BookingKoala Home Cleaning Business

We write on topics related to the cleaning business industry.

Finding Employees For Cleaning Business (Finding & Hiring)

Hiring employees requires many steps. Finding employees to hire can prove to be even more difficult. It can be challenging to know where to begin, and there is a plethora of information available, which can cause the process to become overwhelming quickly. It is imperative to understand that having a plan and taking the process step by step can help to ensure a smooth process. Though there are many steps, they will be much easier to tackle if broken down into smaller subsets. Finding and hiring employees requires time and effort but can be accomplished through the right avenues. In this post, you will find a structured plan for finding and hiring cleaning business employees. The process is broken down into four phases, with the last step being filtration.

During phase one, you will cover the preliminary steps to finding and hiring employees. These steps are what will prepare you for getting your job posting out to the public. First, you need to write an effective job description. Your job description should include the job title and job responsibilities. It should also state the required and preferred qualifications and a summary of the working conditions. The job description will stand as a critical element within your finding and hiring process for your cleaning service.

You should draft a list of questions that you will want to ask your applicants, along with the job description. The questions should be well thought out and related to the position being offered. Once you have drafted your job description and interview questions, you will move on to phase two.

Phase two begins with advertising your position. Promoting your job can be overwhelming, or you can simplify it by choosing one specific advertising method. Once you have placed your ads and received a predetermined pool of applicants, you should take time to review the applications and determine which candidates possess the required qualifications for the job. If the individuals who have applied do not meet the requirements, you may need to allow your promotion to run longer. If the individuals meet the requirements, you can close your ads to prevent further applications from being received.

Phase three begins with you conducting phone interviews to screen those who have been selected. Many employers do not perform phone interviews and skip straight to in-person interviews. Phone interviews, though seemingly tedious, allow you to get a feel for each of the applicants. If the process is a good one, you might not need in-person interviews as today, with the help of technology, everything can be done online. 

Following phone interviews, you should choose your top candidates. Then, depending on your process, bring them in for an in-person interview, or have a follow-up phone interview with them. You can ask questions related to your cleaning business to assess if the individuals possess the needed training to be successful in the role. Among these candidates will be the individual, who will be chosen to extend a formal offer. Finally, you will need to take time to review the applicants and make a decision on which candidate(s) to hire. Be sure to select a secondary and third choice if the primary applicant chosen declines the offer or does not meet the remaining requirements. Following selection, you will extend the proposal to the applicant and, if accepted, the applicant will begin.

Phase four begins after the applicant accepted the job and has been hired. Over the next 90 days, you’ll want to closely monitor the cleaner or team of cleaners to ensure they are learning or doing the job correctly. If you’re hiring W2s, you’ll want to train them correctly, and if you’re hiring 1099s, they should already come with experience. For W2s, you’ll watch if the person is eager to learn and perform the tasks properly. Since with 1099s, you don’t have much control, you won’t be training them. Instead, you’ll be monitoring customer feedback to see if they should continue receiving work from your cleaning business. Typically this filtration process takes about 90 days which means the hiring process won’t be over until 90 days after the cleaner receives their first job.  

Phase One: Figuring out a way to attract the cleaners that you want

The first step in phase one is to write the job description. The job description will give the applicant their first look into the position. The job description is a snapshot of the job. It provides a general idea of what a day in this position at your cleaning service looks like. Ensuring that your job description is accurate is key to finding quality workers. If you know that the role requires cleaning homes, or taking out the trash, be sure to include those things in your job description. You will also want to have in your description whether applicants will be required to work with chemicals or hazardous materials. Applicants are more likely to remain employed with the company when they know in advance what the job will entail. If your cleaning business is only for residential clients, then make sure that is within the ad as well.

The applicant should be able to define the specialty of your cleaning service. The job description will also allow you to specify what qualifications you will require. Unless your cleaning company involves special equipment such as that needed to clean the carpets, it is safe to say that there will be minimal education requirements or certification requirements. You may have minimal education requirements, but this is also an opportunity to present what other requirements are necessary, such as 2+ years of related home cleaning service experience. This can help as a buffer to ensure only those who are qualified will apply. This does not guarantee that you will not receive applications from those who do not qualify, but it is an effective way to weed out most of those underqualified.

The second step in phase one is to create a list of questions to ask the applicants, and it can even be done in a quiz format. It is vital to have a plan ahead of time before beginning your interview. You have to determine what kind of questions you want to ask and what format you want to ask your questions. Asking open-ended questions is generally an excellent way to get a peek into the applicant’s personality. You may want to ask questions such as “What would you do if you noticed a co-worker stealing cleaning supplies?” This question can give you a look into the applicant’s values and morals. Another great question to ask would be, “Tell me about a time when you could not complete all of your work in time, and how did you deal with that situation?” Questions such as these require the applicant to respond based on previous experiences and can help understand how an applicant may respond in future situations.

Additionally, you want to ensure that your applicant has a strong understanding of the business. If your cleaning service requires you to go into people’s homes, it may be necessary that your applicant possess excellent interpersonal skills, so you may want to gear your questions towards that. You will also want to include questions that can reveal an individual’s comfort with manual labor. You want to be sure the applicant is aware that there will be required bending, squatting, and lifting.

It is essential to understand that certain specific questions should be avoided. Asking personal questions such as an individual’s age, whether they have children, etc., can be considered discriminatory, and in some states it is illegal. Be sure to keep questions relevant to the position to avoid potential legal difficulties. Drafting the questions before the interview will help ensure you cover all of your bases. If you need to know a particular piece of information, having a draft such as a checklist of all questions can help you be prepared during the interview and have all the information necessary when the time comes to make a hiring decision. When you prepare the questions before the interview, you can take notes that may be critical in your final hiring decision. If you have everything mapped out in advance, it will be easier for you to decide once you reach the final phase.

Phase Two: Advertising and finding maids for your cleaning business

Phase two will begin with advertising the position for which you have drafted your job description and interview questions. During the advertisement process, you will present your job description to potential applicants. The key to advertising your job is to be selective about your delivery method. It would not be necessary or wise to post on dozens of job boards as a small cleaning business. A better idea would be to post to local job boards such as online newspaper ads or choose one method such as Craigslist to post your job. Posting in numerous places can mean several different formats of applications being received, resulting in a less streamlined process. By limiting your ad, you can ensure that you will not become overwhelmed with too many applications.

Since you will likely have some applicants who do not meet the basic requirements, you must review your applications once the job pool reaches 50 applicants. If you are only choosing one applicant, 50 applicants is an excellent starting point. From there, you want to confirm that at least 25 of the applicants possess the necessary requirements. Remember, some of the applicants may not meet the basic needs, disqualifying them immediately. While reviewing applications, you should seek out key characteristics you are interested in your workers having. Most resumes require the applicant to list their skills and abilities. Perhaps you want a flexible team player. You want to be sure to look for those keywords in each of the applications you review. Once you have completed the review of applications, if you have found the necessary 25 applicants, you are all set to move on to phase three. If you are short on applicants, it is a good idea to leave your ad up until you have amassed 25 more applicants and then repeat the process.

Phase Three: Conducting interviews with potential cleaners and maid

Conducting phone interviews to screen potential employees begins phase three. The phone interview will allow you to get a first impression of the applicant. You may want to ask fundamental questions about how comfortable they will be with commuting back and forth to work from their home location. Additionally, you can ask the interviewee to give a short description of themselves and why they want to work for the company. Another good question to ask the interviewee is how much they know about the company. Along with this, it is also a good idea to explain their qualifications briefly and why they would be a good fit for the job. The phone interview should not be a lengthy process, but instead should allow you to get a feel for the applicant and how they may fit in with your company.

Choosing the best applicant will likely be the most challenging part of the process; however, it is essential to understand that the first phone interview will not give you all the information you need to make a hiring decision. The first phone interview is meant to provide you with a preview of the candidates. Based on this preview, you will choose the top 10 applicants to be offered an opportunity to present themselves in the final phone/video interview or for an in-person interview. The next set of interviews will give you a deeper look into the candidates and their backgrounds. Before the following interview, you should review the applications for each individual and familiarize yourself as much as possible with each candidate, their strengths, and potential weaknesses. By examining the applications beforehand, you can ensure that nothing was missed and no red flags have presented themselves that were not previously detected.

Following the first set of phone interviews, you should choose the best candidates to appear to be selected for the next set of interviews. Here you may even have secondary questions that occur due to open-ended questions asked to the applicant. The questions you prepared should be related to the cleaning service job, and the answers you expect should be assistive in selecting the prime candidate for the position. You should choose a method of note-taking to use during the interview. You don’t want to go through the interview taking many notes, only to look back and realize you cannot read what you wrote or cannot understand the logic behind what you wrote. Be sure that the notes you take are organized and coherent. Additionally, it would help if you decided who will be present in the interview. Will it just be you, the company owner, or would you like to have a future fellow co-worker of the applicant present at the interview?

It is sometimes helpful to include an individual who already works in the position in the interview. Finding and hiring an employee for your cleaning service may be easier if someone who is at that level is able to review the candidates with you. Someone who works on the front lines can assist in bringing a new perspective to the interview. Someone who already performs the required duties also may be more perceptive in determining which applicants are forthcoming about their capabilities. Additionally, having an extra person in the interview helps to ensure that bias can be avoided. The two of you can compare notes, and each of you may likely have noted different elements despite being in the same interview.

If the interview is in person or on camera, you should also be sure to pay attention to the applicant’s body language. Do they have good posture, present themselves as confident or cocky, or appear well-groomed or scruffy? Observation of these qualities can help determine who will be the best fit for the position. This is also a good time to determine if an applicant’s values align with those of your company. You want to ensure that not only is it a good job fit, but a personal fit as well. Individuals who feel aligned with their company personally are likely to have a better work ethic and enjoy working for their employer more.

Once the interview process has been completed, you will need time to review the notes taken as well as to confer with your co-interviewer regarding the interviews. During this time, the two of you can compare notes and choose a method for how the top candidates will be selected. This can be a stressful period, so be sure to allow yourself enough time to truly delve into each application to determine the overall best candidate. Each applicant will have their own set of strengths and weaknesses, so you will have to take the necessary steps to rank each candidate based on their capabilities. What qualities are most important to you? If you asked a candidate about their previous attendance history, and that appears to be their weak area, you have to determine if this is a factor that would eliminate them from the pool. In contrast, if you have another candidate with a different weakness, such as difficulty working in teams, you may be more open to look past the other candidate’s attendance history in favor of their strength regarding being a team player. While this part of the process can be intense, it is here that a large piece of your work for finding and hiring an employee for your cleaning service will be completed.

Finally, once you have reviewed the applications, you will need to decide which candidate you will choose for the position. Selecting a candidate will have been a lengthy process, but in the end, you can rest assured that you have chosen the best candidate for the position. Though you may have selected the perfect individual for the job, it is imperative to remember that the applicant may decline if you may extend an offer. They may have decided to opt for employment with a different employer, or the applicant may have decided from the interview that this company was not a good fit for them. Either way, you must have a secondary and third option for applicants. If your primary applicant chooses not to accept the offer, you can always have two others as a backup plan. Always secure your chosen employee before informing the others they haven’t been selected.

Following the extension of an offer, the hiring process must be completed during “finalization” if the applicant accepts the offer. During this portion of the process, you will need to run a background check, verify references and any required education qualifications, and perform a drug test when or if necessary. Sometimes companies may perform this step before the interview process. Since most individuals are honest about their education and references, performing this step once a final candidate has been chosen can help cut down on costs and keep your company within budget. If everything checks out, you have found and hired your new employee.

Phase Four: Filtering your cleaners over the next 90 days

Now, even though your employee has been hired, the job is not yet done. If they are W2s, you’ll want to start training them and showing them around. Over the next 90 days, you’ll be communicating with the individual to determine if they are the right fit. Even though they have been hired, it will be your job to determine if your company is in good hands with that specific maid or team working there.

The best way to determine if the person is doing well is based on customer feedback. If you’re using BookingKoala, we made this extremely easy for you. Each maid or team is added to the system, and after each cleaning, the customer will rate their performance. After several jobs, they will have enough reviews for you to determine if they are a good fit for your cleaning business. With BookingKoala, you can add the best cleaners to the top of the scheduling list, and the system will give jobs to your highest-rated cleaners first, ensuring all your customers are satisfied with whom comes to clean their home.

If you’re hiring 1099s instead of W2s, you won’t have a training process, and the best way to see if a cleaner is good will be solely to rely on customer feedback. Use the model from above to determine how customers rate your 1099 and go from there. After several jobs, you’ll be able to determine if those 1099s should keep receiving jobs or if they will be removed from the schedule permanently.

Overall, the process for finding and hiring an employee for a cleaning service is lengthy. If you break the process down into phases followed by the filtration process, you can make what seemed to be an impossible task much more straightforward. Progressing from phase one to filtration will allow you to select the best candidate for the position who possesses personal and professional qualities that exceed your expected standards.  

Finding and hiring cleaning service employees is a detailed and extensive process. It is necessary to break the cycle down into four phases, and a final step is known as filtration, which can take up to 90 days after the employee is hired. During phase one, we review the drafting of the job description and composition of interview questions. It is imperative that aspects such as if chemicals will be used, and advice that squatting and lifting will be required, should be included here. Phase two includes advertising your position. Advertising is simplified by using only one primary source for the delivery of your job. Phase three is the bulk of the work in which phone interviews and/or in-person interviews are conducted. Here you can find out an individual’s background and skill set concerning working for a cleaning service. Finally, an applicant is chosen, and the hiring process is completed during finalization. Then phase four, the filtration process, is started, where based on customer feedback, you decide if the cleaner is the right person for the job.

Helpful resources

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