Keep up to date with Pembury Partners news and articles of interest here on our blog.
Staffing Your Kitchen Hiring a private chef – or team of chefs – might at first appear to be a straightforward decision: you want someone to cook for you? Hire a chef. However this is not the whole picture – there are many factors it is necessary to consider. For example: Is your home formal…
The Family Office What is a Family Office? A family office is essentially a wealth management advisory organisation which provides services to UHNW (Ultra-High Net Worth) individuals or families. This differs from a “normal” wealth management firm in that its sole purpose is to provide a complete solution to managing the financial requirements of a…
Staffing a New Home The task of properly staffing a new property from scratch can at first appear to be daunting. Whether you have other properties, and so have a good idea of what might be required, or are staffing your first home, there are many things to consider. The starting point is to determine…
Denver, Colorado Denver, Colorado is a fine city, for many reasons, and we at Pembury Partners are delighted to have recently welcomed some new clients based there. We thought therefore it might be nice to have a closer look at The Mile High City. Lying 1.6km, or one mile, above sea level, Denver is known…
Social Media Presence for Private Household Employees Love it or hate it, social media is an intricately-woven part of the fabric of our lives. Most of us use it every day, and when searching for a new job or to fill a vacant role, it can provide detail and insight beyond what was available before…
Household Managers: The Backbone of the Household Ask a member of the public to name private household staff and they will probably mention nannies, gardeners, maids and almost certainly a butler. Whilst they might not spring as immediately to mind as a nanny, nor be as entrenched in works of literary and televisual fiction as…
Family Assistants A family assistant has a very varied role. Think of it as similar to a what you might consider as a “normal” private PA – in fact they’re sometimes called Family Personal Assistants – but working for the family on domestic, home-related and family matters. It’s impossible to list everything that a family…
Bilingual Nannies We wrote recently about how in-demand bilingual candidates are for roles in private households. One position in particular for which a bilingual or multilingual applicant is frequently requested is that of the nanny. A family’s nanny will usually play a major role in bringing up the children, and many families want their kids…
Bilingual & Multilingual Candidates It is generally understood that the ability to fluently speak more than one language expands life’s horizons – being able to communicate, work, socialise and live in a wider variety of countries and territories around the world opens up many possibilities. For household staff this is especially true, as there are…
In-Person Consultations The executive search process relies on the human touch – after all, essentially we’re helping people find other people to work closely with them. It can really aid this process, therefore, to meet in person in order to fully understand all the requirements. With this in mind, we’re always happy to visit potential…
Applying for Childcare Roles When applying for roles, whether through Pembury Partners or elsewhere, it is always necessary to provide clear, concise information about yourself. This is especially important with childcare roles, for example nannies and governesses, where your experience and vetting is paramount. With any roles involving children, a valid DBS (Disclosure and Barring…
Living and Working in Saudi Arabia Seen by many as the heart of the Middle East, Saudi Arabia (or KSA as it’s also known) has long enjoyed a fruitful relationship with the UK. Over 30,000 British nationals live there as expats, and there are more than two hundred current joint ventures between British and Saudi…
Private Portfolio Manager A family office is, as you are no doubt aware, essentially a private consultancy firm that provides wealth management and associated services to an individual and their family. Often there will be a small team of people involved (although of course this varies – some family offices might be larger, and others…
Wimbledon & Sports Performance Chefs We at Pembury Partners are always delighted to be justified in breaking out the strawberries and cream, finding our sun hats (and umbrellas: this is, after all, England) and preparing for that unique racquet-hits-ball sound to reverberate around the leafy London suburb of SW19. Wimbledon is upon us once again.…
Travelling Roles One of the perks, in many people’s eyes, of working within a private household is the possibility of travel with the principals. This of course varies a good deal from household to household, with some residences having their staff in one place at all times, and others travelling as an entourage. Depending on…
Household Staff of the Future – Part 2 Not the sequel to a superhero movie, but following directly on from last week’s piece about household staff roles we take a look at butlers, chauffeurs and house managers. This is intended to provide a very brief guide to each role, for those candidates who think they…
Household Staff of the Future This is not, as you may think from the title, a new Marvel movie, but the first piece in an occasional series providing guidance for those candidates who think they might like to work in private households. We thought it might be helpful to take a brief look at the…
The Benefits of Employing a Governess A governess, as we’ve mentioned before, is someone employed within a private household to teach the family’s children. The role is not to be confused with that of a nanny – a governess focusses on education, rather than caring for the development of young children. The male equivalent is…
Recruitment Conduct: Help Us to Help You We receive hundreds of applications for the roles for which we recruit, and deal with many, many people as a result. Those that tend to be successful in the application process often have a number of attributes in common – not necessarily in terms of their skills, but…
What Kind of Chef is Right for You? How do you decide what kind of chef is right for your home? One size does most definitely not fit all when it comes to food, so it naturally follows that there is a veritable smorgasbord of chefs to prepare it. Some people might require a full…
Pembury Partners Travel Diaries: Dubai We’re currently working on a few roles in Dubai, and it’s a place in which we have some exciting projects planned for the near future. We thought therefore that we’d take a brief closer look at this UAE hotspot. Dubai is the most highly populated city in the UAE (United…
The Importance of Vetting What is vetting? Vetting simply means the procedures we follow in order to verify a candidate’s background. It is a vital part of the recruitment process, helping to determine if they’ll be a good fit for the proposed household, if they have the right skillset, personality and work ethic for the…
King Charles II As you, and indeed the rest of the world, are no doubt aware, 6th May 2023 marks the coronation of King Charles III. Although he became king at the moment of passing of his mother The Queen, this ceremony is his formal crowning. Charles Philip Arthur George was born at Buckingham Palace…
Find Me a Carson! Here at Pembury Partners we often get requests from clients asking, “find me the perfect Carson”, or indeed Mary Poppins, Jeeves or any number of other well-known household staff from books, TV and films. Whilst these characters are of course entirely fictional, we straight away know what they are looking for…
21st Century Housekeeping What does it take to ensure seamless running of the home? We took a look into the modern world of housekeeping in a fully staffed formal 21st century private household. To outsiders, traditional formal housekeeping might appear to be an anachronism. However, this is not the case – it definitely has a place…
Family Assistants One of the most noticeably useful roles on a day-to-day basis for a busy principal is that of the Family Assistant. An UHNW (Ultra High Net Worth) individual will very likely have numerous business and other projects all making demands upon their time, yet like many of us they might also have a…
Benefits of using LinkedIn for Candidates for Private Household Roles From a candidate’s perspective the benefits of using LinkedIn, as part of the process of finding, interviewing for, gaining and progressing within a role in the private household sector, are many and noteworthy. At a basic level, LinkedIn is somewhere where available jobs are often…
Job Focus: PAs The role of the Private Personal Assistant is well known in the business world – assisting CEOs and upper management with many facets of their day-to-day activities. In private households the skills PAs bring in order to facilitate the lives of the principals and their families are essentially the same – they’re…
I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butler We all think we know what a butler is: the traditional, stiff starched fellow perpetually dressed for dinner who expresses himself only by the occasional raising of an eyebrow. In fact, the role has evolved a great deal over the years, and there are many different types of butler…
Transitioning into a Private Household Role While experience of working in a private household is obviously desirable when applying for roles in this sector, many people have not worked in one before. As such, we are often asked about how to transition from a “normal” job into this rarefied world. There are, we are pleased…
Living and Working in Germany Germany is a wonderful country in which to live and work. It’s known as a European powerhouse, but on top of this you’ll generally find the people welcoming and the culture broad and inclusive. A number of our long-standing clients are based in Germany, and we currently have a few…
The Consultation Process As you are no doubt aware, our prime directive is to introduce candidates to clients, resulting in successful, long-lasting professional relationships. For that to happen efficiently the process needs to be completely transparent, and as cohesive as possible between the client (the individual or organisation seeking an employee), the consultant (us) and…
Household Staff Dress Code Household staff are often very visible members of a domestic home. It is quite common therefore for either a formal (or less so) uniform or a dress code to be implemented amongst them. After all, they’ll be seen by and will interact with not only members of the principal family, but…
Job Focus: Palace Manager We’ve written about house managers before, these are sometimes known as household managers or estate managers, depending on the role and the property in question. However, what does it take to go a step beyond this into the world of the Palace Manager? A palace manager will be a very experienced…
Pembury Partners Travel Diaries: The Italian Alps The Alps are spread over 200,000 square kilometres, stretching across eight countries and towering up to almost 5km high. They are undoubtedly Europe’s best-known mountain range, the Italian portion of which borders France, Austria, Switzerland and Slovenia. In ancient times Hannibal successfully crossed them, using elephants instead of…
Soho, Jazz and a New Office We bring you exciting news this week. We’re exceptionally pleased to announce that we have moved into a new office in central London’s Soho. This feels very much like something of a homecoming, as we were based a short walk away in Mayfair in 2020. Our new West End…
Pembury Partners Travel Diaries: New York City New York City goes by many names – The Big Apple, The City that Never Sleeps, acronymised to NYC, or simply The City to locals. However it was originally called New Amsterdam when it was founded by the Dutch in 1624. Its name was changed to New York 40…
Job Focus: Professional Laundress We’re currently working on a new role for a client seeking a professional laundress, so we thought therefore it would be an excellent opportunity to take a closer look at this role. While to many the idea of doing laundry might be a rather basic task, for ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW) individuals and…
Premier Sports Network & Pembury Partners Welcomes Daniel Serrano Recently we at Pembury Partners were proud to sponsor the world-renowned International Player Care Event, organised by Premier Sports Network (PSN) and held at The Shard in central London. This annual event focusses on the behind-the-scenes support and welfare of professional athletes, and brings together more…
Job Focus: Professional Nanny What is a nanny? Many of us think of a nanny as a somewhat more involved and permanent babysitter, but in the rarefied echelons of UHNW (Ultra High Net Worth) families a nanny is much more than this. Whereas a “normal” nanny will look after the children whilst the parents are…
Pembury Partners Travel Diaries: Qatar If you’re a follower of football (or, as our American friends call it, soccer) you’ll be sure to know that the world cup is once again almost upon us. Exciting times lie ahead for many, as the biggest competition in one of the world’s favourite sports gets underway in Qatar.…
Job Focus: Performance Chef As you’re undoubtedly aware, the World Cup starts soon. Football (or soccer, for our American friends) is a massive international business which at its grass-meets-boots level involves pitting teams of highly trained athletes against each other. Behind these teams are many, many supporting actors – coaches and management, of course, but to…
Job Focus: Executive Housekeeper A large home or estate with many and varied staff is a diverse organisation and a place of employment for many people. It can be seen as a living, breathing machine with the function of providing a home for the principals and their family. With this in mind, one of the…
Job Focus: Governess / Governor There has been a noticeable uptick recently in the number of people looking for a governess (or the male equivalent – a governor) to join their household staff. However, it has come to our attention that many people don’t know what the job entails – either they think it’s an…
Pembury Partners Travel Diaries: The French Riviera Mentioning the French Riviera conjures up images of crystal blue water (it’s not known as the Côte d’Azur for nothing), fantastically glamorous beach resorts, grand casinos and the well-heeled at play. Dig a little deeper and you’ll find historic cities, art, museums, wonderful architecture, parks, hills and picturesque…
City vs. Rural Working We have placed household staff into roles in many countries around the world, into widely varying positions and every type of home, family, entourage and estate conceivable. Taking the huge number of variables into consideration there’s still one either/or factor that often seems to apply: is the role city based or…
Working in Europe post-Brexit Whether the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union was the right thing to do is still a hot topic of debate. Whichever side of the fence you fall on, the reality of the situation means that the rules surrounding living and working in Europe have changed. If you work in…
The Queen Akin to the rest of the United Kingdom – and indeed the world – we at Pembury Partners were deeply saddened to learn of The Queen’s passing. We therefore thought it might be appropriate to suspend our usual blogging activities and instead prepare a small tribute. Queen Elizabeth II – or to give…
Job Focus: Household Manager A large and perfectly appointed home is undoubtedly a wonderful thing to own, it’s where you’re able to spend time with your family and entertain friends. However, the responsibilities of keeping the house as you envision, administering to the reams of paperwork it generates and managing the staff you’ve hired to…
The Executive Search Process: How We Place Household Staff Here at Pembury Partners we place the very best candidates into positions in the world’s finest households and estates. Many people think of this simply as the business of recruitment, but what we do is, in fact, Executive Search. This requires a different approach and is…
Job Focus: Chief of Staff There are a multitude of different roles within a household, from head housekeepers to nannies, nutritionists, chefs, chauffeurs, PAs and physiotherapists. A large or diverse team of household staff requires a leader, without whom structure, order and efficiency would be compromised. This is the Chief of Staff (often acronymised to…
Job Focus: Chauffeurs Whatever your views on the electrification of the motor industry and the efforts of worthy environmentalists, people love to drive. For many, there are few experiences to rival the sensations of driving a decent car on a really good road, music playing, top down, sun shining. Enjoyable though one might find this…
Job Focus: Private Chefs There’s been a rise in the demand for private chefs post-Covid. A global shortage of corporate chefs affected the hospitality industry as a whole, and it is still in recovery. Many chefs are pursuing careers within the private sector as opposed to corporate hospitality as there’s generally a better work-life balance…
Pembury Partners Travel Diaries: Los Angeles Everyone knows LA. As the home of the movie industry it’s etched in the global consciousness as the hot, exciting palm-tree strewn city where anything is possible, and as the playground of the rich and famous. But when the dust has settled from the on-screen action and you’ve spotted…
Pembury Partners Travel Diaries: Belgium Beer and chocolate. Both wonderful things, for sure, but there’s a good deal more to Belgium than these. It richly deserves a visit and has a flavour very much its own. We’re currently assisting a client with a role in Marche-en-Famenne (in the southern Belgian province of Luxembourg (near, but…
Job Focus: Private Personal Assistants A Private Personal Assistant – more often simply referred to as a PA – is often seen as a sort of personal Wonder Woman or Superman. Someone who does everything in their power to help you. Think of them not so much as a Jack of all trades, but more…
Pembury Partners Travel Diaries: Ibiza We at Pembury Partners are currently helping a client with a large property in Ibiza to find an Estate Manager. Ibiza is beautiful, but to the uninitiated, sometimes misunderstood. What do you think of when you hear the name of this third largest of the Balearic islands? Probably the first…
One Will Endeavour to do One’s Best for the Jubilee, Ma’am The term “once in a lifetime” is often bandied about with scant regard for its actual meaning. However, as you are no doubt well aware, it’s The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee this weekend here in the UK. Marking 70 years on the throne, Her Majesty…
Benefits of a Family Office A family office is a private organisation that provides financial and other services to the principal family. It helps them not only to grow and manage their wealth, but to coordinate the often complex endeavours with which the family is involved. Each family office is unique to the family for…
House Managers in the Modern Household A House Manager might go by many names, and wear many hats. For example, In the USA the term Estate Manager is often used, and job titles such as Personal Secretary, Steward or Majordomo are largely interchangeable in this context. Different countries and cultures – or indeed, different families…
Etiquette in a Private Household Role Working within the highest echelon of household staff, with ultra-high-net-worth individuals and at the world’s finest homes and estates can be very rewarding, but to even the most talented newcomer it can also be quite daunting. One question that always comes up is that of etiquette in the workplace…
Land Ahoy: Yacht Crews in Private Households Here at Pembury Partners we often have CVs coming across our desks from talented individuals who have worked on yachts, and it’s always pleasing to see this. There are many parallels to be drawn between the skill set of yacht crew and those who work in private residences…
Household Staff: Domestic Couples We’ve had a number of positions become available for domestic couples recently. These stalwarts of household staff can vary greatly in the roles they fulfil within a household, but all tend to function as a versatile and adaptable unit. What is a domestic couple? The idea behind a domestic couple is…
Pembury Partners in the UK: Manchester We’ve successfully assisted a number of clients with finding household staff in and around Manchester recently, and have been seeing an increasing number of these roles becoming available in this area. Manchester is regularly seen at the top of the charts of the best places in the UK to…
This week we get to know our Operations and Project Analyst, Tinique Kluyts. We asked her a few questions regarding her career and the expertise she brings to Pembury Partners. Tell us a brief history of your career until this point. I began my working life in a small coastal city in South Africa, running…
Pembury Partners Travel Diaries: Vancouver Pembury Partners are currently assisting a client based in Vancouver in finding a family assistant, which has brought to mind what a fine city this is. We thought therefore it might be a relevant moment to take a closer look at the biggest city in British Columbia from a family…
Paris Fashion Week 2022 – Pembury Partners welcomes Rachael Perry Paris Fashion Week starts on 28th February 2022 and runs until 8th March. Undeniably a global phenomenon, the Paris event often defies conventions and defines trends. The first official Paris Fashion Week was in 1973, but its origins can be traced as far back as…
Discover Boating Miami International Boat Show The Miami International Boat Show has been on the marine radar in Florida for over 50 years, and the 2022 event is set to be the biggest ever – the organisers are claiming it as the largest boat and yacht event in the world. Now called Discover Boating Miami…
Beijing Winter Olympics 2022 – With Olympian Chemmy Alcott In a blizzard of sporting activity, The Winter Olympics are almost upon us. Officially opening on Friday 4th February 2022 in Beijing at the “Birds Nest” National Stadium, the events actually begin a little earlier, with Curling and Luge starting on Wednesday. Team GB is sending…
Pembury Partners Travel Diaries: Utah & the Sundance Film Festival It’s the final week of the Sundance Film Festival, long established as the place where small, independent films rub celluloid shoulders with the big names in the industry. It’s an important event in the movie business because it’s not just about big-budget Hollywood flicks nor…
In Conversation: Life in Riyadh with Christina Kristoffersen of Pembury Partners Household Consultancy Our International Partner, Christina Kristoffersen, splits her time between Geneva and Riyadh. Here she gives us a first-person view of her life in the Saudi capital. When my friends heard I was going off to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, their initial reaction was, are…
In Conversation: Chefs in a Post-Covid World with Darren Lewis of Pembury Partners Household Consultancy We asked one of Pembury Partners’ Directors, Darren Lewis, a few questions regarding chefs in the corporate and private sectors. Having more than 25 years’ experience recruiting chefs, we were excited to hear his thoughts on the industry in a…
Pembury Partners Travel Diaries: Paris There’s nowhere quite like Paris. There’s no need to mention the Seine winding through the city, or the bridges, or the instantly recognisable cityscapes and monuments. Paris is beautiful, and it’s a given that it’s known as the city for romance. It’s also one of the world’s cultural hotspots with…
Global Culture: Diwali Diwali is upon us again. Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and some Buddhists across the world will be illuminating their homes for the Festival of Lights. For those of us with scant knowledge of this globally celebrated festival we thought it would be a good opportunity to learn a little more about it. Diwali…
Pembury Partners Travel Diaries: Canada Canada has some of the most rugged, unspoiled landscapes anywhere in the world. It naturally follows therefore that as a getaway-from-everything haven it is a highly desirable destination, and is home to some of the world’s finest resorts, spas and restaurants. Here we highlight a few of the highest calibre…
Pembury Partners Travel Diaries: Hong Kong The gateway to Asia, Hong Kong has for many, many years been a fusion of East and West, and has become a hub of cosmopolitan life. There’s a seemingly ever-growing number of luxury hotels and upscale bars, which would make compiling a comprehensive list an impossible task, and the…
Household Staff Uniforms For as long as families have had household staff, there have been staff uniforms in one form or another. A uniform can be seen to perform several desirable functions – it might protect your staff from the elements or other factors of their jobs, it helps to identify them to family, guests…
Cannes Yachting Festival The 2021 Cannes Yachting Festival takes place this year from Tuesday 7th September to Saturday 11th September, at Vieux Port and Port Canto on the beautiful Côte d’Azur. The festival has long been seen as the opening to the nautical season and plays host to many innovation and product premieres in the…
Who should lead your Family Office? A newly founded family office will need to seek a leader, as will an established office which has recently lost their senior executive. But where should this individual come from? Of what should their background and skill set consist? It’s an important consideration and could have a major influence…
Often when people hear the term ‘Family Assistant’, they might jump to the conclusion that it’s just another term for a ‘Nanny’ or Personal Assistant. But neither category can fully describe the benefits of having someone in your home to assist in the day to day runnings. For single mums with a full-time career, or…
What is a family office? A family office is a private consultancy firm that offers wealth management services to investors who have high net worth. They differ from regular wealth management agencies in that they bring a totally outsourced approach of managing the investment and financial aspects of an affluent family or party. Most family…
Benefits of Hiring a Personal Assistant Agency Finding the right talent to fill your personal assistant role(s) can be tough. It can be a real pressure to find the “right” candidate and if you are not actively involved in recruiting it can be difficult to know exactly where to start – or indeed where…
Finding people you can trust is perhaps one of the most critical components when hiring domestic and private staff. But that can be much easier said than done. There’s no shortage of willing applicants to domestic staffing roles and equally no shortage of means to find them – job boards, social media, LinkedIn, personal connections,…
