How to Get a Housekeeping Job in Six Steps – Job Description And Resume Examples

How to Get a Housekeeping Job in Six Steps

Are you looking to get a housekeeping job and need to know how to achieve the goal? If you are, then this post will be helpful to you.

It provides six steps that guide you through preparing for the housekeeping job, to taking and excelling at an interview.

Please, read on …

6 Steps to Get a Job as a Housekeeper

These are some of the steps you can take to increase your chances of getting a job as a housekeeper:

1. Prepare for the Housekeeping Job

You need to prepare for the housekeeping job that you are pursuing by developing certain qualities, which most employers are looking for in applicants.

Recruiters believe these qualities will make the housekeeper more effective on the job, and so give more attention to candidates who have them.

These qualities include education, skills, abilities, knowledge, and experience.

Below are qualities employers are expecting to see in applicants for a housekeeping job:

Prior Experience: Every housekeeper needs to stay long in the business in order to gain experience. Experienced housekeepers save money and time because they have ideas on housekeeping and cleaning duties and cost saving tactics.
Bedroom, Bathroom, and Kitchen Cleaning: The ability to make a bed, scrub bath tub, and tidy up the kitchen effectively are true qualities of a good, skillful, and experienced housekeeper. As an effective housekeeper you don’t need anybody to tell you what to do in the bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen when it comes to cleaning and keeping the house.
Laundry, Trash, and Odd Jobs: As a diligent housekeeper, you can help fold laundry or take out trash. The children can help sometimes but you don’t over-assign them to duties.
Cooking, Child Care, and Pet Care: A housekeeper should know how to cook meals, and care for children and pets. These qualities are necessary as you don’t know which areas you may be assigned in any moment.
Interpersonal Skills: A good housekeeper should know how to be honest and respectful towards employers, guests, and patients. The housekeeper should listen attentively and communicate effectively, and should possess a certain degree of professionalism.
Organizational Skills: Housekeepers need the ability to follow instructions, protocol, and procedure. They should make a good team and work with both colleagues and superiors to achieve a great purpose.
Detail-oriented: A good housekeeper needs to pay enough attention to detail in order to complete tasks successfully. The housekeeper also needs to have the ability to perform duties with little or no supervision.
Physical Strength: For a housekeeper to perform his/her duties successfully, he/she needs high levels of energy, stamina, and physical strength in order to conquer situations of standing, bending, kneeling, crawling, crouching, squatting, and working in a non-spacious closet for long periods of time. He/she should be able to resist the effect of cleaning chemicals and dust.

2. Find a Housekeeping Job

Various ways and places you can find housekeeping jobs include:

Indeed: Indeed is a job-finding website that contains more than 170,724 job listings. Search according to job title, keywords or company (which is “housekeeping”), and enter your zip code in the box labeled “where” to show results in your area.
Snagajob: Another place you can get a housekeeping job is Snagajob. The site has over 25,295 job listings. You have the option of searching with your zip code to get results in your area.
GreatAuPair: GreatAuPair is a job site for housekeepers. With over 75, 914 housekeeping job results, you have the ability to search and locate jobs according to your country.
Housekeeper.com: This is one of the online services available where you can find professional housekeepers and housekeeping jobs. The site is trusted by over 13,750,080 users across the US and Canada. The website connects people with a community of qualified cleaning professionals for home, office, and commercial cleaning.
Monster: Monster has more than 1000 housekeeping job listings. You can filter your search according to your location and get a better result.
GoNannies: GoNannies is also a great source for finding housekeepers and housekeeping jobs. Whether you’re looking to hire a housekeeper or want to be one yourself, you can conduct a search on GoNannies website and go home smiling after finding your dream job.
ApplyDirect: ApplyDirect can help you get a housekeeping job. You have the ability to search through a wide variety of remarkable employers currently advertising for housekeeping staff. At ApplyDirect you can apply direct to the hiring manager without going through recruiters that might waste your time. You can find a job in any industry whether what you need is a room attendant in a hotel, a hospital assistant in the medical industry, or a laundry assistant, ApplyDirect can always assist you.

3. Apply for the Job

Applying for a housekeeping job requires that you create an enticing resume and cover letter.

Your resume should have your best skills and potentials relevant to the housekeeping job included in it. This will help convince the employer that you’re the best candidate for the position.

Your resume should not be long, but a short and meaningful one can serve better. You can learn how to make an effective housekeeper resume or find a good sample copy to use in creating yours.

Also, your cover letter should be short, meaningful, and impactful to get the attention you desire from the recruiter.

4. Prepare for Pre-employment Assessment Tests

If you’re asked to take a pre-employment test to be hired as a housekeeper, don’t get angry. Even senior executives at the best companies in the world are usually asked to take pre-employment tests. Employers just want to determine your suitability for the job.

Preparation is the first step towards a successful assessment tests. Sharpen your skills and abilities on math skills, verbal ability, attention to detail, and memory.

Relaxation helps you to escape the temptation of getting nervous and your prospective employer noticing your nervous state. If you get upset or nervous during the test, the employer may be concerned about how you will handle the usual day-to-day job stress. So, learn to relax and you will get a better testing moment.

When you come to personality tests, there is no right or wrong answers. The tests are mainly designed to measure “traits” that are associated with successful performance of a particular job.

It is wrong to try to fake these tests by answering questions in the way that you think the employer wants.

This approach doesn’t work because most personality tests contain an internal validity scale that detects attempts to represent you in a wrong manner. Therefore, if your answers are ever noticed to be dishonest you are hurting your chances of being hired.

Another reason why you don’t need to fake personality tests is that employers use the means to determine if you’re a good fit for the job. If you succeed in fooling them, you might end up not being very good at or happy with the job if you finally get it.

Employers don’t want to waste the time and money hiring and training someone who will not work out or who will leave them too soon. So, faking personality test will very likely not get you the job.

Whether you are allowed to take pre-employment tests at the company’s place of business or at home, you need a few minutes or several hours to get prepared, and you need to take the test in a location that is free from distractions.

When taking pre-employment tests don’t rush through instructions, but carefully read them and make sure you understand them. You may be told that there is no penalty for incorrect answers on some aptitude tests. In this case, if you’re running out of time you may start guessing to be able to complete them.

Learn more about the job assessment tests that you may be required to take for a housekeeping job.

5. Prepare for Interviews – Major Important Housekeeping Interview Questions and Answers

When hiring housekeepers, employers usually look for hardworking candidates who can handle lots of manual labor and pay close attention to details.

The reason for an interview is to know your ability to be on your feet all day and perform physically laborious tasks.

Your dress code also matters when attending an interview for this position. You don’t dress in jeans and casual wears. Corporate wears and suits can serve better.

Most importantly, learn how to answer the questions below correctly before the interview date.
Here are some questions you’ll likely be asked during a housekeeping interview process:

Tell me about yourself? Tell the interviewer how dedicated you are and about your experience in housekeeping; how competent you have been in cleaning rooms and bathrooms, changing the linens, and taking out trash. You could say in addition, “I am proficient in clearing off snow from parking areas using manual and chemical means”.
Why did you choose to work on this housekeeping position? You could answer this questions thus, “I have outstanding cleaning skills which make me comfortable while performing various kinds of cleaning and sanitation tasks. Additionally, I have the ability to perform minor repair and maintenance tasks. As a result of these skills, I have the capacity to provide outstanding housekeeping services”.
What are the key tasks of a housekeeper? The key tasks of a housekeeper should include cleaning, changing linens, vents, mopping, cleaning/scouring sinks, vacuuming carpets, and washing windows, door frames and more. You could further say, “If there are other tasks assigned by the employer, I will be pleased to perform all given tasks beyond my job range”.
What makes you a more qualified housekeeper than other candidates? “I am willing to take any job and that differentiates me from a candidate who hopes that being a housekeeper will help them learn more about hotel business and eventually becomes a hotel manager”, can be your answer.
How do you manage to complete multiple housekeeping tasks in a single day? Your answer can be, “Task prioritization and multitasking have become part of me. I prioritize numerous tasks immediately I receive them and start working on them”.
Do you know about chemical cleaning precautions? “I take chemical cleaning precautions while using any chemical cleaners, including ice cleaners. I do read and follow instructions that come with different chemical cleaners”.
What are your strengths as a housekeeper? If these are truly your strengths, then you could say, “My strengths are organization, patience, and persistence. I rely on these traits in my role as a housekeeper and in dealing with customers successfully”.
Do you like working in a team? “I build interpersonal relationships with my teammates and I communicate well with them, trying as much as I can to help my colleagues whenever possible”.
How do you take care of an upset and dissatisfied client? “Apology is the first move I initiate whenever a client is not happy with my work. And then I improve my services. I work according to the housekeeping requirements of a client and deliver high quality housekeeping services to keep my clients smiling all day long”.
What experience do you have in this housekeeping job? This is a time you need to tell the interviewer about any experience you might have that is related to the position and that makes you ideal candidate for the job. You can talk about school, previous job, or prior life experience that has prepared you for the position.
What challenges do you expect to see in this position? In answering this question, you should discuss how you would like to be able to efficiently make use of your experience and skills if you were hired for the job. Further mention how you love to face challenges, and how you use your skills and flexibility to handle a challenging job. You can possibly continue to describe specific instances of challenges you have met and goals you have achieved in the past.

6. Follow up

After the interview, it is wise to send a “Thank you” note to the interviewers as soon as possible before they make the final employment decision.

In the note, you should genuinely thank them for the opportunity given to you to explain to them why you are best suited for the housekeeping job.

You should also quickly highlight important skills or experience that you didn’t quite bring out during the interview and provide them with useful ideas (if you have any) for the improvement of their housekeeping department.

If properly done, your follow up effort can play a big role in turning the recruiter’s employment decision in your favor.