APIA again b/c of experience with them.

Will look at Interexchange, APC and others. I usually register at 1-3 different ones to see the pool.

Large pool of AP means nothing if the AP's are under-whelming and of poor quality. I rather go with a smaller pool agency where the AP are better and committed to finish out their contract year without using the rematch card all the time. Just like an LCC, it doesn't matter so much how great an LCC is if everything is going well. The test comes only when there is rematch trouble. Same with a big pool. The pool size is irrelevant if you never have to access a big rematch pool because you never need to go into rematch in the first place. I prefer to get it right and match right. More and bigger is not always better.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand why you want to keep trying with CC. The only thing special about them is their overinflated marketing machine. Your chances of finding a great au pair with any other agency are the same or better.

Untrue. I'm no CCAP booster but they have a huge pool, which helps APs meet each other, helps if you need a rematch and gives you a large selection of candidates to pick from.

Unless the pool is so small it has not enough qualified au pairs, what matters is not the size of the pool but the ratio of available au pairs to host families. And au pairs meet each other online and make friends with au pairs from other agencies. I am with a smaller size agency and I have five kids with one under two, and I had multiple great candidates to choose from in my agency.

Good point, PP! It’s about the quality of the candidates!

Our AP’s friends are from many different agencies. It’s easy to meet other APs at preschool, coffee shop, gym, etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand why you want to keep trying with CC. The only thing special about them is their overinflated marketing machine. Your chances of finding a great au pair with any other agency are the same or better.

Untrue. I'm no CCAP booster but they have a huge pool, which helps APs meet each other, helps if you need a rematch and gives you a large selection of candidates to pick from.

Unless the pool is so small it has not enough qualified au pairs, what matters is not the size of the pool but the ratio of available au pairs to host families. And au pairs meet each other online and make friends with au pairs from other agencies. I am with a smaller size agency and I have five kids with one under two, and I had multiple great candidates to choose from in my agency.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand why you want to keep trying with CC. The only thing special about them is their overinflated marketing machine. Your chances of finding a great au pair with any other agency are the same or better.

Untrue. I'm no CCAP booster but they have a huge pool, which helps APs meet each other, helps if you need a rematch and gives you a large selection of candidates to pick from.

What is the point of having huge pool of candidates if they will all reject you? I connected to maybe 20 candidates in one month with CC and nothing came out it. I switched to another agency where within 2 weeks I interviewed 4 candidates and got one match and she has been perfect. Also see the difference btw "connected" vs "interviewed". As their system is now, CC is a waste of time for HFs IMO!!!

To what agency have to switched? We are looking for CC alternatives.

I went with EurAupair and got someone within 2 weeks, they do have a smaller pool, which is why this time I am also creating a profile with AupairCare, most of my AP friends are from AupairCare and they seem like great APs which why I decided to try them as well. Good luck!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand why you want to keep trying with CC. The only thing special about them is their overinflated marketing machine. Your chances of finding a great au pair with any other agency are the same or better.

Untrue. I'm no CCAP booster but they have a huge pool, which helps APs meet each other, helps if you need a rematch and gives you a large selection of candidates to pick from.

What is the point of having huge pool of candidates if they will all reject you? I connected to maybe 20 candidates in one month with CC and nothing came out it. I switched to another agency where within 2 weeks I interviewed 4 candidates and got one match and she has been perfect. Also see the difference btw "connected" vs "interviewed". As their system is now, CC is a waste of time for HFs IMO!!!

To what agency have to switched? We are looking for CC alternatives.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand why you want to keep trying with CC. The only thing special about them is their overinflated marketing machine. Your chances of finding a great au pair with any other agency are the same or better.

Untrue. I'm no CCAP booster but they have a huge pool, which helps APs meet each other, helps if you need a rematch and gives you a large selection of candidates to pick from.

What is the point of having huge pool of candidates if they will all reject you? I connected to maybe 20 candidates in one month with CC and nothing came out it. I switched to another agency where within 2 weeks I interviewed 4 candidates and got one match and she has been perfect. Also see the difference btw "connected" vs "interviewed". As their system is now, CC is a waste of time for HFs IMO!!!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand why you want to keep trying with CC. The only thing special about them is their overinflated marketing machine. Your chances of finding a great au pair with any other agency are the same or better.

Untrue. I'm no CCAP booster but they have a huge pool, which helps APs meet each other, helps if you need a rematch and gives you a large selection of candidates to pick from.

The problem with the “large pool” is that few APs have been willing to connect with us. Without this extra layer and with the ability to only talk to 3 at a time, we’ve been successful talking with APs in APIA and APC. No real difference in profiles either - I pretty much copy/paste.

So, our chances with CC are so much worse. We’ve gotten clear rejects willing to talk or a few that accept the connection but we’re clearly a backup option (based on the frequency and lag in emails).

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand why you want to keep trying with CC. The only thing special about them is their overinflated marketing machine. Your chances of finding a great au pair with any other agency are the same or better.

Untrue. I'm no CCAP booster but they have a huge pool, which helps APs meet each other, helps if you need a rematch and gives you a large selection of candidates to pick from.

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand why you want to keep trying with CC. The only thing special about them is their overinflated marketing machine. Your chances of finding a great au pair with any other agency are the same or better.

I'll go back to them if they can show that they can respect the people that they serve...

I don't understand why you want to keep trying with CC. The only thing special about them is their overinflated marketing machine. Your chances of finding a great au pair with any other agency are the same or better.

Anonymous wrote:They sent a winter update newsletter a few days ago that noted that they re changing the number of connections from 10 to 6.

Thank you for the update, PP. I must have missed it. Let's see how it goes this year.

They sent a winter update newsletter a few days ago that noted that they re changing the number of connections from 10 to 6.

I have not heard anything. And I am dreading the matching process that we will have to start pretty much right after the holidays. Do you know if CC is planning on changing their terrible matching system, or did everyone's complains simply get ignored?