Experience Living and Working in New Zealand as an Au Pair

Working with children is not always easy but it is so great that you can mean so much to these little people you take care of and as a bonus you learn a lot about yourself as well.
Being an Au Pair gives you a good opportunity to not only work with children and improve your language skills but it is an amazing way to get to know the culture of another country.
With my kids I go to a playground, park, forest, zoo, museum or playgroups to meet other kids and Au Pairs every day so being an Au Pair is a good way to get out there, see more of the country and meet new people. And the same thing counts for you kids.

Being an Au Pair isn't always easy. You always come to the point where you are exhausted, tired and don't know what to do. Sometimes I can't sleep at night and the baby is grumpy the next day. But it doesn't matter how much the baby screams, I love her and try my very best to make her feel good again. My hostparents are also very important to me. They help me wherever they can and make me feel at home. And even if the day at work wasn't that good one day, there are my friends who make me laugh again. We are a good Au Pair community here in Tauranga and love to spend time together. Playgroup really helped meeting the other girls for the first time and is fun every week.

Hello there,
I have to say that the support of the agency Au Pair Link is really good! My Programm and Family Manager really cares about me and she always asked me how I am feeling in the family. But she also cares about my social life here in New Zealand, so she helped me to find a choir and also asked me if I already got friends here. I am very happy that my Family and Programm Manager from Au Pair Link looks so good after me so that I am not alone. I am also sure that my Programm and Family Manager will be there for me if I would have trouble with my hostfamily or if I would not feel comfortable in my hostfamily.

If you want to go to a foreign country to get to know its culture, its people, its countryside and its lifestyle then you should go there as an Au Pair. This is the best way to get to know all of these things as you´re part of a family where you look after children which is hard work sometimes of course but it´s also great fun. You get the chance to experience a different culture, to see how your host family lives and celebrates special events such as public holidays. And you also get the chance to travel and to see the country, to meet new people and to go on adventures.
Being an Au Pair is just amazing - especially when you´re going with a supportive organisation like Au Pair Link!!

My experiences here have been pretty much what I expected. I do get homesick and luckily my programme manager has been there when I needed her. I understand that education of ministery requires written documentation but I do find it to be complicated. It's a bit unrealistic to do 10 minute checksespecislly when dealing with more than 1 child.

Last April, I decided to leave the States and go Au Pair overseas. It was a process deciding where I want to go and which agency to use. I finally decided to come the gorgeous NZ, but I still had to sort through the different agencies and decide which one to use. After emailing back and forth with a few agencies and spending hours reading though websites, I settled on Au Pair Link. It was the best choice I could have made. I chose to use an agency for the support system and selected Au Pair Link because they seemed to have a great one on paper. I prayed that I wouldn't need to use all of this support, but sadly, a month into my first placement, I did. It is a long story so I will just say that I felt extremely unsafe with my family. I contacted my programme manager about this and she met with me outside of the home as soon as we were both able to. I told her that I wanted to leave the home as soon as possible, would not stay longer that a week, and would leave as soon as the family was told that I felt unsafe. This was not a situation that she had dealt with before (there is usually a 4-week mediation period with your family), so she contacted her boss. Her boss said that I could pack and have my programme manager pick me up in the morning. I decide to do this. After leaving the home, we went and got some coffee and talked, then she took me to hostel. We checked it out and decide it was a safe place to stay. Au Pair Link paid for me to stay there for 5 days while I continued to be supported by the amazing people who work for them. During this time, I was sent profiles of other potential families and I ended up meeting with one of them just a week after leaving my first family. They offered me the position with them and I accepted. I've now been with this family for two months and could not be happier. I love my new programme manager and everyone who work here in Auckland. They continue to support me and help me to have the best time I can during my year in NZ. Every single person who works Au Pair Link that I have had any sort of contact with is amazing. You could not find a better agency anywhere.

I have many friends who au pair in NZ and didn't go through an agency. They saved $3000 and are having an equally good time. If you're not a confident or out going person, the outings and activities they plan are a great way to meet people. Otherwise, everyone here is friendly and you'll have no problem making friends. Overall I appreciate what the agency does, but don't think the "support" is worth the high cost.

I joined Au Pair Link as an Au Pair in 2009, and without a doubt had the best year of my life. The matching and placement process was extremely smooth, and the in-country support was amazing.

It was so good I now work for Au Pair Link, telling new candidates how amazing the programme is, and how it really is the adventure of a lifetime! I feel like I've worked for them for years anyway, since as soon as I came back home I started telling everyone I knew how great my year was, and convincing anyone I knew who had an interest in travelling and childcare to apply. Being able to experience a new culture through living with a local family and looking after their children gave me an insight into a New Zealand that tourists don't get to experience.

Au Pair Link helped me through every step of the process and gave me the opportunity to get to know a new family on the other side of the world - a family I've been back to visit twice already! Au Pairing in New Zealand really is something everyone should get to experience!