What to Expect When You Sign Up as a Candidate With a Domestic Staffing Agency and Why It Can Benefit You
Looking for the perfect nanny, house manager, estate manager, or personal assistant role but don’t know where to start? Working with a domestic staffing agency is one of the best long-term strategies you can use to help you succeed in your job search and brings many benefits to you as a candidate. My Household Managed are experts in recruiting private household staff across the Chicago area and only work with the best candidates and clients to help ensure success for everyone. Here’s what you can expect as a candidate signing up with us as a domestic staff agency and the benefits it can bring you.
Why Do I Need to Use a Domestic Staffing Agency to Help Me With My Job Search?
You may have heard that lots of candidates will register with multiple agencies to increase their options and chances of employment, but if you find the right agency, it may be that you only need to sign up for one. The highest quality jobs are often advertised through an agency, because families appreciate the level of scrutiny, attention to detail, and wider talent pool that a professional household employment agency can offer them. Hiring the right staff for your home is a big decision for household employers, so sometimes, for job-seekers, applying for jobs in a private household can feel like a competitive sport.
The best domestic staffing agencies are committed to meeting the needs of private service professionals as well as families.
An agency’s commitment is to find families the perfect match that fits their unique needs and to save them the time and hassle of having to screen applicants themselves. A household staffing agency like My Household Managed combs through applicant profiles to select the “best of the best” and only puts these forward for their client’s consideration. We only introduce the highest qualified candidates that are a perfect match in terms of experience, desired pay, commute time, professionalism, long-term career goals, personality and more to save both the client and candidate time and effort.
A high-quality agency will also be committed to their candidates. While no agency can guarantee a job for every candidate that meets the agency qualifications and completes the agency screening and interview process, think of a domestic staffing agency as a networking opportunity that will connect you with the perfect job when it arises.
A high-quality household employment agency upholds and enforces industry best practices
At MHM, we make sure that the families we work with are willing to offer a role that we would feel comfortable recommending to one of our candidates. We ensure that families are willing to follow industry best practices like offering fair and legal pay, guaranteed hours, overtime for roles that are over 40 hours per week, paid vacation days, and paid sick days. The specific responsibilities of each job as well as the pay and benefits associated with each role will be unique, based upon the family’s preferences and budget. You can feel safe in the knowledge that when applying for a role with MHM, we have your best interest as a candidate at heart too.
Domestic staffing agencies will have their own unique process, built for efficiency and accurate matchmaking.
The agency will only select the “best of the best “ candidates to be considered for review by a family. At MHM, our sweet spot is to seriously consider only about 3-5 applicants for each job. Understand that you are competing with a wide candidate pool, and that the family, individual, or family office making the decision of whom to interview on their own will typically narrow this candidate pool down even further.
This makes it even more important to start your job search early, maintain a good relationship with the agency, and present yourself in the best possible light, with a high quality resume, cover letter, letters of recommendation, and strong references.
If the agency has selected you to be considered by the family for an interview, you should pat yourself on the back, as you can consider yourself somewhere in the top 10-15% for that opportunity. Be sure to first create the ideal resume for private service to ensure that you do not miss out on your dream job.
If you aren’t chosen to interview for a role with a family that you were excited about, keep in mind that the agency themselves may have been surprised by the family’s decision not to select you. Or, perhaps the agency did not recommend you because they understand more about the position than is disclosed in the job description, and it may not have been the best opportunity for you and your goals, even if the opportunity sounded intriguing on paper.
How can I set myself up for success with an agency?
Be yourself! Let your personality shine
Disclose your “must-haves” and “nice-to-haves” to the agency
Be transparent about what you are looking for in your job search
Understand that the agency has your best interest in mind
Looking to boost your resume?
Ensure that you have experience working in private households. It might be valuable to find a part-time job that will give you exposure to the industry and eventually a reference that can speak to your skills and character. Also make sure you give yourself the best possible chance by writing a show-stopping cover letter.
How you’ll benefit as a candidate working with an agency:
Access to high quality jobs
Agencies ensure that the families they work with are adhering to industry standards and recommended best practices.
We make sure that family are offering legal pay, guaranteed hours, overtime pay, etc.
Assistance with contract negotiations
It can be intimidating trying to negotiate your contract directly with a family, especially if you are less experienced with what “should” or “shouldn’t be included in a contract or work agreement with a family.
Nanny agencies and domestic staffing agencies like MHM will usually have their own recommended contract that they provide for a family to complete. In there, it includes the benefits and policies that industry experts like the INA recommend.
Don’t be fooled by some of the most common misconceptions about using an agency:
Job-seekers should not have to pay to utilize a domestic staffing agency’s services. At MHM, you have assurance that we will follow best practice in the industry to secure you your dream household position.
You are not locked into a contract. Rather, families using an agency are typically looking for that long-term “perfect fit”, so the agency will match up candidates with families that would be the right fit for each other.
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