This is it, you’ve thought it all through, and now that you’ve estimated your budget for an au pair and familiarized yourself with the formalities, you’ve decided to take the plunge. You’ve taken the first step. Congratulations on that.
Now we come to the logistics. How long will it take before the au pair arrives? How long does it take to find her? Then how long will it take for her to join your family?
The search time depends on several factors: the first is selection criteria and the second is timing.
#1 -Au pair selection criteria
As you may already know, the conditions for being an au pair are as follows. The au pair must :
- Be of legal age
- Have a high school diploma
- Have significant experience in child care
- Be fluent in French and/or English
- Be able to travel on French soil
All the profiles you’ll find on the Au Pair Butrfly website guarantee these criteria. To be able to travel on French soil, the au pair must be of a nationality for which the au pair visa is issued, and must be in good health and vaccinated against Covid (with 2 injections).
However, you may have more specific criteria depending on your needs. These may include
- Early childhood experience
- Driver’s license
- Native English speaker
These criteria will lengthen the search for your au pair. Indeed, the more selective you are, the smaller the chance of finding a suitable candidate.
But I can reassure you that 90% of families find their au pair.
#2 - Temporality
The decisive factor in determining how long it will take you to find your au pair is when you start looking and how much time you have available. The desired length of stay is also an important factor. An au pair coming for 1 year prepares her project well in advance and starts looking very early. On the other hand, a student who wants to be an au pair for a few months doesn’t anticipate his or her project more than 2 or 3 months before leaving.
Our advice: start your search as early as possible. 6 months is the time you need to be serene, and 3 months a minimum, before the desired au pair’s contract start date.
The average time needed to find an au pair is between 4 and 8 weeks, depending on your criteria and responsiveness.
This does not apply to all seasons; for example, the start of the school year in September is a period of high demand from families. We recommend that you plan ahead. Here are a few guidelines.
- For an au pair to arrive in January N: start looking in October N-1.
- If the au pair is due to arrive in the summer (June/July/August): start looking in March.
- If the au pair is due to arrive in September: the search begins in February, as au pairs plan their gap year well in advance.
These deadlines are tending to decrease. In the wake of the pandemic and the closing of borders, we’re seeing a sharp upturn in the number of foreign students wishing to travel, who are signing up to be au pairs in France.
In short, if you want to start welcoming an au pair in January, now is the time to go for it.
