Your cleaning staff is the cornerstone of your cleaning business. They interact with your clients and provide services that keep those clients coming back for more. But finding good staff is by far the most challenging part of a cleaning business. There are a lot of factors that you need to consider while hiring employees – do they know their job well? Are they trustworthy? Will they stay with you for long? We understand your predicament, and that’s why we have prepared a handy guide for you on how to hire the best people for your cleaning business.
Hiring a Cleaning Staff – 5 Traits to Look For
Firstly, you need to know what you are looking for in an employee. If you start the hiring process without knowing what kind of an employee you want, you will likely hire the wrong people. So, here are five characteristics to look for when hiring employees for your cleaning business:
- Friendliness. Your cleaning staff will often communicate with your clients on your behalf. In a way, they are the face of your company to your clients. So, make sure that they are friendly and able to make a good impression.
- Experience. A cleaning business is a labor-intensive job. Ensure that the employee has the right kind of experience to handle such a physically demanding job profile. Moreover, the candidate’s experience should be aligned with the unique requirements you may have.
- Trustworthiness. When clients book you for a service call, they entrust you with their comfort zone. They will have a variety of valuable items in their homes. Therefore, you should make sure that whoever you are hiring is trustworthy. If needed, get a criminal background check done.
- Dedication. You need a team that you can depend on. They should be able to commit to showing up to work every day without their personal commitments getting in the way.
- Independent, Self-Motivated, and Hardworking. The cleaning staff is out into the field on their own, working alone most of the time. While hiring, you need to look for people who are self-motivated, hardworking, and comfortable working alone.
The Hiring Process
Here is a step-by-step guide on hiring employees for your cleaning business:
Step 1 – Write an effective job advertisement.
A job ad is usually the first contact your potential employee will have with your company. So, make sure it’s impressive.When you are writing a job ad, make sure you:
- Don’t overuse bullet points.
- Add human aspect to your job ad by including real images of your company and people.
- Give a proper structure to your ad with headings, so the reader can skim through to find what they are looking for.
- Don’t forget to close the job advertisement with a call to action (CTA). Some examples of CTAs are ‘apply now,’ ‘click here to apply,’ ‘send resume,’ etc.
What should be included in a job ad?
- Job title
- Job description
- Information about the company
- Expected salary range
- Possible benefits
Step 2 – Post your job advertisement.
Now that your job ad is ready, you need to post it in places where it would be noticed. In today’s digital world, people search for jobs on social media and internet job boards. Posting your job ads on these popular posting sites can help you get the exposure you need:
- Careers page on your website
- Indeed or other job search websites
- YouTube
- Facebook groups
- Facebook ads
Step 3 – Review job applications.
Once you have posted your job ad, you’ll start receiving applications for the open role. Sort all the applications and arrange them in order of very good, average, and not good at all. Now that you have shortlisted a few of them, it’s time to move on to the next step.
Step 4 – Schedule the first interview for screening the candidate.
For initial screening, you can conduct a phone interview. A quick interaction can give you an idea of whether the candidate is a right fit or not.
Step 5 – Set up an in-person interview.
The in-person interview gives you a lot of information about the candidate’s personality. So, make a list of questions you want to ask the candidate much before the interview. Instead of an interview, a better idea would be to conduct auditions. You can ask the candidate to work for a real house cleaning job for a day under the close supervision of a manager. Auditioning for the job will give you a clear picture of how good an employee they can be.
Step 6 – Do the background checks.
Once you have decided on the candidate, carry out some background checks to discover any criminal offenses.
Step 7 – Check references the candidate provides.
It’s worth checking references because they can provide information on what people or ex-employers think of the candidate.
Step 8 – Roll out the job offer.
Once your candidate clears the background and reference checks, it’s time to roll out the offer. By now, you know what compensation and benefits you are willing to pay to the new employee. Some candidates will take up the offer, while some might negotiate. Ensure you are not going above your budget to accommodate the new employee. Consider setting up a probationary period.
Step 9 – Begin orientation and training.
Once the candidate accepts your offer, you need to onboard them into your organization. Orientation is the first thing your employee should go through once they join your company. In the orientation phase, the employee is briefed about the rules and regulations of your business. Make sure they are clear on their duties and responsibilities. Lastly, you need to train the new employees. Training will ensure that your new employees know the basics of your cleaning business and other services offered.
In summary
Once your cleaning business is up and running, the next logical step is to hire employees to take your company to the next level. This quick guide will help you find a cleaning staff that will represent your company in the best possible manner.Now that you know how to hire the right cleaning staff, your next step should be to make it easy to run your cleaning business. You can do it with Zuper. Try Zuper for free.
