...

What Are The Qualities a Housekeeper Should Possess?


Finding a good, trustworthy housekeeper can be pretty hard. Since you’ll be leaving your home in their care, it is important to get a professional who is good at what they do and someone who goes above and beyond the call of duty to do their job right.

Finding that perfect match is even harder these days because quality housekeeping is a much sought-after service. Plus, it takes time to build a good relationship with your housekeeper. You are going to need to learn more about them and to understand their work ethics.

Before you hire your next housekeeper, be sure to conduct a thorough background check on them. Doing your due diligence is extremely important in this process. Also, go for someone with the right set of skills you need. This article will give you some insight into the qualities to look for when hiring a housekeeper.

Personality traits of a good housekeeper

  • Carefully – This is one of the key qualities of a good housekeeper.  This is because the items in your apartment are precious. Therefore, find someone who appreciates this and treats them as the most precious, unique, and fragile of objects.
  • Trustworthiness Hire someone who is professional and displays the highest level of trustworthiness. You should take your time to learn about people and avoid untrustworthy individuals.

These are people who may try to steal and get away with valuable goods in the house. You can prevent this by doing a thorough background check on the individual before hiring. You can also seek the opinions of former referees who are knowledgeable about the individual’s previous work ethics.

  • Loyalty – In seeing the proper upkeep of your apartment, you need someone loyal. The housekeeper should be there in good and in bad times. They should not leave you at a moment’s notice without a warning of their intention to leave.

This can be done via an early resignation letter. Doing this will put you on notice. It will also help you plan your next move. This may include finding another housekeeper before the timeline lapses.

  • Honest – While performing their duties, a blunder may occur that may lead to damage or destruction of property. In such cases, the person should be honest enough to admit to their mistakes. They should be in a position to always explain what transpired before the mistake took place.

They should also ensure that the mishap does not happen again. Therefore look for a housekeeper that is diligent and careful while working in your apartment.

  • Flexible – In certain situations, you may require their services at a late moment’s notice. In others, you may require them to go above and beyond. This may include tasks such as taking care of kids as well as cleaning the house.
  • Reliable – In some situations, you may require them to tackle some work outside their experience. They should work with zeal and conviction and always be ready to learn. The ability to learn quickly means you can trust them with other more complicated tasks.
  • Hardworking – They should put in time and energy in the line of providing their service. To ensure their work goes on smoothly without any glitch, they need to work tirelessly. They should be willing to put in the ultimate amount of effort.
  • Self-control – Look for someone who does not use their emotions in dealing with situations. Look for a professional who will carry on with their work and not let emotions impede them.
  • Happy and cheerful – Such a person will bring good energy to the house. You will also be at ease and comfortable around them. Avoid sad and unfriendly people as it will make your interactions awkward in your apartment.
  • Ready to learn – They should also be ready to follow instructions despite being adults and not liking to be told what to do. If they are persistent against your instructions, it may at times lead to ego wars. This may be a turn off to you.
  • Open-minded and ready to take in any information or rules that have been presented to them. They should be able to also ask questions in times when they do not have any clear directions or guidance.  Obedience to a certain degree is a positive trait.
  • Responsibility – They should be in a position to justify the true worthiness of their salary by the amount of job and responsibilities in their hands. They should also be accountable for everything they do around the apartment especially when you are away.
  • Innovative and creative – This too should be at the peak of their personality trait. At times you may be left without any option or any fall back plan and hence the need for creativity. In cases where they use alternative methods of solving a problem, you should laud their efforts.
  • Empathy – They need to put themselves in your shoes to do the job how you want it done. This will also enable them to follow any laid-out plan or procedure dutifully.
  • Motivated and willing to work in different environments – They should be willing to adapt to your cultures and situations even if they not have been exposed to that in their previous life. You should get a housekeeper that is comfortable with your way of doing things and gets your perspective on things.

Skills and qualities of a good housekeeper

  • Organization – This enhances their ability to put things in an orderly fashion and to work methodically.

If you require your house in a certain order they should be able to deliver to your liking. Possessing this skill will enable them to tackle such work easily. It will also enable them to organize and arrange their timetable in a way that will make them flexible at work.

  • Time management – To ensure that all tasks have been completed in time, they need to properly manage their time. This can be done by using work plans and also timesheets that help them complete each work assigned to them.

Each appointment should be properly noted down in the work plan and assigned a specific time. Since you both will have the work plan, it is their responsibility to ensure they properly manage their schedule.

  • Communication – The way they express themselves speaks volumes about who they are. In the line of duty, they may be required to handle your guests and their communication skills will come in handy in such a situation.

While they may possess great communication skills, listening skills also go hand in hand with this type of work. They should have good listening skills to enhance a perfect communication pattern between them and you. They should be able to understand the directions that have been put in place and follow them to the letter.

  • Interpersonal skills – should also be at the forefront of their skills. Since in their line of duty they will interact with your guests directly, they must have this skill. They should be team players. Should you decide to help around the house, they should be willing to work in tandem with you.
  • Great laundry skills – Depending on your schedule, the laundry workload may be weekly or even daily. They must have laundry skills since they will be washing, folding and ironing towels, suits, bed sheets, and other clothing. Knowing how to care and handle different fabrics and garments is important.
  • Cleaning skills – should also be in line with your required standards. Cleaning the apartment is normally divided into different rooms or stages. Since the bathroom, kitchen and bedroom are mainly the dirty spots in the house they need to know how to deal with these specific rooms. Scrubbing the bathroom and straightening the bed should not be an issue.
  • Attention to detail – In some instances, they may miss cleaning some important spots that may jeopardize their work. With this skill, they will be able to analyze the whole room and determine where everything was at the beginning and return the objects to the specified places.
  • Ability to use certain types of tools – such as a vacuum. Certain cleaning tools can be cumbersome to use and they need to familiarize themselves with using such. They should be up to date with technological developments in the field of housekeeping.
  • Familiar with a variety of cleaning supplies -They should know your preferences and dislikes. This way they will be careful while cleaning the house and do it according to your specifications. It helps to look for someone who may go out of their way to make little home improvements.
  • If you require a housekeeper who has cooking skills, let it be known beforehand. This is a normal arrangement in households that would hire a housekeeper rather than a nanny to save up on cost. The housekeeper needs to be comfortable around the kitchen in case such a situation is presented to them.
  • Patient – enough with tasks otherwise seen as demeaning. They should be willing to do any type of odd jobs around the apartment such as taking out the trash or even doing grocery shopping. They should be open-minded and always ready for any task presented to them.
  • Presentable and have great customer service skills – To be successful in the housekeeping work, their servicing skills need to be at per with the set standards. In this type of work, you are always the one who does the appraisal and total satisfaction is needed. You should be appreciative and approve of the services that you have received.
  • Physical strength and agility – A housekeeper needs to have stamina in their line of duty. The job mostly requires them to kneel, crawl, and bend to get work done. At times they may be forced to work in confined spaces which will take a toll on their energy levels.

Final Thoughts

Hiring a stranger to take care of your home is no small thing. It is important to take your time before settling on an individual, because getting a housekeeper with all these amazing qualities is not easy.

If you are lucky enough to find that winning candidate, do everything you can to make their lives tolerable so they can stay. Good housekeepers are hard to come by and their services are in very high demand. Be firm but kind and make sure you make them feel appreciated for the good work they do for you.

However, this does not mean that you should settle for less than you deserve. If you are signing up with housekeeping service, do your due diligence and find someone with experience, good testimonials and recommendations, and someone who is good at what they do and won’t need too much instruction.

Before work starts, be sure to sign a legally binding contract. It should outline the salary requirements and responsibilities to be undertaken.  This way both parties will know outright what is expected of them, preventing any misunderstandings.

Melanie Asiba

Melanie is an author, and she enjoys traveling, reading, and trying out new things. In addition to writing for Apartment ABC.

Recent Posts