Our process is outlined on our candidate home page.

We receive many applicants each day. When you apply, consider the following:

• Representing yourself to the best of your ability in your application and resume will enable you to make it further in the interview process.

Resume:

• Is your resume up to date?

• Is your resume free of grammatical and spelling errors and poor formatting?

• Is your resume relevant and tailored to an open position on our job board?

Cover Letter

• Please include a cover letter that is tailored to the agency in general or customized to the specific position you are applying for.

• Our job board is always an accurate reflection of what we are working on and have available at this current moment.

• We recommend you register with our agency even if you don't see a job that is the perfect fit for you at this time! We are always receiving new requests from families, and if you have already made it through our application & interview process, you will be one step closer to finding your dream job!

• If you meet our agency requirements, we will update you via email when a new position becomes available that is relevant to your experience using the "job types" you said you were interested in when you applied.

We will contact your references once your Zoom interview is complete. We only need to conduct this reference check on time to keep on file for our agency.

Q: How many employer references do I need to provide?

• A: We require a minimum of three employer references from your paid experience within private households. Please note that references must be from direct employers—references from family, friends, coworkers, or those related to non-household work will not be considered.

Q: What should I do to ensure my references are suitable?

• A: To enhance the reliability of your application, we strongly recommend providing more than three references. This helps ensure that we can successfully contact an adequate number of references, as occasionally some may be unreachable.

Q: How are references evaluated?

• A: References are assessed based on a point value system, which evaluates the quality and relevance of the information provided by each reference. The better the quality of your references, the more positively it will impact your application.

No. We do not collect any fees from our candidates or take a portion of their pay. In fact, we help you to negotiate your pay and benefits to get you the best job offer possible, based on your experience and qualifications.

• We are most easily reached via email.

• We will email you when a new job becomes available.

• You can sign up for our monthly newsletter by joining our online community, here.

• All of our clients (families) are required to to comply with industry standard benefits like legal pay “on the books” via a payroll system, guaranteed hours, paid vacation & sick days, competitive pay rates, and mileage reimbursement.

• During your interview, we get to know your strengths and career goals and only recommend you to roles that are in line with your expectations.

• We serve as matchmakers for you in your job search and serve as a buffer between you and the family to help manage expectations throughout your job search.

• Your profile is your application along with a professional headshot, cover letter, resume, and letters of recommendation.

• This is the way you are representing yourself to not only the agency, but the family as well. Keep this in mind when you consider your response to application questions.

• If you meet our agency screening standards you will be able to access and edit your profile to update your profile with additional work experience or letters of recommendation over time.

• Your profile is kept hidden from families until you have completed your final interview with the agency, we have heard from your references, and there is a specific role that you are interested in that we agree you would be a good fit for.

• We will notify you when your profile is shared with a family and keep in touch about whether or not the family would like to move forward.

• Review your profile and ensure it represents you to the best of your ability.

• Communicate with the agency professionally and be sure to quickly return calls and check your email.

• Upload letters of recommendation.

• Create a cover letter for each role you are applying for.

• Provide references that:

  • Are previous employers relevant to the industry you are applying for

  • Remember you fondly

  • Can speak to your skills and character

  • Are given a heads up that someone will be contacting them

  • Can respond in a timely manner

• Families are hoping that you are extremely interested in and qualified for their role. Be sure you are not giving them any reason to not consider you when assessing your profile, resume, etc.

• Please make sure that all of your necessary documents are included in your profile, even if there is not a job you are interested in at the moment, so that you are ready when your dream job does arise.

• Because we take such a customized approach to matchmaking, we are not able to consider you for every single role you express interest in.

• Once we notify you that your profile has been shared with a family, we are waiting for the family to review your profile and provide feedback.

• The family will either provide us with times they are available to meet with you, or they will let us know that they are looking for a different type of candidate. Either way, we will keep you informed.

• Any delays in this process are typically due to the family’s schedule, planning, and availability.

• If you are not selected to interview with a family, rest assured that we will continue to consider you for other positions that arise. This could also be a great time to review your profile to make sure it is representing your skills to the best of your ability.

• Part of our role as an agency is to work according to the family's timeline and knowing when to strategically wait. We want to send your profile to the family when the family is ready to view it, and when they would be more likely to invite you to interview.

• If a family does not invite you to an interview or to continue forward in their interview process, rest assured that we will continue to consider you for other positions that arise.

• Check out or blog that we update weekly with tips, tricks, and resources to land your dream job in private service.

• This could also be a great time to review your profile, resume, and cover letter to make sure it is representing your skills to the best of your ability, and obtain additional letters of recommendation.

• When you accept an offer from a family we put together a work agreement, or “contract” outlining your job responsibilities, pay, benefits, etc. This is to help protect you as an employee and a way to manage expectations in your new role.

• The agreement is meant to be comprehensive and includes items like: household rules, pay, benefits, schedule, vacation days, sick days, job responsibilities, paid holidays, overnight policies, and more.

• This agreement will be signed by you and the family before your official start date.

• You and the family can make your own amendments and updates to this agreement at any time.

• No. You are an at-will employee and can leave a role or be fired by a family for any or no reason at all.

• Our expectation and hope is that we will do our best to find you a job that you will be happy with long term.

• You and the family will both sign a “work agreement” that is sometimes also referred to as a “contract” when you are offered the job. This agreement is meant to protect you, set expectations and avoid misunderstandings.

• All of our families are seeking to hire loyal employees that will stay with their family for at least 1 year or longer. This is why we are so specific about finding them the right fit.

• We encourage families to offer performance reviews with their employees, so that you both are able to check-in and make updates to your work agreement as-needed.

• After you sign a work agreement with the family, the family is your employer as well as your direct point of contact.

• We will provide you with a “New Hire Success Guide” that provides answers to common scenarios or questions for new hires

• Our hope is that we have set you up for long-term success!

• If you have any disputes with your employer we recommend that you attempt to resolve the situation on your own, but if you feel any immoral or illegal activity is happening inside the home that please notify the agency right away.

• For CPR certification we recommend in-person CPR and First Aid certifications through the American Red Cross or American Heart Association that cover basic life support (BLS).

• Here is a link to some in-person classes in Chicago and the suburbs, but you are welcome to do your own research to find some other options as well.

• We highly suggest to families that they offer health insurance in some form to their employees.

• If a family discloses they are open to a stipend in the job description, what a family chooses to offer will vary by role and is something that can be part of the negotiation process if you inform the agency you are seeking insurance coverage ahead of time.

• Some families will offer a flat dollar amount per month, others will invite you to join a pre-existing employer healthcare plan, and some families will cover 50-100% of your monthly premium.

• In order to receive a health insurance stipend you must provide a family with proof of health insurance coverage in the marketplace.

• For those that do not yet have coverage, we recommend researching and coming prepared with a anticipated monthly healthcare cost, in order to effectively negotiate a stipend.

• While we do not arrange health insurance plans or stipends directly, we connect each of the families we work with to GTM Payroll, who offer free consultations and are a wealth of resources for all things payroll, tax, and insurance.

• Most families find it is easier to have their employee find health insurance through the marketplace and offer a monthly health insurance stipend, especially if they only have 1 employee. Here is some additional information about health insurance options.

How to calculate mileage reimbursement:

• Since gas and mileage reimbursement is not taxable compensation, there is a financial advantage to using the IRS standard mileage rate.

• The IRS mileage reimbursement rate is 67 cents per mile, (updated as of 2024). This is meant to cover the cost of operating a personal vehicle for business reasons. This includes the cost of things like gasoline, oil, maintenance and wear-and-tear.

• Keep track of the miles you drive while on the clock (Ex: Transporting children, or running errands, not the miles you drive during your commute. You can include these miles on a timesheet, shared spreadsheet, or a mileage tracking app, and report them weekly to be included in your payroll.