Housekeepers have been essential in domestic and commercial premises for centuries, and the hustle and bustle of the modern world means that they play an even more impactful role today than ever before.
If you’re thinking of becoming a housekeeper, it’s a good idea to get to grips with what skills are required to thrive in such a position. You might be surprised by just how many different abilities you’ll have to bring to the table to succeed!
Teamwork
While a housekeeper may work solo on certain projects, they’ll more often find themselves tackling their duties as part of a team. As such, it pays to be a team player, and not a lone wolf who can’t engage effectively or collaborate intuitively with others.
The psychology of teamwork is complex, yet once you’ve mastered it, you’ll be a valuable asset and could take the step up to a more senior position.
Resilience and stamina
Housekeeping is an innately physical job, and one which works your entire body across a range of different tasks. That means it’s useful to be resilient, not just in an emotional sense, but also in terms of your fitness levels.
You’ll need adequate stamina to tackle intensive duties manually, and also be capable of hauling heavy equipment from A to B.
Time management
When it comes to housekeeping, the clock is always ticking, and so sticking to a schedule rather than allowing time to trickle away without using it productively is a necessary skill to develop.
If you can’t be confident in your own time management abilities, it’s sensible to use apps which should help break you out of bad habits.
Communication
If you’re intending to act as a self-employed housekeeper, then how you interact with others will determine how many clients you win and retain.
There are various tricks to effective client communication, and you also need to be a good listener. Taking in information given to you by others and using it to guide your work routines and set a schedule is all part and parcel of being a good housekeeper.
Accountability
Holding yourself accountable for mistakes you make isn’t just one of the qualities of a good leader, but also comes into play for those lower down the food chain.
Being able to own up to errors and take responsibility for them, rather than brushing them under the carpet, both figuratively and literally, will make you more attractive to clients and employers.
Reliability
This feeds into aforementioned skills like time keeping, but is also a more general asset which housekeepers should nurture.
You want clients to know that they can depend on you, and so keeping promises, paying attention to the details, and not passing the buck will all fall under this category.
How much could you earn as a housekeeper?
The average housekeeper salary sits at just under $30,000. With time and experience you’ll be able to earn over $34,000 in this role, so it’s clear that working on your skills will help to pay the bills further down the line.
Flexibility
You’ll find that housekeeping isn’t a career which sticks to the standard 9 to 5 format. In fact housekeepers are more likely to occupy shifts that sit outside of usual business hours, for the very reason that cleaning commercial premises is quicker and less disruptive when everyone else has gone home for the day.
Being more flexible in terms of the hours you are willing to work will open up more opportunities for you. Of course, it’s also worth pointing out that there are roles that have more socially amenable shift patterns; it’s just a case of knowing where to look, and accepting that your choice of jobs will be restricted by this requirement.
Pursuing customer satisfaction
In most careers it would be safe to say that customer service quality should be a priority. It’s even more amplified as a concept with housekeeping, because people can be very pernickety about the cleanliness of spaces they occupy, and small issues have the potential to become major bones of contention if not properly dealt with.
Knowing how to field customer feedback, and take steps to rectify problems they pinpoint without making it seem as if this is a burden, will set you apart from those who don’t have the same interpersonal abilities.
Responsiveness
It’s not enough to be an effective communicator, and one who listens to client feedback and acts on it when you’re on-site. You also have to be responsive and attentive in all contexts, including the digital. So, when a client emails with a query or a request, the best housekeeping professionals will reply promptly.
Keeping an open line of communication and avoiding interactions being one-sided should secure you a long list of loyal customers, as well as recommendations to other prospects that you don’t even need to chase.
Marketing
For anyone who wants to be a freelance housekeeper, being able to sell yourself to clients so that they’re eager to hire you comes with the territory.
We’ve all seen how cleaning skills can go viral on social media, so having a presence on platforms like Instagram and TikTok where you can build a following and showcase your work will lead to the lucrative connections that will fuel the growth of your business.
Management
This is a skill that you won’t need in the short term, but will be worth developing the further along you get as a housekeeper.
We touched on the likelihood of becoming a team leader earlier, and for those who are keen to build a business around housekeeping, being able to manage other people effectively is a must.
Wrapping up
The list of skills you need to become a housekeeper may seem long, but it’s evidence of just how involved and varied this career can be. If you think you’ve got what it takes, there is always a demand for housekeeping staff to take advantage of.
Your privacy is secured and your information will not be shared
