Estate & Manor Magazine – Household Staff and Luxury Lifestyle Services The #1 Online Magazine and Confidential Recruitment Resource for Private Household Staff and Global Luxury Lifestyle Services.
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Many of the professions which inhabit the world of private staffing are extremely idiosyncratic in terms of the way specific duties are managed…there is always a professional, methodical way in which only a fully-trained individual would have knowledge of which enables to person to carry out duties effectively and to the expected standard of the principal. A butler would be a fantastic example of this, as would a private chef or a maternity nurse.
Since we launched Estate & Manor Magazine almost one year ago, we have seen over 1000 high-end estate management and private staffing jobs posted directly by a multitude of some of the biggest domestic staffing agencies in the UK, USA, Canada and Europe! For the most part, job descriptions have been excellent and have provided clarity for those looking to sink their teeth into the next opportunity, and there have been job descriptions which were hastily crammed into one or two lines…and it is of no coincidence that these descriptions had the lowest return of investment; the investment being time. You can sympathise with agencies as trying to extract key information from a minority of principals regarding staff can be like trying to push water uphill.
Having an in-depth job description will result in a far greater chance of attracting top-tier talent if there is a well-presented and documented account of the position at hand. Time is of course a huge factor here as writing a job description which covers absolutely everything the position encompasses is challenging, but doable! If a principal uses three domestic agencies in order to hire an executive housekeeper for a 6-bedroom home, it is more than likely that the recruiter with the most thorough job description will capture the attention and minds of the most suitable candidates, which in turn makes it more likely the keyboard happy recruiter will be the one sending the final invoice to the client.
From a candidate view, a good-quality job description automatically installs a certain level of trust and professionalism which will be lodged in the memory of a person who will undoubtedly remember and mention you when asked which agencies have the best jobs. With principals who do not wish the recruiter to specify the salary initially or who simply do not give a figure at all are severely handicapped from the outset as whether you like it or not as the salary is the second thing many job seekers will look at after job title itself. For jobs in which the salary states ‘DOE’, an in-depth job description which outlines full duties and expectations can give your job posting a second wind in terms of the viewer’s interest and likelihood of submitting an application. A job which a gives off a half-hearted aroma will do nothing to arouse a job seekers interest. Even job seekers who have been out of work for a while searching for that idyllic job may procrastinate! The commissions in which private staffing recruiters gain from a successful placement are worth spending 10-15 extra minutes writing a job description which is befitting of the type of candidates you hope to invite for an interview.
Also, imagine you are the principal in need of the chauffeur, and after having given the job details to a recruiter over the phone you stumble across what vaguely appears like the job you submitted a couple of days ago. If you saw that the job description was missing certain points which you deemed important…it would definitely be a ‘What the hell’ moment! This could lead to the principal or the ‘no BS’ Personal Assistant dialing one of your competitors. Yes, you could say that it is all far-fetched….but ask yourself, is it really?
Get your jobs posted on our private staffing jobs board. It is still free to use! We are developing our newest jobs board in the background so feel free to use our current system. Our new system will be the most advanced jobs/career platform for this industry.
