A cleaner maintains offices, hospitals, schools, apartments, educational institutions, hotels and leisure resorts in a clean and orderly condition. Commercial cleaning companies usually employ them.
Cleaners generally work in a team and perform a variety of tasks, including: cleaning floors, windows and walls; vacuuming carpets; dusting furniture; emptying dustbins; polishing desks in offices; changing linen in hotels, resorts and hospitals.
Cleaners operate electrical vacuum cleaners, use manual cleaning equipment such as mops and brooms and employ chemical cleaning agents to accomplish their tasks. They may work in the evening or early morning because most offices have to be cleaned while the personnel are not there. Some buildings, such as hospitals and hotels, require 24-hour maintenance resulting in shift work for the cleaner.
Satisfying Aspects
- making sure that people's working and living environments are clean and comfortable
- virtually being your own boss
Demanding aspects
- working long, irregular hours
- working mostly alone
- not very good pay
Requirements
A cleaner should:
- be physically fit;
- be courteous, tactful and neat when in contact with the public;
- follow instructions precisely;
- be willing to do shift work;
- be able to tolerate the monotony of the job;
- be honest and can work without supervision.
School Subjects
No specific requirements.
Compulsory Subjects: None
Recommended Subjects: Consumer Studies
Training
Commercial cleaning companies offer in-service training.
Employer
- commercial cleaning companies
- businesses
- educational institutions
- government departments
- hospitals
- hotels
- leisure resorts
Contact
Any one of the above potential employers