Few young Britons now go abroad to work as au pairs - yet the global demand for British childcarers still outstrips the supply. That's the latest verdict from Susan Griffith, whose book The Au Pair and Nanny's Guide to Working Abroad has just come out in its fifth edition.
British nannies are as popular as ever with families in western Europe as well as America, says Susan, and agencies have no problem placing them.
However, her research reveals that demand has dropped in certain places, such as Israel, where many nanny agencies have disappeared. Meanwhile the 'new Europeans' from countries recently joining the EU are taking up childcare jobs not just in Britain but across Europe - and the British 'are happy to leave them to it', says Susan.
She sees the demise in British au pairs as something sad, rather in the same way that hitchhikers have vanished from our roads; it was a great way for a young person to experience life in another country. But she has to conclude that 'the desire to do it has diminished', as young Britons have less interest in learning languages, while au pair work has come to be seen as 'outdated' and the 'gap year' has taken its place.
Susan's years of experience as a guidebook author - she's also written Teaching English Abroad, Work Your Way Around the World and the new Gap Years for Grown-ups, all for Vacation Work Publications - gives her a unique perspective on world trends. One change that this fifth edition takes account of is the growth of internet recruitment in childcare, where carers and families post their details on a website and match themselves up for jobs with no vetting by an agency.
Susan admits she came under tremendous pressure from established nanny agencies to print 'horror stories' about these sites - their business rivals. The guidebook includes a few cautionary tales among its many case studies. It also says, 'There is nothing to prevent a predatory male registering as a family and tricking an unsuspecting young woman into arriving at his private address. Come to that, a family might unwittingly invite an axe murderer into their homes. These worst-case scenarios verge on the absurd but make the same point that conventional agencies make, that without the support of an agency, it is very difficult to carry out any effective screening of either party.'
But the book strives to present a balanced view. There was just as much risk in the old days, says Susan, when a nanny would place or reply to an advert in The Lady and go to work for a family she'd never met. It's the jobseeker's responsibility to find out all they can before leaving home - though Susan does hope that hearing a few horror stories 'will focus the mind of an 18-year-old'.
If worst comes to worst and a nanny finds herself stranded in another country - say, if a family invited several candidates over and chose someone else - then Susan recommends staying there and going to another agency for a new job. 'Explain what happened, give them your references - agencies would prefer to meet a candidate face to face anyway.'
So the world's still your oyster for the qualified British nanny - it's a question of choosing the right country of destination, checking out its particular rules and market for work, and finding out how to land the job.
All of this and more is covered in the guidebook, and as the peak time for starting jobs will be the beginning of the school year, now is the hunting season.
The Au Pair and Nanny's Guide to Working Abroad, price 12.95, and many other travel guides are published by Vacation Work, 9 Park End Street, Oxford OX1 1HJ (www.vacationwork.co.uk)
