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AliceA
Senior Member
Joined: 29 Apr 2006
Posts: 58
Career Advice: +0/-0
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 Posted: Fri May 12, 2006 5:35 pm Post subject: Au pair in UK or USA? |
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one of my friends back home want to work for an year or so as an au pair in UK or USA; she wants to improve and practice her English and of course to benefit from seeing other places, people; I don't know exactly what shall I tell her; here (in Germany) I don't see to many happy au pairs (too much work, not enough money, etc);
Can you give me some advices for my friend? do you know how are things with the au pair in UK/USA? |
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zariea
Senior Member
Joined: 20 May 2006
Posts: 50
Career Advice: +0/-0
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| Posted: Sat May 20, 2006 2:02 pm Post subject: au pair reality. |
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Hi
It seems like you already have obtained an opnion of au pair life. But the truth is being an au pair in the UK can be quite fun. I know from personal experience that in order to make your au pair dreams a reality, you need to find a family that will meet you half way. What most girls seem to think is that being an au pair is this ideal way of getting the best of all worlds. So they harness this illusion of perfection. In order to have a relative relation to that illusion in the real world you yourself have to be able to adapt to change. You need try not to make unrealsitic expectations, and just do your best to be prepared to immerse yourself fully into a new culture. I think this is what you can tell your friend. It all starts in the head. There is success in the tunnel of being an au pair |
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lilo
Site Admin
Joined: 20 Sep 2006
Posts: 269
Career Advice: +0/-0
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| Posted: Wed Sep 20, 2006 12:03 pm Post subject: |
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I had this experience.
Last year, I wanted to freeze university courses and get a nice job outside Romania and I've chosen to do this one because I had some friends who went really good.
Working as an au pair in UK (because I was in UK) is great if you get a professional company to find a good family for you. I trusted this company I went to and they offered me this job as an au pair and everything was alright until I actualy got to London and met the family, who was ok...The problem was that the family forgot to mention that their kid had some real health problems. I felt I couldn't handle it because I had not a grain of experience in the domain and I couldn't take such responsability. So I had to give up on this job.
So there I was, in great difficulty, in a foreign country, with no job, I called my company and they said they didn't know anything about the situation. It took them 3 weeks to find another family for me, this time, totally fit.
I've worked for a year as an au pair and it was great because I made good money, I improved my English and I've made some frineds as well. I am now a fresh graduate and I intend to go back to UK, but not as an au pair anymore. During my working period I've made some connections and I found better jobs opportunities. |
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