Commonly shared information during first
interview:
xx Information about your family (number of family members living
in home, number of and ages and sexes of children, any special
needs, pets, etc.)
xx Description of the area where you live
xx Your reason for participating in au pair program and what you
hope to get out of the experience
xx Description of a typical day and week in your home
xx Type of childcare duties for which the au pair would be responsible
xx Types of household duties-pertaining to the children-for which
the au pair would be responsible
xx Ideal au pair arrival date to your home
Common first interview questions:
xx Are you available to come to the U.S. on/around my ideal arrival date?
xx Tell me a little bit about yourself and why you would like to spend
a year as an au pair? Have you ever been to the United States
before? What does your family think about your decision to spend
a year in the U.S.?
xx Tell me about a typical day for you. What do do in your time off?
xx Driving information is self reported. To learn more about your au
pairs driving experience you might consider asking any of the
following questions. How often do you drive? How often did you
drive last week? Have you ever driven to another city on your
own? On what types of roads do you usually drive? What kind
of training did you receive when you applied for your driver’s
license? Have you ever driven in certain conditions (snow, rain,
etc.)? Have you ever driven with children in the car and did you
use a car seat? Does your town have stop lights or stop signs?
Can you drive both automatic and manual transmissions?
xx I’d like to understand more about your childcare experiences. Can
you tell me about your experience with (e.g. the Jones family)?
xx What were the children in the family like? Ages? Were you fully or
partially responsible?
xx What types of activities did you do with the children?
xx What was the best part about working with those children?
xx What did you find challenging about working with those children?
xx What do you think children need most from an au pair?
Age-appropriate childcare related questions:
Questions relating to care of an infant (3 months-2 years)
xx How would you feel if the baby cries a lot?
xx How frequently have you changed diapers?
xx Have you ever prepared a bottle or baby food?
xx What activities would you do with an infant?
Questions relating to care of a toddler (1-3 years)
xx What activities of games might you do with a toddler?
xx Tell me about a time when you were able to help a child end one
task and begin another without the child becoming upset
Questions for older children (4 years+)
xx When the children are not in school, how will you occupy them?
xx Would you be willing and able to help with homework? Are you
interested in helping the children to learn your language?
xx How would you react if the children asked your permission to do
something that you know they are not allowed to do (example:
watch television before designated time, have a friend over, eat a
snack that they are not normally allowed to have)
To conclude the first interview:
xx Do you have any plans for after you return from your au pair year?
xx Do you have any questions at this point for me? If you like the au
pair and wish to learn more about her set up a time to speak again.
What to expect when interviewing an au pair
A host family help guide
Now that you have completed the host family interview process, additional information will be provided to your Placement Manager
to aid in the future selection of candidates for your family. Below are some suggested “tips” from Cultural Care as well as current
families who have conducted au pair interviews.
Finding the right au pair for your family takes an investment of your time in the interview process. It is recommended to make more than one phone
call before deciding. In the first call, recognize that the au pair will probably be nervous and may have difficulty expressing herself to her fullest
capabilities. Use the first call to share information about your family as she will only have limited details at this point in the interview process.
Common second interview questions:
xx Part of your year will require you to take some classes. We will
contribute $500 towards this. What types of classes would you be
interested in taking? What was your favorite thing that you learned
in school?
xx Talk about what a typical day is like in your house right now. Share
if it will change when the au pair arrives. Talk about your children
in more detail, describe what they like to do, foods they like to eat,
etc. What do you think will be the easiest part about joining our
family? What might be the hardest part?
xx Share some of your non-negotiable household rules. Ask her if she
would have any problems with them. What would you do if one
of my children broke one of our household rules? How would you
handle the situation?
xx Have you ever had a job? For how long? Tell me about the amount
of responsibility you have in your household (cooking, cleaning,
doing laundry). How do you like to keep your room?
xx If the au pair has lived away from home or has traveled out of her
country ask her about those experiences. What was it like to be far
from home? How did you cope with homesickness?
xx Ask the au pair what she is hoping to get out of her au pair year.
What do you hope to accomplish during your year here?
xx
xx
xx What are your expectations of your host family? Why do you think
a host family would want to choose you as an au pair?
xx Talk with the au pair about her family background. How would
your family describe you? How would your friends describe you?
What types of people do you like to spend time with? What does
your family think about you becoming an au pair? Do they have
plans to visit?
xx Ask the au pair about what kinds of activities she likes to do in her
free time.
xx What was the last movie you saw? Do you like to read? What’s
your favorite book/movie? Do you ever read the newspaper or
watch the news?
xx Ask the au pair what kinds of activities she would plan to do with
your children, or has planned to do with children she has watched.
What were your favorite toys to play with as a child? What was
your favorite book you read as a child?
xx Try to get a sense of her communication style. When something
bothers you how do you try to resolve it? What is the best way to
communicate information to you-
verbally or written?
xx How do you deal with stressful situations?
If at the end of the first interview, you decide you are no longer interested in the candidate you are reviewing, please contact your Local
Childcare Coordinator and/or Placement Manager to share your feedback. Please be specific about what you did or didn’t like about the candidate
so that your next match may be a better fit for your family.
If you are still interested in the candidate after the first interview, we encourage you to schedule another time to speak and
