Working as a housekeeper in the high-end domestic service industry is an exciting place to be. You can consider working for people’s private houses and estates, high end and boutique hotels, chalets and yachts. It’s a great industry where no day is the same, and it’s one where if you work hard and keep bettering yourself, great career progressions are possible. But what options for career progression for housekeepers are out there?
Changing Careers to Become a Housekeeper
Are you considering a change in career to become a housekeeper? Here's what you need to do... Click To Tweet
Before we look at career progression for housekeepers, let’s look at how to start in the first place! If you’ve never worked as a housekeeper before, but you would like to get into this area, it can sometimes be difficult to get your first job without any experience. Although there will be junior level roles available, if you are looking to get into the industry and you don’t have a lot of relevant experience on your CV, it can feel like a challenging task to get noticed.
Training for New Housekeepers
This is where training courses come in. You can invest some time and money into specialised training courses for housekeepers, which will make you stand out immediately. A housekeeping qualification shows that you have obtained a certain level of skill, and have a good level of specific knowledge that other candidates might not have. A good training course will involve lots of practical training too, so at the end of the course you should really feel like you could deal with any cleaning or housekeeping situation that may arise in a household.
From a CV and job perspective point of view, most importantly, undertaking a training shows that you’re taking your career seriously and are willing to learn and invest in it.
Career Progression: Moving From Housekeeping to Elite Housekeeping
If you’re already be working in the housekeeping industry, you may be wondering what career progression options are available to you. Perhaps you are working in a hotel as a maid or housekeeper, or in a private household at a junior level.
Elite housekeepers have a special edge: they have a high level of experience, but most importantly they have a great level of knowledge and understanding of every facet of housekeeping and cleaning. If you would like your career progression to involve becoming an elite housekeeper, you’ll need to train accordingly.
Training to Become an Elite Housekeeper
At this stage, training will be vital. You have your experience already, and you know how to clean a house, organise laundry and iron a shirt. But you will need outstanding skills and knowledge to get to the higher end of the housekeeping spectrum.
Investing time and money in specialist training, be it in a small group setting or privately, will give you the knowledge and details of things you didn’t know before, making you stand out and be unique in comparison to colleagues in your field. You will also show that you’re committed and dedicated to this career path, eager to learn and always looking to become a better version of yourself, which are personality traits that recruiters and principals always look for.
What to Expect From a Training Course
Size of Class
Firstly, consider if you would like to join a group course or a private training session. Both can be extremely valuable, but when joining a group course do check how large the size of the group is. If there are more than 8-10 people on the course, it’s unlikely you will be able to learn much and get a lot of feedback from the trainer as they will be so busy trying to divide their time between all of the students.
Type of Training
With housekeeping especially, it is vital that most of the course consists of practical training and assessments. It’s all well and good talking about how to polish silver, care for shoes or clean a bathroom, but if you haven’t actually done this you won’t learn much. The training venue should provide a location that will enable the students to practice their skills, make a bed, iron to perfection, pack a suitcase and more. After all, practice makes perfect, and as an elite housekeeper, you would aim for nothing less.
Modules
On a good housekeeping course, you should expect to see a variation of the following modules and subjects being taught:
- Housekeeping Tools
- Special Surface Care
- Care of Fine Art
- Care of Antiques
- Finishing touches
- Flower Arranging
- Turndown Service
- Laundry
- Care of fine garments – Silk, Wool & Lace
- Ironing
- Folding
- Pressing
- Steaming
- Mending of Clothes
- Shoe Polishing
- Shoe Care, Maintenance and Storage
- Valet
- Wardrobe Management
- Packing and unpacking
- Window Care
- Pet Care
- Dry Cleaning
- Cleaning Technology (Computers, Speakers, TV)
How Can Polo & Tweed Help
Are you clearer on the career progression for housekeepers, now? If you would like more information, we can help! At Polo & Tweed we are proud to offer housekeeping training courses of the highest standard so that you can achieve the career progression you want. If you’d like to know more about this 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 housekeeping qualifications you need.