Housekeeping Resume Example & Writing Guide

Housekeeping is a critical function in hotels, residential facilities, commercial buildings, and any other place where people gather. Housekeepers perform cleaning duties with consistently professional and friendly service. They also respond promptly to requests and ensure that all housekeeping standards are maintained at the facility. 

A well-written housekeeping resume can help you highlight these qualities and stand out as the professional any company would be proud to have on staff.

This resume guide, along with the corresponding housekeeping resume example, will cover the following topics:

• What a housekeeping resume should include

• Advice on each section of your resume (summary, work history, education)

• Adding relevant key skills to your resume

• Choosing the right resume template for a housekeeper

What should your housekeeping resume include?

An effective housekeeping resume highlights your organization, customer service, and leadership capabilities. Managing a facility’s cleaning maintenance requires knowledge of safety regulations and budgeting concerns, so your resume should reference those as well. 

A hiring manager needs to be able to easily locate the necessary information that shows your ability to do the job. So your resume should also be concise, easy-to-read, and laid out in an eye-pleasing format.

Your housekeeping resume should contain the following elements:

• A resume header with your contact information

• A resume summary

• An employment history section

• An education section

• A resume skills section

How can you create a professional summary?

The professional summary is your resume’s introduction—the “mint on the pillow” if you will. A housekeeper, or housekeeping manager, needs to have a commitment to customer service and a strict adherence to environmental and occupational codes and regulations, and your resume summary needs to reflect this. 

In two to three sentences, you can outline your core skills, experience, and—most importantly—the value you can add to an organization. It’s your thesis statement that conveys your professional accomplishments and skills, and how they relate to your practical experience.

If you really want to make a splash, add an “Areas of Expertise” list immediately after your professional summary. Use bullet points to illustrate your unique skill set, with a little space to expand on each one. This way, if the company is looking for a specific skill, they can find it quickly and easily.

See our adaptable housekeeping resume summary below.

How should you describe your work experience as a housekeeper?

The work experience section is the real meat of your resume, where you give a detailed but concise overview of your career thus far. Use the job description as a guide to tailor your resume and show how your experience aligns with what the company is looking for.

The best way to organize your work experience is in reverse chronological order, which means starting with your most recent position and working backwards. Make sure to include the name of the company, its location, your job title, the years you worked there, and your key job responsibilities. 

To add emphasis to your history, place a bullet point list of accomplishments under each job entry. Use facts and figures—quantifiable data—that demonstrate the impact you had in the role, to show that you made a measurable difference and didn’t just check tasks off a to do list.

For example, maybe you specialize in cutting costs while maintaining high levels of sanitation:

• Streamlined housekeeping procedures and operations that improved cleaning efficiency by 20%.

Take a look at the adaptable housekeeping resume employment history section below.

What can you do without any relevant experience as a housekeeper?

If you’re looking for your first job as a housekeeper, you can still put together an effective resume. The key is to emphasize your transferable skills that could help you in this role, as well as any similar experience such as retail or food service. Soft skills such as attention to detail, time management, or customer service are helpful to highlight.

If you worked as a barista, for example, you could emphasize your knowledge of food safety and cleanliness regulations and how you utilized them on the job. This shows that you have the proper mindset to work in housekeeping, and the transferable skills that would make you a great entry-level employee.

How to include a fitting housekeeping resume education and certifications section?

You might think that your education would have no bearing on your success as a housekeeper, but that’s not necessarily the case, especially if you’re looking to move into management. A hiring manager might look at your education section to see if you have the relevant skills and training to be successful in the position. 

Here are three tips to optimize your housekeeping resume education section:

• Keep it brief and simple. List your education, including your school, degree earned, or relevant courses completed.

• List your education in reverse order with the highest degree first. If you’re still working on your degree, you can provide an anticipated completion date. If you only have a high school diploma, include that as well.

• List any certifications you’ve completed or are working towards—e.g., Certified Healthcare Environmental Services Professional (CHESP), Train the Trainer Certification, or Certified Environmental Housekeeper (CEH) certification—as these demonstrate your commitment to professional development.

Which key skills are relevant for a housekeeping resume?

Housekeepers provide services that are very personal. This means that your soft skills are often just as important as hard skills like cleaning, laundry, vacuuming, and disinfecting. Friendliness, a positive attitude, and being a hard worker are valued qualities that not everyone has. But how do you integrate those skills into your resume?

The job description is the key to ensuring that your skills align with what the company is looking for, as it will usually provide keywords that you can directly include in your resume. When applying, your resume may be scanned by applicant tracking system (ATS) software that ranks resumes based on predetermined keywords. Including these will help ensure that your resume doesn’t get overlooked. (To learn more, check out our article on resume ATS optimization.)

If you need a bit of assistance, career.io’s resume templates come with a key skills list that includes common skills a housekeeper might need. But don’t limit these to only your skills section. Incorporate them throughout your housekeeping resume by showing how you’ve used these skills on the job. 

For a housekeeper, a few critical skills might include:

• Time management

• Attention to detail

• Communication

• Interpersonal skills

• Flexibility

• Customer service

• Staff management and training

• Interviewing and hiring

• Team building and mentoring

How to select the most impactful housekeeping resume template

A good housekeeping resume should be clean, organized, and professional, using a modern layout that’s easy for a hiring manager to read. You can also use a pop of color if you wish to add a little extra sparkle, but don’t go overboard with colors, graphics, or creative fonts.

The sample housekeeping resume below is a great example of a professional layout that’s concise and easy to scan, with well-designated sections. You want it to look professional—just like you.

A typical housekeeping resume also shouldn’t be longer than one page. If you’re at management level, two pages is acceptable, but make sure that it’s no longer than that.

We’ve got a wide range of templates to choose from in our resume builder, so you’re guaranteed to find one that fits your situation. Need more inspiration? Check out our 100+ available resume examples.

Copyable housekeeping resume example

Key takeaways for writing a housekeeping resume

1. A well-written housekeeping resume can help you highlight your skills and professional qualities, and stand out as the professional any company would be proud to have on staff.

2. When creating your resume, emphasize both hard and soft skills, and demonstrate how you used these skills on the job by using action verbs.

3. Tailor your resume for each job you apply for by including keywords  from the job description in each section, like “managed”, “customer service,” or “trained.”  Look to the job description for keywords to match.

4. Use our online resume builder to craft your housekeeping resume with adaptable templates and AI-powered content. Make your life easier and the job application process faster!