Housekeepers are often the backbone of any operation, maintaining a property's cleanliness both inside and out, stocking cleaning supplies and ensuring that residents and visitors inhabit a clean, comfortable environment. In other words, the cleaning staff is on the frontlines when it comes to customer service, if invisibly.
But with hotels laying off thousands of housekeepers, schools closing and tourism venues shut to visitors because of coronavirus, those whose job it is to ensure cleanliness are being swept out the door and into unemployment lines.
Still, such workers have many useful skills that employers value — especially now when cleanliness is paramount. If you're a housekeeper, there are jobs that fit your skills and we’ll show you how to get those roles ahead of the competition.
Transferable skills to emphasize on your resume
Whether you worked for a family, cleaned hotel rooms, were a janitor at a school or office, or managed a facilities team, you have valuable skills that employers in other industries can use. These are called transferable skills.
Transferable skills can be hard skills, technical skills or even soft skills, such as teamwork, communication and problem-solving. By emphasizing these skills on your resume, you help an employer envision what you will bring to the table, even if you are applying to work in a new field.
Here are some hard, technical and soft skills, and relevant training or certifications that you may have earned during your time in housekeeping that you should consider adding to your resume:
Hard skills: Operate cleaning equipment, experience managing inventory, experience scheduling cleaning and/or maintenance, strong organization and time-management skills
Technical skills: Inventory software, scheduling software
Soft skills: Customer service, empathy, collaboration, flexibility, teamwork
Certifications and training: Certified Executive Housekeeper and Registered Executive Housekeeper, Certified Facilities Manager certification, OSHA Housekeeping Safety training
If you were a housekeeper, custodian, porter, office cleaner, laundry worker, maid, janitor, cleaning supervisors you might be qualified one these roles:
- Sanitation worker (for example, for Recology)
- Janitor (for example, at a nursing home)
- Custodian (for example, for an essential retailer like WalMart)
- Cleaner (for example, for a supply chain company)
- Cleaning services manager (for example, a managing a team of janitors at a hospital)
- Facilities manager (for example, for an essential businesses like Amazon)
How to apply for these roles and what you’ll need
In person:
- A current email address and phone number
- A resume
- Identification, such as a driver’s license or passport
Online:
- A current email address and phone number
- A resume
- A brief cover letter
How to find these jobs in your community:
Do I need a resume during the COVID-19 crisis?
Many employers like grocery stores and shipping operations need workers now and are hiring by the hundreds. Many are waiving the requirement to have a resume. Still, that isn’t the case in all industries so it’s best to be prepared to meet the requirements of a variety of employers by having a resume ready.
A simple resume will suffice, but make sure it’s up-to-date and that you have a professional email address and a current telephone number listed. In addition, you may also need a cover letter. For the roles highlighted on this page, your cover letter should be brief, customized to the job and employer, and not simply a repetition of your resume.
Below, we’ve provided a resume for you to review.
Text resume example: Housekeeper applying for a custodian role
Name: Ada Sherman
Address: Bevier, MO 63532
Phone: (555)555-5555
Email: example@example.com
Summary Statement:
Housekeeper experienced in multi-tasking and tackling various tasks in a fast-paced environment seeks custodian role in essential finance business. Friendly and collaborative in a team environment and able to work with a diverse group of people. Hard working and honest with a great work ethic.
Summary of Skills:
- Effective time management
- Eye for detail
- Efficient and accurate
- Decision making skills
- Self-directed
- Physically able and strong
- Service-focused
Work History
Housekeeper
Marriott
Kansas City, MO
04/2011–03/2020
- Greeted every guest with a friendly smile, even when busy
- Checked rooms to determine vacancies and post check-out
- Inspected rooms for damage, notifying management when needed
- Requested maintenance for broken or damaged equipment
- Cleaned rooms by following detailed cleaning and sanitation standards set by the employer, met deadlines for rooms to be completed and re-supplied rooms with amenities and other items as required.
Housekeeper
Holiday Inn
St. Louis, MO
02/2009–04/2011
- Changed room linens, also vacuumed carpets, dusted, cleaned bathrooms in rooms
- Vacuumed common area hallways and meeting rooms, dusted common areas and meeting rooms, cleaned common area bathrooms
- Performed post-checkout inspections and room cleanings
- Kept outside hotel area clean by picking up trash, emptying trash cans, cleaning front doors and sweeping up outside debris
Education & Certifications
Sumner High School
St. Louis, MO
2010
Certified Executive Housekeeper
2012
LiveCareer Resume Builder example: Housekeeper applying for a custodian role
