This is something that needs to be said. Most of us do this and stay on top of it, but for a few, this can save your job and your credibility.
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It is important that you have the housing situation understood before the contract is signed. Who is paying for the electric, internet, etc. These are items that need to be discussed with the client or the agency. It can be the Estate Manager, Butler, Household Manager, Domestic Couple, and or the Senior Companion. Take the time to view the housing while on the interview or through a video walk through.
Congratulations, you are recognized personally and professionally as a domestic genius. When it comes to organization, perfection, and attention to detail, you have it all. As you reach that point in your career where you are ready to step into a larger role that will benefit from your skills, the options are endless, however it is important you know the differences as you target your next career move.
In this post, we will talk about the differences between being a butler or a house manager. Each position will have its similarities and differences that are important as you think long term about the direction you want your domestic career to go. Ultimately, your actual duties will be defined by your new boss, however below is a general overview of differences.
The basics of a house manager are easier to define as this domestic role will depend heavily on you being a critical and organized thinker as you will be responsible for items such as managing a household schedule, paying bills, supervising domestic staff/subcontractors, and event planning. You may find yourself at a computer screen more than you are used to, but also be ready to spend more than half of your day moving about supporting the success of the household running smoothly. House managers may still be called upon to assist the housekeeping team and groundskeeper, even if it is from the standpoint of quality assurance, that is why you are there; to make sure everything is done and done well. Prospective employers are going to look to you for your ability to lead a team. Please note, this will require leadership skills, not just an ability to manage a team. Each team of domestic professionals will generally come from many backgrounds and it is important you know how to motivate them and make them feel like a rewarded member of your team.
If you find yourself in your current role being someone that makes a lot of your team members smile and you receive positive feedback from your peers, you may consider a house manager as a great next step for you in your domestic career.
House manager has the added benefit of being different in every household. You get the advantage of opening some really great doors to different environments that compliment your skills and allow you to continue flexing the muscles you are already bringing to the table. Perhaps you go to work for a smaller household where you get to focus on a family with children that have nannies and housekeepers, but the family would like a house manager that enjoys cooking healthy meals three times per week. House manager roles are an excellent opportunity for you to really think about what you enjoy doing in a domestic capacity and work with your recruiter to market you to the best family and household possible. Other house manager positions may require you to work on a larger scale to oversee the chef, the housekeepers, the groundskeepers, the cars, and the proper functioning of all the property’s many mechanical aspects.
Now that we have dove into what a house manager looks like, what are the differences between a house manager and a butler? In most instances a butler will be called upon for larger estate that is seeking to give the principles a highly tailored level of focus and attention. If you are someone that knows everybody’s smallest preferences down to the color of skittles they do not like, perhaps the butler path is for you.
A butler role is also an extremely intimate and confidential role that will reward you handsomely for being genuine, likeable, and professional. You will not only be working and possibly living behind the gates of the most magnificent estates in the country, but you will be actively involved in very personal aspects of your principles’ lives. As a butler for a large estate, you should do well at working with others as you will report to and work along domestic professionals such as estate managers, housekeepers, and personal assistants.
If you think the butler path is for you, you should also be good at small details such as packing for travel, managing funds and money as needed, delivering exemplary meal and cocktail service, silver service, and caring for priceless artwork and wardrobes.
At the end of the day, each of these domestic roles all have one goal in common: to make the lives of the principles as enjoyable as possible. Many principles have members of their domestic teams that have been with them for decades, as they begin to retire, it is time for a new generation of domestic professionals to continue moving up into roles such as house manager and butler.
Choosing Robert Hanselman Domestic Staffing as a candidate or a client gives you an unparalleled level of service and personalization during a domestic search. With decades of relationships with some of the most well run and successful estates in the country, we have access to connecting domestic professionals and clients. Our ability to reach candidates and clients on a national level means delivering the highest quality of domestic candidates to market for the best clients seeking to hire loyal and professional staff. We also go beyond just submitting a resume or CV to a job post, we thoroughly screen all of our candidates before delivering to clients to ensure the best match possible.
If you are ready to add a butler or interior professional to your estate or home, a great place that the Robert Hanselman Domestic Agency works alongside with for great candidates is the yachting industry. It should come as no surprise that many of our candidates have spent time in the yachting industry as they are trained and expected to deliver extremely high levels of service to guests paying up to $1 million dollars per week for a vacation.
Thanks to our national relationships that span various industries and reach countless domestic professionals, we are able to deliver yachting professionals to your land-based estate or home that bring along with them their extremely high levels of expertise and attention to detail.
As you look to hire a butler to assist you with your day-to-day needs, you may be keen to review a candidate with yachting background as they come with the ability to balance and manage time well, give extremely high levels of attention to details when cleaning, and also how to care for priceless dishes/cutlery/stemware.
Thanks to various TV shows and social media, we have opened up the domestic professional industry to a whole new market of highly skilled and motivated individuals. Our domestic staffing agency has worked diligently to stay involved with these emerging professionals.
A common question for prospective employers reviewing a resume from the yachting industry is, “why aren’t they staying in yachting?” Many stewards on yachts seek to transition to land based for more stability. This is a positive for prospective employers as yacht stewards come to them and are appreciative for them having provided stability and the “luxury” of being able to sleep in a bed larger than a cracker jack box.
Hiring a yacht steward as your butler can also bring many other advantages you may not have been aware of. On average, stewards spend $1,000 of their own money to complete their safety certifications including first aid, CPR, and basic firefighting. Many stewards are also certified in food safety handling, giving them the advantage to not let the little things pass by that may be harmful for you and your family in your kitchen or pantry.
Stewards are also great hires as butlers because they are conditioned to seeing the smallest details that most of us would not even think of. Most yachts require every square inch of bedding, including each sheet to be ironed to eliminate every wrinkle. Now imagine you have 5 stewards with seven rooms to flip in one day between charters and they must be perfect along with three lounges, three day heads, and the entire back of house. Yacht stewards train themselves to be not only perfectionists, but efficient.
While yacht stewards support the front of house for their guests, they are critical parts of ensuring the back of house and crew quarters are kept immaculate as well. They live their lives around making sure their fellow crew and guests are happy and taken care of.
At the Robert Hanselman Domestic Staffing Agency, we look forward to partnering with you as you add to your team. We are fair, honest, and reliable. These key characteristics resonate in our proven track record and many years of partnering with our clients.
