This comprehensive guide provides you with steps on how to hire a Housekeeper, the types of Housekeepers you can employ and the important skills to look for in candidates to ensure safe, efficient and high-quality cleaning services.
The Steps for Hiring a Housekeeper
The process of finding a good Housekeeper requires thorough research, clarity about your priorities and a detailed job description to attract the right candidates.
Where to hire a Housekeeper
You can find a Housekeeper on hospitality industry-specific job boards. We’ve outlined some of these platforms below to help you decide which one best suits your recruitment needs.
OysterLink
OysterLink targets all types of hiring needs. Whether you’re a cleaning agency, a hotel or an individual employer, the platform is designed to connect you with a pool of temporary, part-time and full-time Housekeepers for FREE. Its resources which include job descriptions, interview questions and labor law guides, are extensive to help streamline your recruitment process.
Culinary Agents
Like OysterLink, employers can find Housekeepers of all experience levels on Culinary Agents. This hospitality job board features networking tools such as an industry event calendar, where companies can host an open call or a career fair to connect with job seekers in the hospitality industry. While it has many useful resources, posting a job on Culinary Agents isn’t ideal for small businesses, as each ad costs $69.
Hcareers
Similar to OysterLink, Hcareers offers a range of employment opportunities. While it doesn’t provide job description templates that will help Hiring Managers expedite their job posting process, it does have a career advice section where both employers and job seekers can find useful tips. Hcareers has a wide reach, but it comes with a hefty price of $249 for a single job post.
Hospitality Online
Hospitality Online is another service industry-focused job search engine that helps employers find qualified Housekeepers. The platform solely works as a job search engine. So, it doesn’t have any resources on finding talent. Like Hcareers, Hospitality Online is on the expensive side, costing $425 per month to use their services.
Qwick
Employers looking to hire Housekeepers for shifts can use Qwick to fill short-term needs. Qwick specializes in helping companies find experienced hospitality professionals for individual shifts. Companies can sign up for free, but once a professional is hired, the platform charges an additional 40% on top of the worker’s hourly pay.
Among the five hospitality-focused job boards above, OysterLink is the only platform where you can post a job for FREE with no limits. You can post as many job ads as you need to fill all of your open positions. Simply fill out the form which requires your name, job title, contact details and information about the open role, and you’re good to go.
Post a job ad for a Housekeeper
Information about the role you’re hiring shouldn’t be complicated. To expedite the process of writing a job description, you can use templated job descriptions that are freely offered as guides.
OysterLink’s job descriptions can be downloaded as PDFs to reduce time spent on researching, writing and formatting. Alternatively, you can download them as Word documents to edit them according to your needs.
One benefit of making use of free job descriptions online is that they’re likely to reflect current industry trends and language. This helps you make sure that you’re communicating effectively with potential candidates.
Full-time vs part-time Housekeeper
Once you’ve identified where to hire a Housekeeper and you’ve got a job description, you now need to decide if you’re hiring them full-time or part-time. Deciding on this depends on multiple factors, such as budget, the scope of responsibilities and the frequency of cleaning.
Below, we’ve listed the pros and cons of hiring a full-time versus a part-time Housekeeper.
Pros and Cons of Full-Time vs. Part-Time Housekeepers
| Type of set up | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|
| Part-time | Lower cost | Limited hours of service |
| Flexible schedule | May require scheduling adjustments | |
| Ideal for a small business or a small home | Potential for inconsistent quality service | |
| Easier to adjust if needs change | Might not be able to cover all job duties due to time constraints | |
| Full-time | More thorough cleaning | Higher cost |
| Consistency in service | Less flexibility in hours | |
| Suitable for big organizations such as hotels, corporate offices and healthcare facilities | Might be more challenging to find suitable candidates | |
| Greater availability for urgent tasks | ||
| Can be trusted to do other additional tasks |
Types of Housekeepers
Although hotels and other hospitality establishments only have one general Housekeeper role, smaller businesses and other industries hire different types of Housekeepers. There are three main types of Housekeepers, each with distinct responsibilities to suit different needs:
Maid
A Maid generally functions as a personal Housekeeper. While they also clean, cook and do laundry, their role is more toward helping individuals or families manage day-to-day tasks. If you’re considering how to hire a Maid, it’s important to evaluate where you’ll mostly need them: Is it to help with your meals, assist with travel arrangements or run random errands?
Live in Maid
A live-in Maid’s responsibilities are similar to those of a regular Maid. The only differences are the living arrangements, the comprehensiveness of tasks and the level of commitment.
For example, while a Maid may focus on general household management, a live-in Maid often develops a closer, more personal relationship with the employer due to their proximity. This relationship can lead to tasks that are more oriented toward relationship-based responsibilities, such as childcare, pet care or coordinating with third-party service providers, since they’re more familiar with the employer’s personal preferences.
When thinking about how to hire a live-in Maid, consider carefully whether you can provide suitable accommodations to ensure compliance with regulations regarding employee living conditions.
Private Housekeeper
A Private Housekeeper focuses solely on domestic duties. This can include grocery shopping, folding and ironing clothes and organizing rooms. Unlike other roles, a Private Housekeeper can serve as a lead figure, directing Maids and other hired staff.
If you’re looking into how to hire a Private Housekeeper, prioritize looking for candidates with previous experience. You’d need an individual who knows how to manage various tasks efficiently, communicate effectively and adapt according to your needs.
Interview potential candidates
The interview process lets you assess the candidate’s qualifications, experience and compatibility with your household or company. To help you better assess their work ethic, communication skills and technical knowledge, you need to prepare a good set of interview questions.
Use the same set of interview questions for all candidates to help you make a good comparison and find the right fit.
Housekeeper qualifications
Qualifications for housekeeping depend on your specific needs. Generally, Maids and Housekeepers don’t need to have previous experience, as training can be done on the job and can be completed in a few months. However, if you’re looking to hire a Private Housekeeper, then definitely look into experience in comprehensive household management.
If you’ll require caregiving for children, the elderly or pets, familiarity with these areas is beneficial to ensure the well-being of those in their care.
Skills of a Housekeeper
Housekeeper skills cover a broad range of abilities. This includes communication, organizational and multitasking skills. These skills are important for meeting employer’s expectations regarding the quality of service, the speed at which tasks are completed and the ability to adapt to changing priorities or special requests.
Advice for Hiring Managers from a Restaurant Consultant
OysterLink recently sat down and talked with Emily LaRuffa, a hospitality professional who has well over two decades of relevant industry experience.
We asked her how she’s able to recognize a good employee during the interview process, and highlighted her response here to hopefully help other hiring managers avoid making costly mistakes.
How to recognize a good employee during an interview?
Emily: “The trick to understanding if a person is a good fit for your team is asking a situational question. As a hiring manager you are familiar with usual scenarios that happen. Ask the candidate how they would react in a situation. Based on their answer you will be able to determine if the person can be a good fit for the team or not.
Don’t search for a perfect answer, just a person who aligns with your team’s values, everything else can be trained. The biggest red flag during an interview and immediate no on my end is the following statement: ‘Oh, I wouldn’t do that, that is not my job.’
Teamwork is essential for any hospitality position, so if you have a person who just wants to yell at others and boss people around, spare yourself the pain and skip the hire.”
Emily LaRuffa, Restaurant Consultant and owner of Oracle Hospitality
More Tips on How To Hire a Housekeeper
It’s important to spend a lot of time and effort in hiring a Housekeeper.
As a Hotel Manager, finding a good Housekeeper enhances your company’s reputation and helps ensure repeat bookings and satisfied guests. A skilled Housekeeper can be trusted to consistently keep rooms clean, sanitized and smelling fresh.
Similarly, if you’re a private individual, hiring a reliable Housekeeper can make balancing family and work life a lot easier.
Below are additional tips to help you find a good Housekeeper:
Conduct a background check
Start with reviews from previous clients. Consider asking about the quality of their work, punctuality and trustworthiness. Feedback from former employers will help determine if they’re a good fit.
You can also conduct drug tests and credit checks, provided the state laws in your area allow it and you have the candidate’s consent. These screenings help ensure safety and well-being, particularly if the Housekeeper will be around children and have access to personal belongings and financial information.
Nail down the details beforehand
If you’re hiring a Maid, clarify who’s going to provide the cleaning supplies, as this will affect their income. It’s also important to specify whether meals will be provided and how many breaks they can take.
Nailing down the details beforehand will help establish clear expectations and prevent misunderstandings later on. This clarity creates a positive working relationship and ensures that both parties are aligned on responsibilities and compensation.
Do a paid trial period
Before extending an offer, consider having a trial period. A trial period can last anywhere from two to three weeks and can help you determine if they’re the right fit. During this time, assess not just their cleaning skills, but also their personality to see if you can work well together.
Install CCTV cameras
If you’re hiring a Housekeeper for your home, it’s strongly recommended to have CCTV cameras installed in common areas. Be sure to inform your candidates about this to clarify your intention of ensuring the safety of your family members and your home. You don’t need to tell them exactly where the cameras are, you just need to make their existence known to deter any unwanted behavior.
FAQs: How To Hire a Housekeeper
A House Cleaner’s primary responsibility is cleaning tasks, such as dusting, mopping and vacuuming. Meanwhile, a Housekeeper involves a broader range of responsibilities, including preparing meals, caring for family members and running errands.
It depends on your needs, budget and preferences. If you value personalized service and potentially lower costs, an independent Housekeeper may be the right choice. However, if you prefer reliability and the security of a professional service, hiring through a cleaning company could be more beneficial.
This depends on the location, experience and complexity of tasks. Make sure to check the average annual income of Housekeepers in your state first for a good starting point in ensuring fair compensation.
Written by Rea Gierran
With a background in Communication Arts, Rea’s expertise lies in content marketing and copywriting. Her published works can be seen on online news websites such as Rappler and Adobo magazine. Outside of her work, Rea takes on the role of a “momager” for Shiro, a TikTok dogfluencer.
Reviewed by Stefan Petrov
With over 10 years of experience as a writer and editor, Stefan has worked in the automotive, IT, health and hospitality industries. Familiar with Google Search Console and other SEO tools like Ahrefs and Semrush, Stefan uses his experience to create content that’s visually appealing to the user but also ranks in the SERPs.
