Due to high demand we are pleased to announce that our consultant Victoria Life is now working from the South of France, covering the whole of the French Rivera and Monaco.

Randolphs is approaching its 20th year as an agency that recruits high-calibre service staff for private households and estates, and corporate and family offices. This includes butlers, PAs, Housekeepers, couples, chefs and nannies, for permanent, temporary or seasonal positions.

Our main office is based in London but our clients are international, and range from Royal households, HNWIs, and multi-property families to well-known figures in the worlds of business and entertainment.

Victoria - Senior Consultant (English and Russian speaking), is ready to meet you in Monaco, Antibes, Cannes ... to discuss your needs and help find that perfect new team member to fit in with you and your household.

Randolphs are delighted to invite you to a Household Management Book Launch event for Giovanni Lodigiani's new book “Introduction to Executive Property, Estate & Household Management”

A completely new approach to the private service industry. A must-read book for all service professionals

Giovanni will be sharing some insight in to his passion for the private service industry and his motivation for writing the book. We will also be joined by highly respected industry figures Robert Watson (Guild of English Butlers) and Sean Davroen (Head Butler Savoy) writers of the preface and foreword.

We very much hope you can join us as this will be an excellent opportunity to network with other household management professionals.

The book will be available to purchase at a discounted rate and signed by the author.

To book your place please click on the link below 

Household Management Book Launch Event

Our team of international consultants will be in Monaco & South of France to meet both clients & candidates on the following dates:

11^th – 12^th May 

15^th and 16^th June

19^th to 21^st July

August – 17^th and 18^th August

Yacht Show 29^th and 30^th September

Contact the London office to make your appointment

info@randolphs.co.uk

+44 203 617 9120

Randolphs has a specialist team of recruitment consultants who source and place domestic service staff, including butlers, chefs, house managers, housekeepers, cooks, maids, nannies and PAs. Pauline Mercier, from Burgundy in France, works on the phenomenally busy desk which recruits housekeepers and ladies' maids. We asked her for some of the secrets of her success...

What are the main things you do in your working day?
I spend a lot of time meeting candidates and working on the database, which has about 8,000 names on it. We're processing between 10 and 100 applications every day, depending on where we have posted a job. We invite them in to meet them personally, as it's the most important thing to do, to meet in person. You find out so much more about their character than from reading a CV.
What's the significance of the candidate database?
Sometimes we meet candidates who are not right for a job, but you know they might be good for something in the future. Also it can turn out that the candidate is looking for something a bit different – so often they're happy to wait. The other week I was asked to find a horse groom – and I actually had an ex-jockey on the database who may take that job. Having the database means we always say 'Yes' when given a brief to fill a position – and then we work hard to come up with someone! And we're here to fulfil the needs of candidates as much as those of clients.

How much contact do you have with the clients?
Steven has an excellent book of contacts – many of whom are very well-known people. I gradually meet them, especially if the client is actually the PA or house manager in charge of the recruitment for the family, house or office. It's good to see the house. For example, I saw one recently which had nine floors, so I knew I had to find someone fit! Also you can then understand the working environment your candidate will be going into, such as whether they will be working on their own or as part of a team of six, or if the client is travelling a lot. If you have gone into the house you can explain the job much better to candidates and also describe the person who will be interviewing them. One house I saw was decorated in Coco Chanel style, so I sent along a French lady. If I hadn't visited the house I wouldn't have thought to send a French candidate – she got the job as head housekeeper.
Where do you advertise your vacancies?
We mainly advertise jobs on our own website and there are a few other job portals which are quite effective. We have to advertise more online and direct to our database if a job is further afield, for example in Edinburgh or Switzerland.

Describe your most challenging placement to date?
One of our clients hired a new house manager who wanted to change the whole team. I went to visit the property and meet the client, a very nice 'self-made' man from Spain. We had a long chat about what he wanted for the new team. In the space of six weeks we found five ladies who were not only a good fit for the boss in terms of personality, but are also enjoying working together.
How much do you keep in touch after a successful placement?
I email the candidates for the next two to three weeks, and after that I leave them alone – but I try to be in contact once every two months to make sure they are still OK and to be prepared if they're not. Equally they might be able to put you in touch with more opportunities through their new household. Having a nice relationship with the candidates is important for me – most candidates contact several agencies and we want to be sure we are friendly with the best ones – so yes, we go for drinks and keep in touch. Sometimes candidates end up becoming clients – if they're made house manager and given the position of recruiting staff themselves.

What do you especially like about working at Randolphs?
They give you an excellent platform to succeed, including a database, good network of contacts and a nice working environment and support. It's going well – I place on average two permanent housekeepers per week plus temps and holiday cover.

If you'd like to be considered as a candidate for one of our positions, or if you are potentially a client, please do get in touch with Pauline or any of the team at Randolphs, on +44 (0)20 3617 9120 or email pauline@randolphs.co.uk.

Joanna Brooks heads up the Randolphs desk which recruits nannies, childminders, babysitters, tutors and governesses. She joined the company in summer 2016, having previously run her own recruitment agency for five years, specialising in French tutors.

Originally from the south of France, Joanna acquired a masters degree in Business Management in Nîmes, covering multiple disciplines including tourism, hospitality and human resources.

After working in a hotel in Ireland to improve her English, Joanna travelled around Australia, worked in hospitality and events in Brisbane, and met her Australian future husband in 2008. Subsequently relocating to London, Joanna worked as a private, after-school French tutor, gaining new clients through word of mouth. She also worked for her husband, a beverage director for a London group of restaurants and bars, on a series of wine weekends in private events

From here Joanna set up her own agency, specialising in French Bilingual Child carers recruiting French nannies and governesses for families in London and abroad, including Paris. In 2016, she spent three months working alongside the Randolphs team. "It was a big change from running my own business," she says, "but I really enjoyed it." She now works with Jo Macartney on the Randolphs desk which recruits nannies, childminders, tutors and governesses, internationally. When not at her desk, sport-loving Joanna loves running and yoga, and is training to run a half-marathon.

Downton Abbey may be a dramatic representation of a bygone era, but for some the lifestyle lives on – albeit without quite such starchy uniforms. Exactly a hundred years ago, the First World War changed the world for ever; yet in 2014 the demand for the traditional butler-and-chef combination is as healthy as ever, and many households are supplementing them with housekeepers, nannies and personal assistants to help organise multiple residences, children, offices and schedules.

Fortunately, traditional butlering is not a dying art. Performing domestic tasks properly, meticulously, immaculately, discreetly, reliably, unquestioningly even, is a skill that has been handed from one generation to the next and, thanks to companies like Randolphs, continues to be uniquely well executed and greatly valued. Whether they’re serving a champagne lunch at the races, afternoon tea at home in Mayfair or canapés on the terrace of your Lake Como villa, no one looks after you quite like a Randolphs butler.

Randolphs’ butlers take their cue from founder Steven Randolph who established the business 15 years ago – and what Steven doesn’t know about top-calibre butlering you could write on the pearl button of a white glove. Having attended international royals, ambassadors, dignitaries and VIPs, in locations all over the world, Steven works at the very top of his profession… not that he would ever name names. Discretion, trust and loyalty are essentials in this business; name-dropping is the quickest way to find yourself out in an alley with only the bins for company.

Randolphs is, in essence, an extension of Steven’s belief in a strong service ethic. The company recruits the full spectrum of service staff, and also runs training days to help sharpen up their skills. They are often called upon to provide a butler-chef-housekeeper team for a globetrotting client’s second or third home, be it a luxury log cabin in Gstaad, a villa in Mustique or a sporting estate in Aberdeenshire. Part-time or full-time posts can be filled. As Steven says, “Nothing is impossible.”

Nor does Randolphs stop at private, domestic service staff. Where there’s a butler there’s often a party, and Steven soon found that he was being approached by some of London’s top catering and events businesses to provide service staff for dinners and dances, both private and corporate. Lady Elizabeth Anson, founder of the world-renowned Party Planners, has said that, quite simply, there is no one she trusts more. After Royal Ascot, she paid tribute to the Randolphs staff who manned The Queen’s official guest tent, describing the service as “impeccable; friendly, willing and agile.”

From time to time, clients for whom Randolphs have sourced first class domestic staff come back to Steven to organise their parties too. A no-expense-spared theme party in a country mansion is Randolphs’ idea of a dream come true, because of the creative element involved in addition to the catering and service. “We can really go to town with some fun ideas,” says marketing director Kelly Groucott, “and clients are really happy for us to suggest some crazy stuff because they know that they can trust us on the day. In a world where technology, electronics and problem-solving play such a big part in our everyday lives, it’s nice for hosts to be able to entertain face to face, relax in the company of other people and know that we’ve taken care of absolutely everything.”

Randolphs can be contacted on tel: +44 (0) 20 3617 9120 or email info@randolphs.co.uk.

Specialist recruitment agency Randolphs is delighted to announce the opening of a dedicated Russian desk to meet the needs of its Russian clients based in London and overseas. The desk will be headed up by Victoria Life, a Russian from St Petersburg, whose relevant experience and ability to speak the language will facilitate a far smoother experience forRussians looking to recruit private household staff, including butlers, chefs,chauffeurs, housekeepers, executive assistants, governesses or childcare.
Victoria, who gained a degree in business law in St Petersburg, spent seven years as a company lawyer inRussia, before relocating, first to the Philippines, where she worked in human resources in Manila, and then to London, with her English husband. Since 2012she has specialised in recruitment.
With a natural talent for communicating, Victoria finds herself in an ideal new role. Of her particular market, she says: "In Moscow, and also inFrance where a lot of Russians live, people often ask for nativeEnglish-speaking governesses and also traditional English butlers. It's a demanding market; but also an expanding one. We have many Russian-speaking clients in London and also the south of France, and the number is growing. So these are the clients I shall be looking after, regardless of where they are based."