Housekeeper Hiring Tips

Tips

Published on May 1, 2019

Hiring a housekeeper for the first time? Here's how to successfully recruit the right domestic help for your home. Share on X

Do You Need a Housekeeper?

If you don’t have enough time to do all the household chores, and want more free time – yes, you need a housekeeper.

When you hire a housekeeper or maid for first time, take six simple steps to successfully recruit the right domestic help for your house and home.

There are some important safety aspects to consider when hiring a housekeeper, who’ll have access to precious things, including your children, pets and valuables. You must be able to trust your housekeeper to look after your home with the same care and attention you give it.

Hiring a housekeeper gives you a whole new lease on life. You’ll have more time to take care of yourself, your family and your career while a professional domestic helper looks after the daily household chores.

Six tips for successfully hiring a housekeeper for the first time

1. Consider your needs.

Do you need part time or full time housekeeper?
Establish the number of hours a week you want to hire a housekeeper. A handy guide to help you make a schedule can be found here.

Once you’ve outlined your housekeeper’s daily and weekly duties, you’ll have a good idea of the number of hours a week to hire your housekeeper to fill the routine.

Do you want your housekeeper to live in or live out?
Each household has unique housekeeping needs, so decide what’s best for your family’s situation.

2. Housekeeper recruitment options

You have three basic options when recruiting a housekeeper.

  1. Self-recruitment: Look for someone yourself and do your own vetting or ask among your network and friends for recommendations.
  2. Enlist the help of housekeeping employment agency to match you with an ideal housekeeper for your situation, after which you pay the housekeeper directly.
  3. Make a contract with a cleaning company that you pay to send in a team of staff.

Each of the three housekeeper hiring options has its own pros and cons, so consider carefully what would work best for you.

3. Interview potential housekeepers

Take your time to review CVs and resumes and then interview the best candidates. You have to like your housekeeper, and they should enjoy working for you, too.

In a domestic setting, working relationships are much more personal than in an office, so a good personality match goes along way.

4. Hire a housekeeper for a trial period 

Hiring a housekeeper is not the same as hiring someone for a corporate role where you make a long-term offer after the interview. When hiring a housekeeper, always hire them for a trial period first, before committing to long-term employment.

The trial period is a no-pressure test, where you pay the housekeeper or company only for their time during the trial period. This gives you a chance to see the housekeeper in action. Do they have the skills and level of detail that you need?

5. Make a formal offer

If you like your housekeeper after a trial period you can make an offer of longer-term work. Even if you’ve already discussed a deal, now’s a good time to review and clarify terms of payment and expectations on both sides.

A part-time housekeeper will typically earn this salary. A live-in housekeeper will earn this salary and a live-out housekeeper will earn this salary. Bear in mind that these are international rates and so they will vary from place to place. A cleaning company may charge higher rates because they have more overheads and running costs.

6. Maintain good communication and boundaries.

All good relationships are formed on positive encouragement and communication. Even though the housekeeper works in your private home, your relationship should remain a professional arrangement.

The more you develop and respect this professional relationship, the more you will gain from a long-term commitment!

Why Polo and Tweed is the Best Housekeeper Recruitment Agency

Hiring a housekeeper by yourself is time consuming and risky. Polo & Tweed makes recruiting domestic help simple and safe.

Your safety and security is our priority. We stringently screen all candidates on your behalf to offer you a selection of the best qualified domestic helpers for your household’s unique requirements.

You pay a small one-time fee for Polo & Tweed’s housekeeper recruiting services after you’ve made a formal offer to employ one of the candidates.

At Polo & Tweed, we pride ourselves on putting our international clients in touch with housekeepers they will happily recommend to family and friends.

Let us help you find your very first housekeeper and make it a success. Contact us here and we’ll get back to you.

5 comments

  1. Zoe Campos says:

    I definitely agree that cleaning our house can be really bothersome when we’re looking after sick loved ones. My grandmother has dementia and since she occupies most of my time, it’s really hard to focus on other household chores. It might be better to contact some staffing agencies and see if they can recommend any good housekeepers for the job.

    • Aafke Meelen says:

      Dear Zoe,

      Thank you for your comment and how amazing that you care for your grandmother with dementia – that must be very challenging too! We agree, in situations like that it can be so helpful to have a housekeeper to give that extra helping hand. Good luck with everything and do contact us if we could ever help!

  2. Thara says:

    Heya. Definitely do take your time. In order to hire the right house keeper in the end you must be patient and calm. One way to find a smart house keeper is to read adverts. View personal specifications. Alternatively you can look online to see interested candidates. Best wishes.
    Try to meet a couple at a local cafe. That you can manage to interview them. Focus on key skills and qualities during the entire interview. Assess their existing level of numeracy and literacy skills. Feel free to discuss current experience levels and so on.
    As a additional precaution here make summary notes. You can read them after the interview to determine if that person fits the bill. Take photos if possible. Show them around your place.
    Read beyond the lines at the actual interview. Smile. Be alert. Draft a advert with help. Screen all applicants in question. All respondents must be carefully vetted in other words to assess suitability. This is a important step of the whole process.
    Meet three recommendations to discuss everything. Obtain references to check out. The more the better really. When I hired a housekeeper I asked them for a few past references etc. I also saw a paper copy of the resume they brought to the interview. They had to have a standard DBS check as I was leaving them all alone with my dog for two to three hours to run errands. I applied for this on their behalf in advance. If you have children opt for the highest one you can have however.
    I then proceeded to talk to them in person about the role in question. They finally had to fill out a form detailing their key skills and qualities. I also requested a short report on their past experience levels. You can find one daily these days. Then I hired them.

    • Aafke Meelen says:

      Great tips, thank you! 🙂

      • Thara says:

        Heya.

        Thank you first of all in order. I recommend having a list of tasks for potential housekeepers in question. The list is for tasks for them to do. Here are examples of ideas to use here. Good luck. It is nice to meet you.

        Cook lunch or dinner
        Do the food shopping every week
        Make the beds each day
        Walk the dogs
        Look after any children
        Tend to the garden
        See to the laundry
        Assist with homework

        At the hiring interview discuss skills. When I interviewed for a new house keeper this is what I did. The entire process took three or four days. Over those days there was firstly a quick test to evaluate literacy and numeracy skills. After that there was a guided tour of the house. Thirdly was a sit down meeting and formal interviews.

        During the formal interview I got them to do five house keeping tasks. They had to make the beds, cook a simple lunch, read to the children, weed a flower bed and sort laundry. They also met the Maltipoo Milo. They had to play with him for ten minutes.

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