Posting your advert is your first step to finding your new au pair. We’ve added a checklist below, to help you maximise the impact of your advert, and attract more jobseekers. Continue reading Your Au Pair job advert checklist – getting more applicants for your job
Category: Premium Account
Changes to Host Family membership
We’re trying out some changes we made to the membership model for the Host Families. Previously a host family got one free job post, when they registered, and two job posts when they upgraded. We’ve now changed that so host families, regardless of whether they are Premium Members or not, get unlimited job postings. We made this change in order to facilitate our new job posting format, whereby we now require a host family to have an active job posted when in order to use the site.
When a new member logs in now they will be taken to the job posting screen, once they have a job posted and while the job is active, future log ins will take them to the standard Host Family homepage. If an existing member logs in, and they previously posted a job, they will be taken to the job posting screen, with the option to reuse/re-post one of their previous jobs.
Premium Membership price increase
Hi,
Today we increase the price of our Premium Membership plan, from €20 to €27, this price increase is down to a number of factors including the intense investment in, and development of the site over the past four months, all of the new functionality since our last price increase, and the fact that our last price increase was over 6 years ago – in late 2008.
Our new price still offers you great value for money, and we are still one of the cheapest when compared to competitors’ plans.
Downloading Jobseekers’ CVs is now easier
We’ve just finished streamlining the download process for Jobseekers’ CVs, all downloads are now made using Ajax (asynchronous JavaScript and XML) what this means is that when you click the Download button, the CV is downloaded without leaving the page, and, when the CV has been downloaded, clicking the link to open it, opens it in a modal window on the same page, again using Ajax. Using Ajax like this means you don’t have to leave the search results page to download or view a CV, and you don’t have to click the back button to return to the results page, this should save you a lot of time.
We’ve also implemented the Ajax opening of CVs (and also of the jobseekers’ photo’s) on all of the pages that have links to jobseekers’ CVs – the Job Applicants page, the Downloaded CVs page, the Shortlisted CVs page, and the Private Notes page.
Hopefully this more consistent user experience, and reduced download and page load time, will make using the site a more plesant experience for you. If you can think of any other ways we can improve the site please let us know, below.
Also, we’re still in the process of converting the site to a responsive design, thanks for your continued patience.
Instant Messaging
[ Update ] We have removed this instant messaging service as it was adding considerable time to page loads
We’ve delighted to announce that we’ve just added instant messaging functionality to the site. Just like Google Talk and Facebook Messenger, it allows two-way instant messaging, and sending of files.
This new service could be a massive time-saver for both jobseeekers and host families, saving you having to wait for a reply from an email, or from your AuPairIreland.ie mail box, it can also be useful for host families who are not quite ready to share their contact details with the jobseeker.
Live conversations can only happen if both the host family and jobseeker are online, however if either party is offline when a message is sent, they will receive it next time they log in.
For Host Families
Host families must initiate the chat, jobseekers are unable to do so, and you can only have conversations with jobseekers whose CVs you have downloaded, so when you log in for the first time after registering your Who’s Online list will have no members.
You’ll find the chat panel on the bottom right-hand-side of the screen, clicking that opens your Who’s Online list, online users have a green circle next to their name, and idle (jobseekers who are on the site but have not been active on the site for five minutes) have a yellow circle, offline users have a grey circle. If a user is offline you can still message them and they will receive it when they next log in, so you could, for example, send them an offline message to arrange a instant messaging chat at a pre-arranged time/date.
This functionality is available to both premium members, and users availing of our free trial.
For Jobseekers
Jobseekers cannot initiate conversations, host families can contact you, but not vice-versa. But once a conversation has been initiated you have the same messaging features the host families have.
We’ve also added a chatroom for Au Pairs, as a lot of au pairs who come to work in Ireland can find themselves isolated, knowing no-one in the town/city they are working in. This is a great way to stay in contact with existing friends, and a great way to make new friends. You’ll find the au pair chatroom on the bottom of the page as soon as you log in to your account.
Instant Messaging Features
Features include:
- Send a File – useful for sharing photos, certificates, etc
- Save Conversation – You can save your conversation to your computer for later reference
- Report Conversation – You can report the conversation to us if you feel it is appropriate to do so
Conversation Logging
Given the nature of the site, and for the protection of both the host family and the jobseeker, all chats are automatically logged on the chat server. This would only be used for later reference if a conversation was reported.
Inviting au pairs to view your advert
We’d like to make you aware of not-used-enough functionality we have on the site. Simply put, it sends a message to an au pair, inviting them to check out your job.
The logic behind the idea is, that the job-seeker is more likely to apply for your job, if you show a little bit of interest in them.
And best of all it works (you will get a lot more applicants when you send out invites), it’s unlimited (you can send as many invites as you want, in fact we encourage you to send lots, and last but not least, it’s free (it doesn’t depend on your membership plan and is available to both trial members, and premium members).
The short invite that is sent reads:
“Hi,
[Host Family name] has posted a job and would like you to view it.
You can view the job, and if you like it, apply at [hyperlink to job]
Regards,
AuPairIreland.ie”
The message is sent using our internal message system, so none of your contact details are revealed, and the jobseeker cannot reply to the message.
After you have posted a job, or when you perform an au pair search, you will see the Invite icon under the jobseekers’ photo on their mini-cv, all you need to do is click that icon and the message is sent with the link to your job, there are no forms to fill in, and nothing else to do, and the invite is sent instantly.
The jobseeker receives the message, clicks the link, and if they are interested in your job, they apply.
When your job expires, or is deleted, the shares are reset, so if you post a new job you can share the job with the same jobseekers as you did the previous job.
You’ll see the share icon on the following pages
- The Jobseeker Search results page
- Your Downloaded CVs page
- Your Shortlisted CVs page
- The page you are taken to after you post a job (which lists the jobseekers in your area)
Remember, this functionality is available to all employers, both premium and trial membership plans. It’s free to use and doesn’t use any of your trail account credits, and we encourage you to use it as much as possible.
Annual clean up
We have started our annual site (code) clean-up this week. Basically this means we’re going to be cleaning up the site’s code, and integrating further, any functionality we added in the last year. This work really shouldn’t impact users at all, however, if you do notice anything not working, or if you can suggest any way of improving anything, please let me know here. And remember, we’re always looking to add new functionality to the site, so if you suggest any, and we implement it we’ll give you free premium membership.
Screening Letter improvements
Thanks to feedback from Ruth we’ve improved our ‘Screening Letter’ functionality. Ruth found the screening letter functionality useful, but because she was sending so many screening letters she found that she was losing track of who she’d sent them to.
If you’re not familiar with the Screening Letter functionality you can read about it here.
Ruth suggested we add something that would indicate if we’d sent a job-seeker a screening letter, we thought this was a great idea, and, as promised in that blog posting, promised Ruth free membership next time she wanted to use the site again.
Now, after you’ve sent a job-seeker a screening letter, you will see that the ‘Send Screening Letter’ icon changes to a ‘Letter Sent’ icon. You’ll see this on your Purchased CVs page, your Shortlisted CVs page and on your search results pages.
If you can think of any way we can improve the site please post it below and if we use the idea, we’ll give you a free upgrade next time you want it.
Sending a screening letter to job applicants
We’d like to take this opportunity to explain a piece of existing functionality, and how you can use it to use it to save you time – especially if you are a Premium Member and are sending responses to multiple jobseekers.
Summarised in a sentence, the Screening Letter allows you to send an email template, of your own creation, to multiple jobseekers/job applicants.
To use this functionality you first need to compose your email template, you can do this by clicking the ‘Screening Letter’ link on your left-hand-side navigation and compose the mail. Once you’ve finished editing it, click Save.
When you’re ready to start sending screening letters to jobseekers, you can choose recipients from your job applicants list, and from your Shortlised CVs and your Purchased CVs pages (you can only send screening letters to jobseekers whose CVs you’ve downloaded.) Click the ‘Screen’ icon on the job-seekers mini-cv. This takes you to your saved screening letter.
You can further customise the Screening Letter, for the intended recipient, by editing it on that page, to, for example, add their name or other personal details – when you’re happy with it, click Send.
Your screening letter has been sent to the jobseeker, and all replies will be sent direct to your regsitered email address.
Remember, if you can think of new features that would help you in your search for an au pair we’d love to hear about it. If we implement it we’ll give you a free account upgrade, see here for more details.
Skype our job-seekers!
New! We’ve added a Skype ‘Call’ button to job-seekers’ profiles.
Where will you see them?
Premium members will be able to view these directly from the search results pages, and all members, both Premium and Standard, will be able to see the buttons on their Shortlisted CV and Downloaded CV pages.
How you can use the Skype buttons.
Use these buttons to contact a job-seeker, using Skype, if they’re currently logged in to their Skype accounts. If a user doesn’t have a Skype account no button will show.
Remember, if you can think of new features that would help you in your search for an au pair we’d love to hear about it. If we implement it we’ll give you a free account upgrade, see here for more details.