There are other terms for Singapore maid, and they are also known as amah, foreign domestic worker, domestic helper or nanny. Many of them come from countries like the Philippines, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka. Helpers from Nepal and Bangladesh are also getting popular with the Singaporean employers here. Currently, there are about 155,000 maids working in Singapore.

It is a known fact that the Singapore maid is required under the local regulations to live in and work in your home. Hence, it is important to choose the right person to work in your family. To start off on the right footing, it is important to choose the right Singapore maid agency to assist you.

Watch out for the following considerations when looking into which Singapore maid agency to engage:

A. Ask to see the documents of the Singapore maid agency showing that they are accredited by the Consumers Association of Singapore or the Association of Employment Agencies. In addition, ensure that the Singapore Ministry of Manpower has duly licensed them to operate.

B. Having established that the agency is licensed to serve you, make sure that they are reputable. There are a few things to do here:

- see whether their website or their office have written testimonials from happy customers. The presence of testimonials typically imply a reasonably good level of service. To make sure that there are no fraudulent testimonials, ask to see the originals or scans of the testimonials.

- ask around - talk to your relatives, friends and colleagues for their recommendation of a reputable Singapore maid agency; and

- if your friends have maids, go talk to them to see which maid agency they recommend. If they like a particular maid agency, it usually means that the maid agency is kind and fair to them. If the maid agency is popular amongst the maids, you can be pretty sure that you will have a good choice of maids to choose from if you engage the maid agencys service.

C. After having done the above, get started. Go have a chat with the staff of the maid agency and ask them various questions. You should be off to a good footing if you find their staff friendly and knowledgeable.

Finally, if you have followed the steps above, you should have found a matching Singapore maid agency for your needs. They should be able to find a well-matched maid for your family.