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Less starting over: how to use AuPairsy’s new family tools
A practical walkthrough of saved searches, alerts, profile comparison, interview planning and the budget calculator, including what each tool does and where to find it.
Updated
Searching for an au pair can create a surprising amount of administration: reconstructing filters, remembering a profile detail, checking a time difference and trying to work out what the whole stay would cost.
AuPairsy 1.0.0 adds tools for those jobs. This walkthrough follows a fictional family with two possible plans: they could host for a shorter stay or a longer one, and they want to compare a few people before arranging calls. The examples are illustrative; the tools use your own saved information.
For a dated list of everything added and improved, read the release notes. This article explains how the features fit into a search you are already doing.
Keep two possible plans without rebuilding the filters
Start in Search and set the filters and search text for one plan. Choose Save this search, give it a name you will recognise, and save. You can keep up to ten named searches.
A name such as “Shorter stay — English” is useful only if you have actually selected the corresponding criteria. The name is a label; typing a requirement into it does not add that requirement to the filters.
To try another plan, change your search criteria and save a second search with a different name. Later, use Use search to restore either plan. You can still adjust the current results after loading it.
When editing a saved search, renaming it or changing alerts keeps its existing criteria. If you want to replace those criteria, first set the filters you want in Search, then choose Use my current filters instead in the saved search's edit controls. Check what you are replacing before saving.
Deleting a saved search removes that search and its alerts. It does not remove saved profiles or conversations.
Decide whether alerts would help you
Alerts are optional. Choose daily or weekly alerts if you would like an in-app notification when newly matching profiles become available. Email delivery has a separate opt-in in the same controls; it is not switched on just because you save a search.
The profiles already matching when you save or change the criteria form the starting point. You should not expect an immediate notification listing everyone already in the results. Open the saved search to browse those profiles now.
If an alert brings you back later, the results show what is currently available under the applicable visibility and matching rules. A profile can change or become unavailable between a check and your visit. An alert is a prompt to look again, not a reservation of a candidate.
To pause, edit the saved search and choose Alerts paused. You can keep the search itself. If several searches overlap, consider whether you need alerts for all of them; a smaller set may be easier to follow.
Compare the people you want to ask more about
As you browse, save profiles that you would like to revisit. Open Saved profiles, select two or three au pairs, and compare their shared details side by side.
Use the comparison to prepare questions. If one profile mentions a skill and another says Not shared, that is an information gap, not a judgement about the second person. You still need to discuss relevant experience, expectations and any checks your arrangement requires.
The shortlist guide includes a worksheet for keeping facts separate from assumptions. It also explains why a shared hobby should not outweigh an unresolved practical requirement.
Turn an existing conversation into a confirmed call
Interviews work with existing conversations. If you have not connected with someone yet, begin with an introduction and an authorised conversation. Then open Interviews, choose the conversation and propose a future time and duration. You can add a short agenda and an HTTPS link for the video service you have agreed to use.
The other person can accept, decline or suggest another time. Awaiting a reply means it is still a proposal; Confirmed means the time has been accepted. Each person sees the time in their device's time zone. For a separate city-by-city check, timeanddate's meeting planner can help you choose a convenient window before proposing it.
After acceptance, Add to calendar downloads a calendar file. It does not create a continuously synced calendar subscription. If you reschedule or cancel, check AuPairsy and update your calendar entry as well. Suggesting another time replaces the previous arrangement and requires a fresh acceptance.
The app supports in-app reminders shortly before an interview. Interview email delivery follows the account's existing message-email preference. Keep your own calendar reminder if that is how you normally prepare for calls.
Before the call, use the 30-minute interview plan to pick a few useful questions and leave time for the au pair to ask theirs.
Put a number against the whole stay
The hosting budget planner is public, so you can use it before creating an account. Choose a currency and planning period, then enter your own monthly and one-off costs. The reserve is adjustable.
Unknown fields stay visible as an incomplete part of the estimate. Enter zero only when you have checked an item and expect no cost. The average monthly figure spreads one-off expenses and the reserve across the chosen period; it is not the amount that will leave your account every month.
The draft stays on the device you use. Print a copy to discuss it with another household member. Changing the currency label does not convert the numbers, so recheck the amounts if you change it.
Our worked budget guide follows the arithmetic and shows why arrival can require more cash than an average month.
Choose the next step that solves your current problem
You do not have to use every tool at once. If you keep rebuilding filters, save one search today. If you are losing track of conversations, compare two saved profiles and write the next question for each. If hosting still feels financially vague, start with the planner and leave uncertain costs empty.
The blog now covers readiness, profiles, budgeting, interviews, shortlisting and the first week at home. The website footer links to What’s new, where you can check the current version and read release notes in ordinary language. Your decision about a placement remains a conversation between the people involved; these tools help keep the practical details from getting lost.