In today’s residential market, Butlers and House Managers must understand the skill set of each staff member in the residence. Students will learn how to correctly execute each household job skill to facilitate superior management of their staff. We have painstakingly put together an excellent curriculum of which we are very proud.  We cannot provide too detailed information on this web site about our curriculum but we can show you a glimpse of what you may expect. Please see below.

Our curriculum is broad, practical and skills focused. We emphasize skills and we eschew dusty, outmoded practices in favor of instruction on skills that are current and relevant to today’s households. The curriculum is designed to provide students with comprehensive Butler and House Manager skills that can be put to use on day 1 of their first private service position.
 

The Curriculum

The International Butler Academy teaches a personal service expertise and organizational structure that supports the management of complex homes and lifestyles.  The core areas of study, and some examples of the kinds of subjects covered in each include:

• The Life of a Butler
  history and traditions, personal traits, personal and professional standards, service in detail.  Click the Link above (The Life of a Butler) and review an example of how detailed we approach one single subject.

• Staff Management
  interviewing, hiring and firing, agency staff, employee handbooks and house rules, human resources and personnel issues, staff communications, time management.

• House Management
  includes technical skills, setting routines and schedules, defining and setting standards, purchasing.

• Table Management
  setting tables and serving meals, styles of service, table manners, wines and champagnes, cigars, special celebrations.

• Laundry Management
  including linens and fine fabric care, clothing maintenance, ironing & pressing, dry-cleaning, product knowledge.

• Valeting Skills
  the professional Gentleman's Gentleman, dress codes, formal wear, purchasing and care of bespoke clothing and shoes, maintaining inventories and packing suitcases.

• Communication
  cultural differences, interpersonal skills, body language, remembering names and making conversation, telephone manners, personal presentation skills.

• Etiquette & Protocol
  addressing persons of different cultures and titled persons, acquiring social confidence, social correspondence, common-sense good manners and consideration for others.

• Cooking
  balancing food and wine, menu planning and record keeping, speed-cuisine, quality control, "the Chef's night off".

• Miscellaneous
  from traveling with your employer to relocating the household, chauffeuring techniques, security, character building and more, much more.

We train you in all the aspects of butling and house management

Our comprehensive eight-week, government licensed course will introduce and test each student to all the expected duties of a butler, personal assistant, valet, house & estate manager. Although a large part of your responsibility as a butler could be serving meals, setting tables etc. and you will receive ample training in these areas, the overall training mainly focuses on how to professionally run and manage a large, multi-million dollar estate.

You will be responsible for the rest of the staff, the yacht, the jet and other properties. You will be the estate (house) manager, sometimes the chauffeur and at times even the housekeeper, handyman, accountant, gardener etc. Whatever your role, we will train you how to do it with much style and grace.
 

Additional practical training

Each few days one student is appointed head butler and one student is appointed assistant butler. Both are in charge of the group. As head butler a student is responsible for organizing all meals that day, organizing the field trip (if any), looking after guests, and for managing the rest of the staff so that everyone knows what he or she needs to do. Role-playing is an important instrument we use in our training methods. It allows students an opportunity to "feel" what it is like to be in charge of a large staff and at the same time the staff will learn to "cope" with a demanding supervisor.

A typical course day runs from 8 AM until 8 PM.  Students are normally free on Sundays. However, please note that students on previous courses had only four or five days off over a period of eight weeks. The instructors will coach you throughout the course. On a daily and on a weekly basis you will receive feedback on your progress to become a superb butler. Various tests need to be fulfilled throughout the course with the final tests the last week. A lot of training takes place in eight weeks, so you have to come mentally prepared. The course is intensive and will be strenuous, perhaps even exhausting. However, these eight weeks are also a lot of fun and you will undoubtedly return home with many new friends and many fond memories.