I lived in France most of my life, and I moved to Los Angeles a few months ago with my family, composed by husband and two school age children. In Paris, I had full time domestic help, since I had a job. Here, in Los Angeles, my husband is the only bread winner, as he was hired by a multinational company to head a whole subsidiary, with a sizable salary and benefits.
My new life didn’t require me to have a job, but I had to be in full charge of my children’s commuting, activity planning, school homework, and the various social obligations derived from my husband’s new prominent profile. Therefore, I urgently needed to find a great housekeeper-cook, that could drive to do the grocery shopping and household errands. It was important that she be fluent English speaking, to be able to handle phone calls and take proper messages, as well as dealing with local merchants and house maintenance providers, like gardeners and repairmen.
Since I didn’t know anyone in Los Angeles, I had to use my own judgment to go about searching for domestic help. And quickly! Thus, I resorted to the internet, of course, to start the process. Unfortunately, I was immediately lost in a labyrinth of dozens of choices. What to do? How to screen all those agencies, publications, public forums?
I decided, first, to weed out the bad ones. I immediately ruled out the big national companies which had hundreds of unchecked applicants who just sent in unverified resumes, then I ignored publications for wanted ads (too risky), and finally, I decided on local domestic agencies. But there still were too many, so I started screening them by looking into their websites. Good idea! I was able to narrow it down to three, now I needed to refine the parameters; I wanted an agency with longevity, licensed and bonded, with a clear explanation of its fees and guarantees, good local references, great expertise in the domestic field, hopefully one that had won awards and recognition from the industry, and with a pool of highly screened applicants with verified references.
Well, only one of the three domestic agencies had ALL of that, the name was (and is) Sandra Taylor Agency. Founded in 1967, serving Beverly Hills and all of Los Angeles county and Southern California. In its website shows plenty of awards and great client testimonials, plus a great video showing its staff in action. And its fees and guarantees are clearly listed. It goes without saying that they found me an amazing housekeeper-cook, with all my requirements.
Thank you, Sandra Taylor!