With every new career, you must start somewhere and work your way up – cleaning is no different. As more and more businesses, hotels, hospitals, schools, and even homeowners outsource their housekeeping to third-party cleaning companies, cleaning is becoming an increasingly popular career option for many. So, how do you go from being a new cleaner at the beginning of your career to advancing your skills, growing your base of clients, and maximizing your financial gains?
Here are a few steps for advancing in your cleaning career, so that you can get the absolute most out of your work.
Be Prepared to Make an Investment
Anyone hiring a cleaner wants to be assured that their cleaner has products and equipment which will stand up to every cleaning job. When you first begin your career as a cleaner, put some time into finding out which equipment and products will be the most effective in achieving great results.
In some circumstances, this will mean having to invest some of your own money to ensure you are using high-quality products, but this initial investment should pay off quickly. Cleaners who can show they have the products and equipment to back up their skills and aid them in completing their work to a high standard are likely to be more appealing to new clients than those who can’t.
As you move even further in your career, you may even begin to invest in additional equipment to provide new services, such as carpet steam cleaners or hard floor buffers and shiners. These new services will allow you to charge higher prices and make you more popular with clients who require a quality clean on a variety of different surfaces and in a range of different settings.
Put in The Research
While you may be able to clean your own home to a high standard, you should also consider that clients who are hiring you will expect you to come into the job with a wealth of cleaning knowledge and be able to complete a job to a much higher standard than they could themselves.
When you first begin your cleaning career, put some time and research into identifying the very best cleaning techniques, and continue to make time for this on a regular basis in order to carry on developing and growing your skills.
There are plenty of resources out there on the internet and within Cleaning Network Worldwide, which will give you tips and tricks that you may never have thought of. By making use of these, you can demonstrate to clients that, when they hire you, they’re not just getting a good cleaner, but an extremely capable, skilled, and knowledgeable one.
Market Yourself Properly
Later on in your career, you may find yourself regularly picking up new clients who have heard about you through word of mouth – recommendations from existing clients who you are already impressed with your work – but at the start, you’ll need to know how to market yourself effectively, especially if you’re working independently.
These days, it’s not enough just to place an advertisement in your local newspaper. Why not set up a free website for yourself, or utilize social media and classified sites such as Craigslist in order to find new clients?
Those wanting to create a career in cleaning, which can eventually advance and grow to a much larger scale, can choose to work within a cleaning company.
The best way to match yourself as a cleaning professional to a cleaning company who values your skills, knowledge, and work ethic (and may eventually offer you the chance to further advance your career) is to join a network of other cleaners and cleaning companies. At Cleaning Network Worldwide, we’ve built a platform that matches cleaning professionals with cleaning companies who will value their hard work and give them the opportunity to feel optimal job satisfaction. Not to mention, your dedicated Cleaning Professional Profile gives you a link to promote yourself easily online.
Consider What’s Next
When you think of advancing in your cleaning career, what comes to mind?
Do you want to continue working as an independent cleaner, by growing your client base and increasing your bottom line? Or do you have ambitions to move up the ranks as part of a cleaning company?
As a cleaning professional within a cleaning company, you may be able to apply for supervisory positions. These will pay better than your first position as a cleaner, and will likely expand your job role to include coordinating team members and assigning different tasks in order to get a quality cleaning job completed, as well as inspecting the work once it’s done. Beyond this, you may also be able to seek further promotion as a trainer, which will likely include less hands-on cleaning work and will mostly consist of preparing new recruits for their own cleaning careers. In addition, you’ll be able to teach other cleaning professionals a range of techniques and skills that will help them in the future.
As an independent cleaner, the opportunity for advancement mainly lies in growing your client base and being able to increase your fee per hour so that you can maximize your earning potential. Of course, you may find yourself in a position one day to set up your very own cleaning company and hire team members to help you take on large-scale jobs.
Whatever it is you picture as the next step within your cleaning career, utilizing networks, research, new products and equipment, and continuous determination to succeed will help you one day achieve the future goal you’re after.
