Training with a professional in your field can teach you aspects of your job you may never have considered before. Click To TweetBeing a housekeeping is a challenging but rewarding job. If you have a passion for organisation and cleanliness, a keen eye for details and are passionate about making homes and rooms look their best, this will be the right job for you. However to keep up to date with industry standards, and to stand out from competition when applying for new jobs, you should make sure to keep up to date on relevant training requirements and qualifications.
Why are housekeeping qualifications required to work effectively?
Industry Standards
Whether you are working in a small private household, large estate or in a big hotel chain, as a housekeeper you will have to make sure you stick to a certain level of industry standards. And training courses are a perfect way to keep up to date with these. There might be a cleaning product that you have been using regularly that is no longer suited to use, or a new version might have been released. The same goes for cleaning equipment and material – this is always is development so it is good to know what the new products on the market are so you can either start using these yourself, or advise your Principal or employer when they ask.
Skills Update
Anyone who does a job for a long period of time can become slightly complacent, and you might feel like you are going in ‘automatic’ mode when cleaning something you have done many times before. There is a big risk in this – as when you stop paying very close attention to all your tasks, you can start forgetting things and standards will drop! Avoiding complacency requires renewed learning efforts, and ongoing training can help you maintain focus.
Training will force you to break down a routine that you might be very used to, and makes you look at all the different aspects of the process. Where can you improve? Where are you dropping your level of detail? There might also be new products or material that you have never worked before, and in training you can learn how to, for example, clean stains out of a velvet couch. It is always best to know these things before they become apparent, so you will never have to turn around to an employer saying you do not know how to do something -as your training has covered this.
Standing Out From the Competition
This is especially relevant if you are looking to apply for a new job, of if you are looking to get higher up in your career. Chances are there will be other people also applying for the job, and initially CVs will be compared. If your CV shows no qualifications and your competitors CV has exactly the same level of experience, but they do have training on their CV – which person do you think will be favoured? Training does not only give you the skill, it shows future employers that you are serious about your career and willing to invest in it.
What are some qualification requirements essential to a housekeeper?
There are many different types of training and qualifications you can consider, either when you are looking to become a housekeeper, or when you are already working as a housekeeper. There is no such thing as doing too many qualifications, and keeping your training up to date by taking a similar training once a year can be very beneficial to your skillset. Doing regular training keeps your mind fresh and gives you the opportunity to practise things that you might not have come across in previous work. Below a list of must have certificates and training for you to consider:
Health and Safety Training
Health and Safety training is paramount to undertake, especially if you are working in a private household. If you are working in a hotel or corporate setting it is likely that health and safety training is offered as part of your employment or introduction period. However if you are working as an independent housekeeper, self employed or employed, you need to be up to date on health and safety risks and how to avoid them. Especially in housekeeping you will be working in a lot of potentially dangerous situation if these aren’t managed well. You can think of all the different types of toxic material using in cleaning products and how to use them – and what not to use them on. Another example is when you are dealing with electrical equipment, you want to make sure never to use water near it. When you are working on stairs, you never want to lift too heavy items up or down – or leave bulky equipment such as vacuum cleaners lingering around, this is a massive trip hazard. Health and safety training will go over all these and many more potential risks, making sure you are fully understanding on how to work safely for you and the people around you.
Fire Awareness Training
Similar to above, if you are working in commercial or hotel settings, they will most likely give you a brief training on what to do in case of fire. However whether you are working in a hotel, small house or large villa, you should have an understanding of fire safety and training in fire awareness. Also fire escape and emergency plans will be different per property, requiring you to know what to in general in case of fire, what material and equipment you are using can potentially be a fire hazard. Fire awareness training will also teach you the common causes of fire, basic safety features in buildings and how to handle fire extinguishers.
Food Hygiene Training
Food Hygiene training comes in several different levels, but even you do not prep or cook food during your job – being around food and drink is enough to qualify you to do a Level 1/basic Food Hygiene course. You will learn why food hygiene is important, understanding food hygiene law, food safety hazards, food safety control, and personal hygiene. Understanding these skills is vital for any housekeeper as it is all part of overall cleanliness, upkeep and cleaning of the household or space you are working in.
Cleaning/Housekeeping Skills Training
Whether you are new to the industry or have worked as a housekeeper for a long time, doing a housekeeping skills training is vital to keep your standards up to date. A practical training course would go through all different types of cleaning skills and techniques with you, from vacuum cleaning and mopping to polishing brass, silver and cleaning shoes and high end hand bags. Do you know how to work with all different types of material when it comes to stain removal? From leather, to silk, velvet and suede – these are all things a training would cover. A good training course would also go further and teach final touches such as toilet paper folding, towel folding, wardrobe management and flower arranging. The skills for a housekeeper are endless so doing a practical course is vital to stay up to date.
Why does training play an important role in becoming a qualified housekeeper?
Training is vital to become a skilled and successful housekeeper. As you can see from the overview above, there are many different things to take into account, and things you should be aware of before you can become a housekeeper. You are not just cleaning, you are caring for someone’s property or hotel room to the highest possible standard, and if you do not have your training and qualifications in check, you will simply not be able to meet those standards.
Polo & Tweed offer extensive Housekeeping, Health, Fire, Safety and Food Hygiene training courses which are extremely hands on – requiring you to constantly be on your feet, knees and sitting as you go through all different types of cleaning materials, techniques, equipments and skills. You will work your way through all area’s of the house, as well as learning things such as wardrobe management, pet care, shoe and handbag care. Polo & Tweed offers small group courses as well as private, tailor made training. You can read more about our training courses here and do not hesitate to get in touch with any questions you may have!