If you are an Au Pair
Please downoad the Application Form here:
Aupair_application_form.doc
and send it to
bbaupairs@gmail.com
Dear Au Pair,
my name is Lisa Rambaudi Bocca and I live in Turin, Italy with my husband and two kids, Mimosa and Andrea. My agency is very small and flexible as I work only for a small net of selected families
I have relations in cities like Milan, Rome, Florence and other smaller towns, and for many friends I am becoming a reference point for this because my English is good and I had foreign au pairs for many years, so I developed a good instinct. I found it a great experience for me and my children who improved so much their knowledge of English language!
As a young girl I also loved to travel abroad so it gives me a great satisfaction now to offer this opportunity to young and brilliant girls who want to find out about Italian culture, language and way of life… that is why I decided not to charge a commission to the girls who apply to this program: I feel it somehow as a cultural mission of international exchange.
Most of my clients are families with an old noble background… living with them you will have the chance to see some beautiful old houses and properties you could not visit as a tourist and get to know a certain Italian style…or else upper class families who need to delegate the research of their au pair because of lack of time or lack of experience.
I love to do this job, and I am very much appreciated for the results form the girls and from the families… so my friends send me their friends.
I know directly or indirectly most of the families, so. I know I can send a young girl from the other side of the world being sure she will be treated with respect and she’ll have a really stimulating life experience, most of the people I know here go skiing on the Alps, some of them also have a country house for the weekend and then a house at the seaside or a sailing boat, to sail in the Mediterranean sea during the summer, so if you spend one year with the family you will probably be able to experience several exciting things.
Most of the families like to have an au pair because they want their children to improve their English (or French/German/Spanish) so the first requirement is a friendly personality and ability to communicate and play with the young ones. In each profile of the family you will read all the details and also all the things that the family generally expects from you: everything is related to the children, o preparing them in the morning to go to school, eventually take them there, then have a free morning to attend a course of Italian language and see your friends, then be with the children in the afternoon and speak with them in your language so that they learn, sometimes the family requires that you take care of the washing and ironing of their clothes, sometimes you will have to prepare a simple meal for them and you’ll be required to do 1 – 3 evenings per week of babysitting till late.
You will live with the family and spend time with them also on the weekend when they will go to the mountains or to the countryside. You will have Saturday afternoon and Sunday off unless the family asks you to be with them on the weekends (one weekend of work and one long weekend off). In case you are required to do more many more hours than the weekly regular schedule you will be given extra free payed time or an extra weekly pay.
The weekly pay for an au pair will go from 80 to 120 euro, depending from the number of children, the hours required, the difficulties of the tasks and other factors (from 120 to 180 euros per week for mother’s help). All these information will be written on the family application form that I will send you along with some photos of the family..
You will choose the family that you think will suit you best and then you will be put in direct contact with the mother so you can start getting to know each other a bit more and have confirmation that there is a good feeling and you both agree on everything.
In case it really does not work out with the family (it is very rare but it can happen) I will place you with another family, possibly in the same city and what is very important is that you will never be obliged to stay if you are not happy; if you decide to leave the family and return home you will have to give a 2 weeks notice to the family and..the same obligation will have the family in case they want to send you home in advance, other then this you will be free all the time this is not only a job, it is an exciting life experience!
On the other hand you should consider that the family who decided to take you counts on you for the period that you have stated at the beginning, and has made programs and it is not easy for them to get reorganized with a new person, so please try to respect your commitment unless there are serious reasons.
Now, If you wish to apply for a family I need all your details in the application form that you can download from here, a couple of photos, and 1-2 references of you as a babysitter, if you have them or character references (emails or phone numbers). Once you have chosen your family I will put you in contact with my other au pairs who are in the same city so that you have lots of information in advance and you have some friends to go out with from the beginning of your stay. This will help you feel more at ease.
I will also offer my support during your stay, for simple advice or in case you have problems in communicating with your family, and advice you (when I can) about courses of Italian language. Here on the side are two photos of me..one is with my kids during a summer holiday on a sailing trip, the other is me in Venice for the Biennale of contemporary Arts, just to show you what I look like more or less
You can find me on Facebook (Lisa Rambaudi Bocca) if you want to add me as friend and see my profile or you could join my au pairs group (look for LISA B AU PAIRS IN ITALY)
