Domestics: What is a Domestic Staff and What Do They Do?

Whether you are hoping to hire help around the house or perhaps land a great job with a wealthy family, you'll want to examine these job descriptions to see exactly what sort of position you are looking for. Following is a list of most domestic titles and what each job entails:

Nanny

A Nanny is a full-time staff member that looks after one's children. A Nanny is most often required by families that have children who are too young to attend school. The Nanny's sole focus is to care for the welfare and well-being of the child. If a family has older children who are in school during the day, the Nanny may be asked to do light housekeeping or errands. Nannies care for children in family home and may or may not have formal training. Most important for Nannies is actual experience with children.

Mother's Helper

This position is similar to but a bit more flexible than that of a Nanny. A Mother's Helper generally works for a family in which one parent is home most of the time. This position is generally a combination of childcare and cleaning.

Governess

A Governess is a Nanny and an educator. These domestics generally possess a minimum of an undergraduate degree in a child education related major. They plan and implement structured and strategic goals and objectives, for the child's mental, emotional, physical, and intellectual growth and development.

Nanny Manager

This is a traditional housewife role. The Nanny Manager sees the children off to school, picks them up after school, organizes after-school activities, does errands to include grocery shopping, provides supervision and security for the children while traveling and cooks the evening meal.

Personal Assistant,Social Secretary, Family Assistant, or Executive Assistant

A Personal Assistant works closely with you in the management of your household. They attend to both your personal and professional needs. Most Personal Assistants have a Bachelors Degree and experience in a corporate setting. They are expected to have strong computer and accounting skills. Some PA duties include keeping the family schedule, making reservations for various events and travel, tending to the needs of guests, event planning, light secretarial duties, gift shopping, and running errands.

Couple/Team

This staff unit consists of two people who may or may not be married. They work together to run your household. They provide combined services of indoor-outdoor housekeeping, cooking, child care, cooking, estate management, chauffeur/auto care, and/or personal assistant. A couple is primarily live-in. Employers are generally expected to offer separate quarters for the Couple/Team.

House Manager

A House Manager runs your household. Their duties include housekeeping, laundry, errands, grocery shopping, cooking, childcare, and whatever else needs to be done.

Housekeeper

A Housekeeper performs all or most of the following household duties: light daily and moderate housekeeping, childcare, and often heavy housekeeping such as cleaning baseboards, windows, blinds, light fixtures, buffing floors, etc.

Houseman/Handyman

This staff member handles general maintenance such as heavy housekeeping, changing light bulbs, painting, yard work, automobile servicing and odd jobs. The Houseman/Handyman's duties may also include filling in for the housekeeper or helping the chef in preparation for a formal dinner party.

Estate Manager/Butler/Major Domo/Household Administrator

The Estate Manager is responsible for the care of an estate or properties. They provide continuity of staff, service and personal needs between all properties. They are ultimately responsible for the smooth operation of their employer's residence(s). Duties include the hiring, training, and termination of other staff members, interviewing and supervising outside contractors, managing of household accounts, planning and orchestration of functions, stocking and care of a wine cellar, scheduling regular maintenance for both home and autos, and in basically making sure that their employer's life is as carefree as possible. An Estate Manager must be extremely detail oriented.

Chef

The Chef is responsible for all things food or kitchen related. They handle all meals for the family and staff, organize and clean the kitchen, shop for all food related supplies and plan menus. Parties, holiday meals, and special functions are also the responsibility of the Chef.

Driver/Security

The Driver will chauffeur family and guests and is also responsible for the maintenance of all vehicles. A personal protection officer may be the driver, a chaperone, or stationary at the residence and quite possibly work with a team.

Whether you aspire to be a domestic or hope to hire one, these job descriptions should help you to find exactly what you are looking for. To hire a domestic or apply to be one, see the related links with this article.