Domestic Housekeeper CV Examples & Writing Guide

This is a CV for an experienced private housekeeper who has grown into household management. The person, the family and the addresses are invented. Notice what comes first: the size of the home, how many days a week, whether she works alone, and how long she stayed. In private service, length of service is the strongest thing on the page.

You are applying to work alone inside somebody's home, around their children, their belongings and their private life. That changes what the CV has to prove, and it is not the same list as a hotel or office cleaning job.

• How long you stayed. Two long placements beat six short ones every time. If a job was short, put the reason on the page in a few words: family moved, house sold, position ended, temporary cover.
• What you ran alone. Size of the house, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, how many people and pets live there, and whether you were the only staff or part of a team.
• The extras, because they set your pay. Cooking, driving, fine laundry, childcare support, pet care, managing contractors, travel with the family, formal service.
• Driving and right to work. Full UK driving licence, clean record with no points, whether you can be insured on a family car, your right to work in the UK, and that you are happy to do a DBS check.
• References. Private families hire on recommendation. Names are usually held back until later, but say clearly that written references and contactable former employers are available.

“The first thing I look at is tenure, then whether the candidate worked alone or in a team, then driving and cooking. A housekeeper who stayed seven years with one family and can explain exactly how the house ran is worth three candidates with a year here and a year there. And I will call every reference, so please tell them first.”

Families and agencies write job descriptions from a checklist like this one. Go through it, mark what you actually do, then turn each mark into a bullet with a number attached. Do not list everything; list what this household is asking for.

• Daily: beds and linen, bathrooms, kitchen and washing-up, floors, dusting and surfaces, tidying children's rooms, rubbish and recycling, laundry started and finished, dishwasher and appliance reset, post and deliveries brought in.

• Weekly: full clean of each room on a rotation, changing all beds, mirrors and glass, inside windows, skirting boards and vents, fridge clear-out, food shop, ironing and pressing, polishing wood and stone, bathing pets.

• Seasonal and occasional: wardrobe changeover, curtain and upholstery cleaning, silver polishing, oven and cooker hood deep clean, organising storage and the loft, preparing guest rooms, Christmas decorating, packing for travel, supervising contractors, party and dinner preparation.

• Beyond cleaning (say so if you do it, since it usually raises the rate): cooking and meal planning, school runs and errands, pet care and vet appointments, household budget and receipts, inventory and supply ordering, contractor scheduling, managing a second cleaner or a laundress, house sitting and alarm codes.

The trap in this job is writing a list of chores that could describe anyone's Saturday morning. Add the size of the home, the frequency and the standard you were held to.

Three or four lines. Lead with years and length of service, then the size of the home and whether you work alone, then the extras (cooking, driving, laundry, pets). Use a career objective only if you are new to private homes.

Twelve to fourteen, weighted towards the things a family cannot teach quickly. Anyone can be shown where the hoover lives; not everyone can press a silk blouse or look after a stone worktop without ruining it.

• Cleaning craft: deep and detail cleaning, care of marble, natural stone, hardwood and specialist finishes, antique furniture and silver, chandeliers and glass, upholstery care, COSHH and knowing which products never touch which surface.

• Laundry and wardrobe: sorting by fabric, hand-washing, machine settings for delicates, pressing and steaming, stain treatment, wardrobe organisation, seasonal changeover, working with dry cleaners and tailors, packing garments for travel.

• Running the house: written schedules and checklists, inventory and supply ordering, budgets and receipts, contractor scheduling and supervision, food shopping, meal planning and cooking, dietary requirements and allergies, formal table setting, event preparation.

• The trust part: discretion and confidentiality, holding keys and alarm codes, working unsupervised, honesty about breakages, safe driving with children in the car, first aid, and languages spoken.

Private families are careful about their names appearing anywhere, and a candidate who publishes an employer's full name and address is an immediate no. Handle it like this and you show discretion without hiding your history.

1. 1Write the employer as "Private family residence" plus the town and the size of the home, not the family's name.
2. 2Add "References on request" and mean it. Have two or three written references ready as a PDF, with permission to give phone numbers when asked.
3. 3Ask every family before you list them, and tell them when you send your CV out so a call does not surprise them.
4. 4If you signed a confidentiality agreement (NDA), say so on the CV. It reads as a positive, not a limitation.
5. 5Keep any social media you share with an employer free of house photos, car photos and location details. Agencies check.
6. 6Never mention a former employer's children by name, their routine, their travel or their security arrangements, in writing or in the interview.

There is no licence for private housekeeping in the UK. What families and agencies rely on instead are checks and a small number of certificates, plus proof that the job can be done properly on the books.

• DBS check: anyone can apply for a basic DBS certificate, and agencies often ask for one. Higher-level checks are only available for some roles, such as those involving regular care of children, so do not claim one you have not been given.
• First aid: Emergency First Aid at Work, and Paediatric First Aid in homes with young children, especially if you also help with childcare or older relatives.
• A Level 2 Food Hygiene and Safety certificate if you cook regularly, plus any allergen awareness training.
• Full UK driving licence, driving record, and whether you are willing to be added to the family's car insurance.
• Private service training: some butler and household management schools and agencies issue certificates in household management, wardrobe care or formal service. Name the exact course and the year, and do not upgrade a short workshop into a diploma.
• Legal employment: a family who employs you directly is normally your employer, so they should register for PAYE where your pay is over the threshold, pay at least the National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage, give you paid holiday and usually a workplace pension. Rules for live-in roles and for anyone on an Overseas Domestic Worker visa have their own conditions, so check current GOV.UK guidance, and treat a family who insists on cash with no payslips as a risk to you, not a favour.

One page if you have under ten years, two if you have long placements with detail worth keeping. Reverse chronological with month and year on every job, since gaps matter more in private service than almost anywhere else. No photo, no date of birth and no full home address on a UK CV, even though household staff CVs in some other countries still include them.

• Mirror the words in the advert: live-in or live-out, hands-on housekeeper, housekeeper/cook, house manager, household manager, laundress, fine laundry, formal service, discretion, flexible hours, travel with the family.
• Say live-in or live-out clearly, and whether you will travel with the family or work occasional weekends.
• State your hours: days per week, hours, whether you can do occasional evenings for events.
• If you work through agencies, list your agency placements as one entry with the property types and the length of the assignments.
• Send a PDF named for yourself, such as novak-private-housekeeper.pdf, and bring printed copies plus your written references to the interview, which is usually held in the home.
• In the US the same document is called a resume and the job is usually advertised as housekeeper or household manager. UK agencies use domestic housekeeper, private housekeeper or housekeeper/cook; use the advert's title, and keep UK conventions: no photo, no personal details beyond your contact line.