Posted / 2nd July 2019
Interviewing for new staff to join your team isn’t as simple as merely asking how much experience they have. Arguably, your preferred way of cleaning can be taught or delivered through training – but a personality that will gel well, is not a teachable attribute.
In order to ascertain whether someone is good fit for your team, here a few questions with examples of the kind of answers you might look for.
If you found a personal item and you didn’t know who it belonged to, what would you do?
Obviously, you’d like the candidate to say that they’d replace the item where they found it. If it’s valuable, perhaps they’d suggesting politely letting the client know. If it’s an intimate item, simply return it to avoid any embarrassment.
What do you do when you have to move heavy furniture?
This question ascertains whether the candidate is aware of health and safety, with a little common sense. Of course, you’d hope that they say they’d request help from another team member.
How would you deal with an emergency? Could you give some examples?
Whether or not they’ve been a cleaning operative before, most people have examples of how they have handled an emergency. A measured, calm and rational response is all that’s required – such as, calling the appropriate emergency services.
Which products would you use to clean wood, marble, granite etc.?
Whilst they may not have the exact answer here, they should at least understand that they should read up on the appropriate treatment and/or check the instructions on the cleaning products.
Are there any specific tasks that you don’t carry out?
Due to allergies or phobias, someone might not be able to handle exposure to certain materials, chemicals or pets. It’s worth knowing this ahead of time. If they have a phobia of heights, for example, you need to know so that you don’t send them to jobs that may feature this.
How flexible are your working hours? Can you attend early morning and late evening cleans?
For your scheduling and forward planning, it’s no use having a team of staff that can all only work from 9am-5pm – you need a good mix of availability in order to fulfil a variety of client requests.
When faced with colleague disputes, how would you resolve them?
In order for your team to function well, they all need to be able to get on. Occasional staff issues are inevitable, but if your team comprises of calm and mature communicators, issues should need little in the way of resolution. You’re looking for someone who is willing to accept responsibility and seek reconciliation or ask a manager for assistance.
Have you ever seen a co-worker stealing? What did you do, or what would you do?
Of course, this is a major client concern and it’s worth seeing your potential new employees stand point on this. It would be better for them to say that they’d report it – rather than try to confront the member of staff themselves as this could ‘cause a scene’ and disturb the client.
Remember – personality always comes first when interviewing potential new cleaning operatives. A grace period can be accounted for in order for them to learn the ropes. However, common sense and a polite nature are mandatory requirements.