Domestic Staffing has more tiered promotional opportunities than most realize. Many professionals have worked in private homes for 20 years, moving through lower-level stations to management. Having this expertise from working various roles in domestic staffing is invaluable. However, it is important to recognize when you are ready to advance and how to acquire the necessary experience before you can become a manager of a large estate.
San Francisco is a newer city to the domestic staffing industry compared to New York, Connecticut, London, and Florida. This is due to the tech boom over the past 40 years. Because the need is new, and expectations are unique to the culture, there are many opportunities for advancement with domestic staff.
These types of clients in Silicon Valley are often new to having household staff. The traditional expectations of East Coast estates often do not translate to the quieter, more private lifestyles of Northern California.
The most important hire for any larger home is a qualified estate manager. Many principals, especially those with a background in the tech industry, are more comfortable hiring a personal assistant first. This is where an opportunity for personal assistants who want to advance into house management and estate management lies.
If advancing to estate management is what you are looking for, it is important to understand where job duties overlap and where they differ.
What does an estate manager do that a personal assistant also does? (Specifically in San Francisco)
Acts as a gatekeeper between principal(s) and outside world
Coordinate with vendors and other contract workers coming in and out of the home
Keep various household items in stock
Be an involved player is planning and implementing and parties or events
What does an estate manager do that an personal assistant does not do?
Hire and train staff, including housekeepers
Create processes and structures for the home and household staff
Write and compile the household manual
Understand how to effectively delegate and manage a large team of domestic staff, creating autonomy and reducing issues within the body of the staff
British American Household Staffing offers the unusual ability to be placed in an estate as a personal assistant who would need to move up quickly into estate management.
It is important to remember that the more invisible the domestic staff need to be, the higher qualified the domestic staff have to be. A high level executive housekeeper will understand how to be invisible and a ‘ghost’. They know which rooms are not being used and they ensure that they are never in the same room as the principles or guests unless they are called upon. A lower level housekeeper will not understand this and could ignore subtle boundaries and speak to the principals too much, chat with the other staff, or gossip.
An experienced estate manager will have context and experience in bad hiring practices whereas you as a personal assistant won’t at a higher and larger level.
British American Household Staffing provides seasoned estate managers as consultants who can go into a new home or estate as a consultant hire and oversee and train staff to move to a junior estate manager and not a personal assistant. This is by far the most effective way we have succeeded in San Francisco and especially the peninsula.
To learn more about having your home and hiring needs assessed by our expert staff, contact us today.
To explore opportunities to develop professionally, please visit our job board or apply online with your resume.