Interviews, and other stuff – Au Pair Adventures pt. 4

So I’ve been absent for a little while. This is because, as those of you who follow me on facebook already know, my grandmother died last week. It was weird. Literally minutes after uploading my last post, the phone rang. Mind you that it was like 01:30 am so as soon as I heard the phone rang I knew what had happened. All in all, as far as deaths go this one wasn’t the worst you can imagine. She was 90 years old and died in her sleep. And although I shall miss her terribly, it’s better this way.

Anyway, the last couple of days we’ve all been busy with mourning and arranging the funeral and what not, which was yesterday. But now I want to go back to normal and talk to you about my Au-Pair interview.

The interview happened on August 1st but I never got the chance to write about it. Anyway, the interview was in Enschede which is on the other side of the country. Fortunately, the person I had my interview with took that into account and scheduled the interview for 12:00 so I didn’t have to get up at four am or anything. I took a 9 am train and all was well.

As far as interviews go, this one was pretty easy. She first talked to me about some stuff on my application form (the one which the families will see) which I need to change so it’ll all match. Then she told me she was going to ask a couple of questions and that I should answer in English. Even though I told her that it wasn’t a problem and that I had studied in England and that my mother was an English teacher and that I was raised bilingual, I think she was still a little surprised when I started rattling in English as fast as I did. It was kinda funny.

She asked me pretty simple questions like “why would a family want to hire you” and “what do you think an au-pair should be like” and “name some activities that you would do with the children”.

After the interview I had to so a psychological test. Which was kind of funny to do, to be honest. I doubt it would weed out any potential psychologically dangerous persons, but I guess it would give the parents a sense of who I am and what I think like. I am sure, for instance, that the results will show that I am an introvert. They also asked questions like “True or False: if someone is nice to me, they are trying to get something from me” and stuff like that. Luckily, I am not yet that cynical.

But that was it, after that I could go. I still had to change some things on my profile and apply for a new passport because mine would expire within a year of my arrival in the US but after had received my new passport I can contact them again (which is tomorrow!) and they’ll check my profile one last time and send it off to the main office in London who will check it again. Once they approve of everything, the ‘Matching’ process will begin. Families will be able to see my profile and contact me if they think I would be a good match. This process could take anywhere between 3 days or 3 months or longer. I’m hoping for a short matching process!

The best thing about that whole day was the journey back though. I was in the train and suddenly we started to slow down. Being in the middle of nowhere without a train station in sight, I was confused. Then, a voice sounded over the intercom saying “Ladies and gentlemen, we have reduced our speed because a goat has escaped and is reportedly walking along the train tracks. Apologies for the delay.” I swear it was the funniest thing I have ever heard. All the passengers were looking out of the window to see if they could spot the mystery goat. Unfortunately, no goat was spotted.

So the end of the administrative part is in sight! I’m so excited to see how things will turn out! Where will I go??

If you could go live anywhere in the US, where would you go?

I’ll keep you updated anyway 🙂