More Than Recruitment: Why Private Households Need a True Advisory Partner
The world of private household staffing operates quietly, discreetly, and at a level of complexity that most people never see.
Behind the doors of a well run private residence, whether a luxury family home in Belgravia, a country estate in rural Berkshire, or a global portfolio of properties, covering Europe, the Middle East and Asia, there is a team of professionals whose expertise, personality and loyalty have been carefully matched to the family they serve.
Finding the most appropriate professionals requires deep knowledge of the industry, an extensive and trusted network, a thorough understanding of household operations and most importantly, the wisdom to advise before any recruitment is made.
“Discretion, professionalism and genuine expertise, Cora Partners delivered all three. Managing staff across multiple properties is complex and having a partner who understands that complexity has been invaluable to us.”
Chief of Staff to UHNW Principal, Dubai & New York
Trusted recruitment partners for private households
Cora Partners is a specialist recruitment consultancy operating exclusively in the world of private household staffing. We work with high-net-worth individuals, family estates, and private principals to build household teams that are not only highly skilled, but the right fit for each unique home and varied lifestyle.
Our backgrounds span years of hands on experience in private service and senior recruitment. We advise our clients on what they need, helping structure their households effectively, and support long term after a placement is made.
We know from experience that no two households are alike, and no two principals want the same thing. What they share is the need for people they can genuinely trust and an understandable wariness of getting that wrong.
“When I came to Cora, I knew we needed staff but had no clear picture of what we actually required. Izzy helped us work that out before we started looking at candidates, which saved a lot of time. The team they placed has been excellent.”
Chief of Staff, Switzerland
Eagle Private: Specialist Recruitment for Family Offices
For principals operating across a broader, more complex landscape, we work in close partnership with our sister brand, Eagle Private.
Eagle Private specialises in family office recruitment, placing high calibre professionals who manage investments, assets, administration, and strategy for ultra-high-net-worth families and individuals. Where Cora focuses on the household itself, Eagle Private addresses the wider infrastructure that supports a family’s financial and operational life.
Together, the two brands are uniquely placed to serve principals with multiple properties across different countries and jurisdictions, bridging the gap between the personal and the professional, the domestic and the corporate. A UHNW family with a Central London townhouse, a French chateau, a ski chalet in Verbier, and a New York apartment need a strategic partner who understands the full picture, and that is precisely what Cora Partners and Eagle Private provide in tandem.
Specialist advice: Getting it right From the beginning
Many of our most valuable client conversations happen way before a role is advertised.
Whether it’s setting up a new household, restructuring an existing team, or adapting staffing arrangements to a change in lifestyle, Cora Partners offers advisory services designed to help principals navigate these moments with confidence.
Private Household Structure & Job Responsibilities
What roles do you actually need? What are the reporting lines? How do you ensure that a Chef and an Estate Manager can work together harmoniously? We work with our clients to map out the right structure before recruitment begins, saving considerable time and cost in the long run.
Setting Up a New Private Residence
Whether a property has been newly purchased, newly refurbished, or is simply being brought back into active use, establishing a household from scratch requires careful thought. From defining the staffing brief to understanding what domestic infrastructure is required before staff arrive, Cora Partners guides principals through every stage of this process.
HR Guidance & Employment Support
Private household employment is a specialist area that sits outside most standard HR frameworks. Employment contracts, discretion clauses, working hours, accommodation arrangements, probationary structures, these are not one-size-fits-all matters, and getting them wrong can create serious difficulties.
To ensure our clients have access to expert HR guidance, Cora works with Heidi, our HR consultant, who is highly experienced in the private client sector. She helps our clients draft robust, appropriate employment documentation, navigate sensitive HR situations, including performance management, restructuring, or the departure of long serving staff.
For many of our clients, Heidi is an ongoing resource: a trusted, discreet advisor available when they need her, without the need for a full-time HR function.
“Heidi’s HR guidance alone was worth its weight in gold. Navigating employment contracts and onboarding in a private household context is far more nuanced than we anticipated and having that expert support made the whole process far less daunting.”
House Manager, Surrey, UK
Case studies from Cora
Building a New Team for a Newly Acquired Home in South West London
A family had recently completed the purchase of a substantial property in SW London: a beautifully restored period home that had been empty for some time before acquisition. The family were relocating from overseas and had never managed a property in the UK before. They had a clear vision for how they wanted to live, but no existing domestic team and limited familiarity with the UK employment landscape.
They came to Cora through a referral, initially enquiring about finding a housekeeper. Within the first conversation, it became clear that their needs were considerably broader.
We began with an advisory session focused on what a household of this size and nature would genuinely require. Together with the family, we developed a staffing structure that included a House Manager to lead the team, a Head Housekeeper with two housekeeping assistants, a Personal Chef, a driver, and a nanny, each with clearly defined responsibilities and reporting lines.
We then managed the full recruitment process for all roles, drawing on our network to identify candidates who not only held the right experience but who were suited to the family’s culture and to working within a newly formed team. Each candidate was presented with a detailed brief, interviewed thoroughly, and where possible, references were taken not just from recent employers but from earlier placements to understand patterns of behaviour and professionalism over time.
Our HR consultant, Heidi, worked alongside the family to draft employment contracts for each job role, establish appropriate terms and conditions, and put a clear on-boarding framework in place for when the team arrived.
The family took possession of a fully staffed, well structured household, with a team who understood their roles, their colleagues and the expectations of their principals. Six months on, the entire team remained in their positions and the family described the transition as “far smoother than we ever expected.”
Travelling Staff for a Global Principal
For a large proportion of our clients, home is wherever they happen to be, and the staffing challenge is correspondingly complex.
We were approached by the PA to a senior international businessman who spent the majority of his year in transit: dividing his time between the UK, the Middle East, the US, and several destinations across Europe. He had previously managed his travel arrangements through a combination of local staff, hotel concierge services, and ad hoc arrangements and was finding the inconsistency unsatisfactory.
What he needed were staff who could travel with him, who were comfortable living out of a suitcase, who understood the demands of high level private service in a variety of cultural contexts.
Cora worked with his PA to first map out a realistic picture of his annual travel schedule and the specific demands of each type of trip, business-focused visits, leisure travel and longer stays that required more of a settled, residential feel even in temporary accommodation.
From this, we identified a requirement for a Personal Valet / Travel Butler and a Personal Executive Assistant with a strong household background. Both roles demanded not only exceptional professional skills but a particular psychological profile: adaptability, calm under pressure, the ability to be available when needed and invisible when not.
We presented a shortlist of candidates, all of whom had extensive international travel experience in private service. The two individuals ultimately appointed had between them worked across more than thirty countries in senior private roles.
Eagle Private supported the wider engagement by reviewing the family office infrastructure around the principal’s travel, identifying gaps in his administrative support and connecting him with appropriate professionals on that side.
The result was a coherent, professional travelling household that gave the principal consistency of service regardless of where in the world he happened to be, and the confidence to focus on his work rather than the logistics around it.
A Different Kind of Recruitment Partner
The private household recruitment sector is a very small world and reputation within it matters enormously. Ours has been built on three things: discretion, honesty and a genuine commitment to getting placements right.
We are advisors first, recruiters second and for the families and principals we work with, that distinction makes all the difference.
To discuss your household staffing requirements or to arrange an advisory consultation, please contact the Cora team. We work with absolute discretion on all enquiries.
For family office recruitment and executive search, please visit our sister brand, Eagle Private.
“What sets Cora apart is that they listened before they acted. They took the time to understand how my principals actually live, not just what roles we thought we needed. The placements they made have been some of the best decisions we’ve made.”
Chief of Staff, Multi-Property Portfolio, UK & Europe