From Au Pair to What's Next: Preparing for the Road Ahead
Updated: Sep 14
Your au pair year changed you. It gave you a new country, a new family, a new set of everyday skills you probably didn't have a name for a year ago. Now comes the part nobody prepares you for: going home.
Returning can bring a strange mix of feelings. Relief and excitement, sure, but also difficult goodbyes, a version of homesickness in reverse, and a quiet pressure to figure out what happens next. That mix has a name (“reverse culture shock”), and it's more common than you’d think.
To help, Au Pair Weekend is hosting a free webinar on September 17th at 2pm ET (11am PT): From Au Pair to What's Next: Your Career, Your Feelings, Your Future.
We'll cover:
How to prepare for the emotional journey home
What reverse culture shock is, and how to manage it
How to turn your au pair experience into career opportunities
Practical steps for planning your next chapter
Over the past year, you've built confidence, independence, communication skills, and cultural awareness, whether or not you've had a chance to notice it yet. This session is about recognizing those skills clearly enough to put them to work, in an interview, a job application, or just the next decision in front of you.
The webinar is free and open to any au pair.
Register here: https://hubs.ly/Q04qnFFy0
Questions before the session? Reach out to info@aupairclasses.org.
Reading your post brought me back to the summer I spent as an au pair in Berlin, right before I decided to enroll in a graduate program. I remember the first night after my host family left for a weekend trip—suddenly the house was quiet, the routine I’d built felt fragile, and I realized I’d been leaning on the comfort of their schedule more than I’d admit. That moment forced me to map out my own goals: learning German intensively, applying for scholarships, and figuring out where I wanted to live after the program https://www.freetv.com.au/ The transition wasn’t seamless; I stumbled through visa paperwork and missed a few deadlines, but each hiccup taught me to plan ahead and stay flexible.…
"This hits home for anyone finishing their au pair term. Turning that international experience into career growth is such the freak circus a valuable topic.
Leggo questo post e mi torna subito in mente il periodo in cui ho lasciato l’incarico di au pair a Parigi per tornare in Italia e cercare un lavoro stabile. All’inizio mi sono sentita persa, come se avessi chiuso un capitolo ma non avessi ancora una mappa per il prossimo. Ho passato settimane a fare il punto su ciò che avevo imparato: l’adattamento a culture diverse, la gestione del tempo e la capacità di risolvere problemi in modo creativo. Poi ho deciso di trasformare quelle competenze in un master in comunicazione, convinta che le soft skill acquisite fossero un vero valore aggiunto. Oggi lavoro in un’agenzia di eventi e guardo al futuro con più sicurezza, anche se ogni tanto mi…