California
Los Angeles households are large, spread out, and accustomed to discretion. Staff here are trusted with more than the house — they are trusted with a family's quiet.
Hillside and canyon estates on gated compounds, often with separate staff houses, screening rooms, spas, gyms and long drives. The physical distance between the family's rooms and the staff's quarters is greater than in any other market we work in, which makes self-direction and judgment the defining qualities in a candidate.
Roles we search most often here
In this market a non-disclosure agreement is a starting point, not a safeguard. We ask candidates how they have handled press attention, social media approaches and unsolicited interest from strangers, and we take references quietly and in confidence.
Los Angeles families split their year between the hills, New York, Europe and elsewhere, and staff are often asked to come. We ask about travel early — passports, family commitments, comfort with long stretches away — because a candidate who cannot travel is a poor fit for a household that does.
We begin with the compound: how many residences, how many people, how much of the household's life is managed by a family office or a chief of staff. That tells us whether the search is for a house manager, an estate manager, or both.
Elsewhere