Being a housekeeper can be an exciting job. With positions in high end hotels, chalets, yachts, private houses and estates, your job environment can be a very interesting one. Not only might you step foot and live in beautiful surroundings, but you may also find yourself working in some of the most exciting locations in the world.
Good, experienced and well trained housekeepers are in extremely high demand. Once you get a job of your liking, the possibilities could be endless and you could even find yourself travelling or growing in your role. The key to climbing the career ladder, or finding these exciting jobs in the first place, is decent training and education.
At Polo & Tweed, we are proud providers of excellent training and housekeeping courses, and this article will give you a bit more of a breakdown of what to expect when you enrol.
Types of Housekeeping Courses
Thinking of doing a housekeeping training course? Find out more about what we offer! #lifegoals Click To TweetThere are different ways of doing housekeeping courses. You can either study in a private training course or complete group training. We can train in a one-to-one set up, but our trainers are also experienced in training small and medium-sized groups. If you have a team of housekeepers or other staff that need training, we can tailor make this to fit your specifications.
We advise a maximum of 6-8 students per trainer. If a group is larger than this, we can get a second trainer in to make sure everyone is getting the highest quality training and reaching the best outcomes.
Private and Group Training Courses for Experienced Housekeepers
During a private course, training can be tailor-made exactly to your needs. Are there specific areas you want to focus or improve on, but have a good general understanding of housekeeping already? A private course might be the right option for you. Our training team will have an extensive consultation with you, finding out exactly what you need and what modules you need to cover. You can skip parts of a general course that aren’t relevant for you. Spending your valuable time focusing on the skills you need to improve on.
If you’ve started working in a household where there’s a material you’ve not worked with before, such as silver, marble or antique furniture, taking a private training course will enable you to learn about this.
Private and Group Training Courses for Beginners
A private training course will work well if you have very little experience in the housekeeping industry. Perhaps you’ve worked in a lower end hotel before, and you’d like to work in one of the top ones now. Your housekeeping techniques will need to be updated, adjusted and improved. Or you may have worked as a domestic cleaner but want to get into housekeeping. Whatever your situation, a tailor-made course will focus on exactly what is it you need to learn. Your trainer will prepare specific teaching methods so that you’ll have time to go over new information, as well as the opportunity to practice these new skills.
The great thing private courses for beginners is that there will be space and time to focus on improving your pre-existing skills. Your housekeeping course trainer is a highly experienced professional. So do take this opportunity to take all the knowledge you can from them! They’ve worked in all types of environment, so you can use them for advice on situations you might not be too sure about. Going over routines and plannings, creating structures or just simply be inspired by the career they have built for themselves so far.
Private Training Course Locations
Our private housekeeping courses can be held both on-site, or we can provide a training location across the UK. We are flexible with this and cater to exactly your needs. If you’re already working in a home or estate we would always recommend holding the training on location.
Having the trainer come to your place of work will have a number of benefits:
- All the practice you do will be ‘real life’. You will be using materials, equipment and rooms that you will have to deal with in your job. If you do training externally, you might have different machines or equipment, which can be confusing and even counterproductive if they’re not the same ones you use in your actual job.
- Having the training come to your premises will give the trainer a unique view of you at work: you can spend part of your training time with them going through your daily routine and structure. They can then troubleshoot where things are going wrong for you, and what parts of your job can be done more efficiently or need more work.
- You can have the trainer create a full housekeeping schedule and plan with you. By taking the trainer through all the tasks and the full house, they can come up with a structured plan of how to clean around the house and make sure everything is finished at the right time to a high standard.
Housekeeping Modules
The modules for housekeeping courses can be completely tailor made or mixed and matched to meet your needs, level and experience. Here are some of the modules to choose from:
- Housekeeping Tools
- Housekeeping Techniques
- Living Room
- Bedroom
- Bathroom
- Drawing Room
- Dining Room
- Marble
- Crystal
- Brass
- Wood
- Silver
- Glass
- Vitreous Enamel
- Chrome
- Technology
- Blood
- Coffee
- Red Wine
- Care of Fine Art
- Care of Antiques
- Turndown Service
- Laundry
- Silk
- Wool
- Lace
- Ironing
- Pressing
- Steaming
- Folding
- Mending of Clothes
- Shoe Care, Maintenance and Storage
- Shoe Polishing
- Valet
- Wardrobe Management
- Dry Cleaning
- Packing and Unpacking
- Finishing touches
- Flower Arranging
- Window Care
- Pet Care
Length of Housekeeping Courses
The length of a housekeeping training course is up to you: as we can tailor-make our courses we can work with your timeline and needs. Every situation is different, so when you’re discussing your training needs with us, we can give you a more concrete idea of the length of the course we would suggest.
If covering all of the above-mentioned modules, you would be looking at a course that lasts at least 2 or 3 days, depending on group size, practical assessments and the location of the course. We have provided everything from 1 day courses through to a full 7 day one, so everything is possible- we will work with you to find the perfect match!
If you’d like to know more about our housekeeping courses then please do have a look here, or drop us a line. Tell us what your needs are, and we will be delighted to advise you on the steps to get the right housekeeping training in place and get you to where you want to be.