How to Choose the Right Household Staffing Agency to Hire
There are more than 25,000 staffing agencies in the U.S. alone. About 500 of those are domestic staffing agencies for households. With so many to choose from, how can one know who is reliable, credible, and trustworthy? Here is your complete guide to hiring the right recruiter to staff your home.
Here is what to look for when selecting a household staffing agency
Finding a dependable domestic staffing agency is difficult, but this guide will help private employers understand what to look for in a search firm.
Assess an Agent's Credibility
First and foremost, assessing the experience and credibility of a recruiter is important. You will, after all, be sharing your home, secrets, and credit cards with your domestic staff, so they should be trustworthy. How can one know if the headhunter you've hired is legit?
This may come as a surprise, but about 95% of domestic staffing recruiters have no experience in private service. Most of them came from unrelated fields. Of the other 5% of headhunters that do come from the private service profession, only a fraction of those have noteworthy experience working for celebrities, high-net-worth families, or billionaires. The slightly experienced recruiters only had short stints in private service from 6 to 12 months. In other words, 99% of household recruiters lack the deep experience you would expect, and many of them tout themselves as "experts."
This may come as a surprise, but about 95% of domestic staffing recruiters have no experience in private service. Most of them came from unrelated fields. Of the other 5% of headhunters that do come from the private service profession, only a fraction of those have noteworthy experience working for celebrities, high-net-worth families, or billionaires. The slightly experienced recruiters only had short stints in private service from 6 to 12 months. In other words, 99% of household recruiters lack the deep experience you would expect, and many of them tout themselves as "experts."
Assess Agency Reviews
Reading and understanding domestic staffing agency reviews is difficult. How can one know if the reviews are real?
Google reviews are the most unreliable. In short, it's the "wild, wild West" when it comes to Google reviews because they are completely unmoderated. Anyone can hire a marketing agency to bomb the internet with 5-star testimonials. When reading positive reviews, look for ones that lack detail.
If the reviews say things like "the best agency anywhere" or "I wouldn't trust anyone but the [name of the agency]," then you should be skeptical. Also, check the balance of good and bad reviews. If there are dozens of 5-star reviews on Google but none on Yelp, then something might be wrong.
If the reviews say things like "the best agency anywhere" or "I wouldn't trust anyone but the [name of the agency]," then you should be skeptical. Also, check the balance of good and bad reviews. If there are dozens of 5-star reviews on Google but none on Yelp, then something might be wrong.
Yelp reviews are a step above Google reviews, but they aren't foolproof. Yelp has a lot more moderation and an algorithm to weed out fake ones, but there are marketing agencies that have "real profiles" that "game the system" and 5-star reviews can be purchased.
The key to unlocking real household staffing agency reviews is to look for detail. Does the review "ring true" and sound legitimate? Also, if many Yelp reviews have been filtered to the "reviews that are not currently recommended" section, then something is probably amiss because the website's algorithm has detected abnormalities in the reviews.
The key to unlocking real household staffing agency reviews is to look for detail. Does the review "ring true" and sound legitimate? Also, if many Yelp reviews have been filtered to the "reviews that are not currently recommended" section, then something is probably amiss because the website's algorithm has detected abnormalities in the reviews.
LinkedIn reviews, in our opinion, are the "holy grail" of recommendations because they are attached to a verifiable profile.
Most LinkedIn profiles have photos, headers, endorsements, and a work history, so it's a great way to understand who is actually leaving the agency a "thumbs up."
Most LinkedIn profiles have photos, headers, endorsements, and a work history, so it's a great way to understand who is actually leaving the agency a "thumbs up."
Following Agency Breadcrumbs
If you do an online search for a household staffing agency that you are considering, what other items appear in the search results? To get a holistic understanding of a recruiter's capability, there should be other "breadcrumbs" to follow: press releases, Twitter, Facebook, Google Places, Instagram, etc. If there isn't anything other than a website, then it should give you pause.
Selecting the right kind of household recruiter?
When reviewing the history a domestic staffing agency, assess whether the agent has the right background. Even if they come from the private service world and you're confident the agency's reviews are real, they might not have enough experience in the niche you need. For example, hiring a caregiver, nanny, or governess is a much more specialized niche than personal assistants or estate managers. Know which questions to ask the recruiter to evaluate their experience.
Does the household staffing agency have industry recognition?
One consideration when finding a domestic staffing agency is whether they have recognition in the community or the press. If, for example, and agency says they have been in business for 25 years and they don't have any publications or haven't been featured in the news, it should give you a reason to hesitate.
How many years has the agency been in business?
Unfortunately, there are many fly-by-night domestic staffing agencies in business. Many of them do it as a hobby. Perhaps the agent is a stay-at-home spouse and they make occasional placements in their spare time. Anybody can spend $50 and open a Wix website and load it with royalty-free photos and call themselves experts. Look for the following:
Does the Agency Have an Address?
There should be a published address on the company's website. Check Google Street View to see if it's a brick-and-mortar business or a P.O. box.
Does the Staffing Firm Have a Foundation Date?
Any domestic staffing firm should state when they were founded. Regardless, check public WHOIS data to see when the website's domain name was established. If the recruiter's biography says they have been recruiting for 15 years, but the domain name is two years old, it's a red flag.
Does the Agency Have a LinkedIn business page?
To help you understand if the information on a household staffing agency's website is dependable, check other sources like LinkedIn. Does the search firm have a business page on LinkedIn? How many employees work there? If a recruiter's LinkedIn business page says they have between two and ten employees, but only one profile is attached to the business page, then something is probably wrong.
Final thoughts on selecting a domestic staffing agency
When looking for a dependable household staffing agency, home owners need to understand how to assess the information available and take a 360-degree approach to evaluating a search firm.
- Assess an agent's credibility and experience
- Find quality reviews and testimonials
- Assess the agency's footprint online
- Know the recruiter's expertise
- Understand the staffing firm's tenure
- Ask around and get a second opinion
Celebrities and high-net-worth families shouldn't throw caution to the wind and hire any domestic staffing firm. Take your time and be sure the headhunter you want to hire has the credibility to make a placement in a household.
Filed Under: Strategies for selecting a domestic staffing agency
