Private Family Assistant

About the Role

We're looking for a warm, dependable Private Family Assistant to support families in Greater Vancouver through education, life skills, childcare, and personal support — typically working alongside the same families long-term.

The work is about adding value to families. Assistants help children, teens and adults get ready for their own personal and professional lives — the skills, the routines, and the confidence to do more for themselves. That is what all four areas are for. Good assistants keep looking for what else would help, and the aim is measurable success — progress a family can notice and feel over time, and real weight taken off parents and family members rather than one more thing to manage. Practical help around a household happens in passing, but it is never the service itself.

We only accept a limited number of assistants for contract work, and partner up with individuals we feel will be a good addition to Private Mentorship.

Day-to-day work is built around what each family asks for at orientation. Sessions are 2–3 hours, in-person or online, and the weekly schedule stays consistent.

What You Earn

Your share

You keep 70% of every engagement fee. Private Mentorship retains 30% for the introduction, the matching, and running the platform. That split does not change with tenure, volume, or anything else.

Paid upfront

The family pays for the whole engagement before the first session. The rate is worked out per hour, but the money is committed as a single package — nothing to invoice and nothing to chase.

Per hour

$21 on a one-month engagement, $31.50 on a two-month engagement

Per engagement

• PlanYou keep
• 1 month, 24 hours$504
• 1 month, 40 hours$840
• 2 months, 24 hours$756
• 2 months, 40 hours$1,260

Hours

Sessions run two to three hours on average, with a two-hour minimum as the only fixed requirement. You and the family agree the weekly schedule at orientation.

Format

In-person and online across Greater Vancouver

Term

Engagements run one or two months. Most assistants work with one to five families at a time.

Renewals

Most families renew month after month, and every term is paid upfront before the work begins. You know exactly what you will earn before your first session — not hourly work you invoice for afterwards.

Choosing your work

• You choose what you take — Private Mentorship offers families a set of standard plans, one or two months at 24 or 40 hours, and assistants opt in to the ones they want
• Custom Plans are priced by you — when a family wants something outside those plans, you set your own price for it, and Private Mentorship’s 30% applies the same as it does to any other engagement
• Work comes to you, two ways — Private Mentorship refers and recommends families to you directly, including families another assistant is not the right fit for. And families read your profile and request you by name. Either way there is no bidding, no advertising yourself, and no chasing leads
• You decide on overnight work — some families need support through the night. Like any other engagement it is offered to you, never assigned, and you choose whether to take it
• You decide on full-day engagements — some families need a full eight-hour day. Same rule: it is offered, you decide, and declining costs you nothing
• You can keep your full-time job — plenty of assistants do this alongside permanent work, studies, or their own practice. Depending on your availability, Private Mentorship may introduce you to anywhere from one to five families. You take the engagements that fit your week and decline the ones that don’t, and Private Mentorship neither expects nor asks for any particular level of availability

On top of your 70%

• 100% yours

  Tips and gifts

  Private Mentorship takes no share of them and does not process them. What a family hands you is yours.

• 100% yours

  A second person in the session

  If a family asks you to work with a sibling alongside the first, you decide whether to take it on and you name the price. Private Mentorship earns nothing from it.

What you never pay for

• Outings are not your expense — when a session goes out into the community, the family covers transit, tickets, and admission, including yours. Food is the one thing that sits outside that: bring your own lunch or buy your own. Families often offer something at home or on an outing, but it is their choice rather than something to count on
• Money you lay out comes back to you — you are never required to spend your own money on a session. If you and the family agree beforehand that you will pay for something, bring the receipt back to them and they reimburse you directly
• Card processing costs you nothing — Private Mentorship absorbs the payment fees, and they are never taken out of your share

BC PST is charged inside our fee, not on top of your share. British Columbia charges 7% PST on online marketplace services — the introduction and the payment handling Private Mentorship provides. That tax is calculated within Private Mentorship’s 30% fee rather than added to it, so the figures above are what reaches you. Your statement shows the fee and the PST on separate lines, as the province requires.

No income tax deductions. Nothing is withheld from your share for income tax, CPP, or EI. You are self-employed and file your own return — Private Mentorship issues no T4 and no T4A, because it makes no payment to you. Your share reaches your own account when the family pays.

Getting Started

When a family enquires, available assistants are considered based on location, skill set, and what the family is asking for. You are told what the engagement involves before you decide. Declining costs you nothing and is not held against you.

The orientation meeting

Before sessions begin, you meet the family for an orientation. Three things are agreed there:

• The weekly schedule — days, times, session length, and frequency
• The homebase — a fixed point each session begins from, usually the family’s home. From there you either stay in or head out into the community, depending on the plan
• The focus areas — which parts of the work this family actually needs. Most want a mix of education, life skills, childcare, and a trusted person inside daily life

After orientation, sessions follow that schedule. It can be revisited as needs change, but stays consistent week to week.

Growing your practice

There is no probation, no performance review, and no rating. Nobody here grades your work or decides whether you have earned more. You are running your own practice.

What changes your income is how many engagements you take and how long they run — both your decision. Assistants who want more work take more families; assistants who want fewer take fewer. Nothing is withdrawn for saying no.

Private Mentorship may, at its discretion, reduce its platform fee on particular engagements — for harder-to-fill work, or unusual scheduling. That is a commercial decision about a specific engagement, not a reward for tenure, and it is never promised in advance.

What You'll Do

The list below is a menu — not a daily checklist. The mix is set with the family at orientation and stays consistent week to week.

With the Client

• Teach school subjects one-on-one (English, math, science), ESL, or post-secondary prep
• Share hard skills you're qualified to teach: digital tools, trades, music, languages, finance
• Practice communication and socialization in real settings — parks, gyms, restaurants, community events
• Lead community outings, transit practice, and group activities
• Run confidence-building activities: puzzles, exercise, hobbies
• Support job searches: résumé building, applications, interview prep

Around the Family’s Week

• Find programs, funding, and placements — and see the applications through
• Attend appointments and meetings alongside a client — and write up what was said
• Keep the week on track — appointments, deadlines, forms, and follow-ups
• Help restock and organize household supplies
• Provide medication reminders — never administering, no needles, no dosing decisions

Working with the Family

• Co-create the weekly schedule with the family at orientation
• Maintain open, respectful communication with parents and the client
• Follow established routines and household preferences
• As needed: accompany the client to programs, intakes, or external meetings (with consent)
• As needed: help with funding applications and resource coordination

Scope of this role. The Private Family Assistant is a supportive presence in a family's daily life — not a nurse or care aide. Personal-care tasks beyond what's listed are handled privately, on a case-by-case basis.

What We're Looking For

• Grade 12 / Canadian high school diploma (minimum)
• 1+ year of relevant experience: education, mentorship, tutoring, caregiving, coaching, or similar
• Hard skills you can teach — however you got them (degrees, diplomas, or self-taught)
• Strong written and verbal communication
• Reliable, organized, and able to adapt when a session shifts mid-day
• Comfortable in a home environment alongside parents
• CPR / First Aid certified, or willing to become certified

You'll Thrive Here If You Are

• Patient and genuinely enjoy teaching
• Naturally organized and a step ahead
• Flexible when plans shift
• Discreet around private family matters
• A self-starter who pitches in wherever needed
• A positive role-model — clients pick up your tone before your words

Required Documentation

Every item below is checked during onboarding. You upload them as part of the application.

• Government-issued photo IDIdentity, matched to your application
• RésuméYour work history and the skills you teach
• Criminal Record Check with PIC-VSVulnerable sector search, cleared before your first session
• Three character referencesOne from a past employer. Each is contacted directly.
• Work authorizationPR card, citizenship, or a valid work permit
• Your own banking detailsYour share reaches you directly, never through us

May also be requested. Depending on the family and the work, we may ask for an MCFD clearance (Ministry of Children and Family Development). It is not required to apply.

Assets (Nice to Have)

• Standard First Aid + CPR-C (current)
• Class 4 or 5 driver's license
• Driver's abstract
• A reliable way to get to sessions
• Food Safe Level 1
• TB test / immunization records
• Second language
• Subject matter expertise in any field
• Coaching or instructional background

About Private Mentorship

Founded in 2023, Private Mentorship introduced a new category of household support: the Private Family Assistant. One consistent, in-home professional who combines education, life skills, childcare, and personal support across a family's life.

The work centers on positive role-modeling — taking day-to-day pressure off the parents so they can focus on their relationships with their family members, and supporting children as they grow into their personal lives and future careers.

The model is built around continuity and a long-term, hands-on relationship with a single family. Three years in, most families are still working with the assistant they began with.