How to hire a housekeeping worker

How to hire a housekeeping worker, step by step

Here's a step-by-step housekeeping worker hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a housekeeping worker job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new housekeeping worker
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you start hiring a housekeeping worker, identify what type of worker you actually need. Certain positions might call for a full-time employee, while others can be done by a part-time worker or contractor.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   Hiring the perfect housekeeping worker also involves considering the ideal background you'd like them to have. Depending on what industry or field they have experience in, they'll bring different skills to the job. It's also important to consider what levels of seniority and education the job requires and what kind of salary such a candidate would likely demand.

   The following list breaks down different types of housekeeping workers and their corresponding salaries.

   Type of Housekeeping Worker	Description	Hourly rate
   Housekeeping Worker		$11-18
   Maid	Maids are individuals who perform domestic chores like ironing, grocery shopping, cleaning, and laundry. Primarily, maids oversee the maintenance of wardrobes, serve meals, and lay out clothes... Show more	$9-16
   Service Attendant	A service attendant is an employee who is employed to provide general maintenance services and maintain the cleanliness of the upkeep of the premises. Service attendants must support sales associates in a store as well as provide excellent quality services to guests and customers... Show more	$10-16

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Cleanliness
   • Patients
   • Patient Rooms
   • Patient Care
   • Building Floors
   • Polish Furniture
   • Scrubbers
   • OSHA
   • Clean Linen
   • Guest Rooms
   • Floor Maintenance
   • Waste Removal
   • Clean Windows
   • Floor Care

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Follow all safety and personnel rules and regulations also meeting OSHA standards.
   • Serve patients their food, clean bathrooms, vacuum floors, make beds, wash laundry.
   • Maintain assign equipment for cleanliness and report need repairs to equipment, furniture, building and fixtures.
   • Record patients condition, care, progress, problems and discuss observation with case manager and supervisor.
   • Remove laundry from dryers, folding rough-dry items (i.e., bedspreads, towels, etc . )
   • Maintain regular housekeeping and general cleanliness in work area.

   More housekeeping worker duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your housekeeping worker job description is one of the best ways to attract top talent. A housekeeping worker can vary based on:

   • Location. For example, housekeeping workers' average salary in mississippi is 52% less than in new york.
   • Seniority. Entry-level housekeeping workers 38% less than senior-level housekeeping workers.
   • Certifications. A housekeeping worker with certifications usually earns a higher salary.
   • Company. Working for an established firm or a new start-up company can make a big difference in a housekeeping worker's salary.

   Average housekeeping worker salary

   $14.81hourly

   $30,796 yearly

   ---

   Entry-level housekeeping worker salary

   $24,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 16, 2025

   Average housekeeping worker salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	New York	$43,037	$21
   2	California	$36,115	$17
   3	Massachusetts	$35,381	$17
   4	Hawaii	$35,027	$17
   5	New Jersey	$31,623	$15
   6	Illinois	$29,814	$14
   7	Utah	$29,254	$14
   8	Iowa	$27,912	$13
   9	Kentucky	$27,115	$13
   10	Virginia	$26,192	$13
   11	South Dakota	$25,529	$12
   12	Florida	$25,337	$12

   Average housekeeping worker salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Prime Healthcare	$34,211	$16.45	21
   2	Mount Sinai Health System	$32,825	$15.78	7
   3	Maine Health/maine Mental Health Partners	$32,554	$15.65
   4	City of Collinsville	$32,159	$15.46	2
   5	Mission Regional Medical Center	$32,144	$15.45	31
   6	Island Holdings Inc	$31,968	$15.37
   7	Adia	$31,817	$15.30
   8	MaidPro	$31,625	$15.20	3
   9	Service Master Clean	$31,347	$15.07	43
   10	VCA Animal Hospitals	$31,141	$14.97	11
   11	St Joseph Medical Group	$30,996	$14.90	4
   12	Sodexo Management, Inc.	$30,978	$14.89	383
   13	Northwell Health	$30,551	$14.69	6
   14	Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program	$30,211	$14.52	2
   15	RWJBarnabas Health	$30,204	$14.52	19
   16	Acacia Network	$30,172	$14.51
   17	Community Health Systems	$30,063	$14.45	64
   18	Baptist Health Care	$29,456	$14.16	3
   19	Northbridge Communities	$29,364	$14.12	5
   20	Thomas Health	$29,117	$14.00

4. Writing a housekeeping worker job description

   A good housekeeping worker job description should include a few things:

   • Summary of the role
   • List of responsibilities
   • Required skills and experience

   Including a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager is also appreciated by candidates. Here's an example of a housekeeping worker job description:

   Housekeeping worker job description example

   • Hospital housekeeping preferred.
   • Successful completion of Newark Beth Israel orientation programs
   • Completion of department specific orientation

   First established in 1901, Newark Beth Israel Medical Center is a 665-bed quaternary care, teaching hospital that provides comprehensive health care for the region. Staffed with more than 800 physicians, 3200 employees, and 150 volunteers, our hospital is ready to provide you and your family with the quality care you need.

   At Newark Beth Israel Medical Center, we are committed to quality and excellence in patient care. Our goal is to exceed your expectations and to provide you with an environment that is conducive to healing and promotes patient safety. The Newark Beth Israel Medical Center management and staff abide by the philosophy that all patients are to be treated with respect, dignity, and sensitivity.

   The Children s Hospital of New Jersey provides comprehensive inpatient and outpatient pediatric services that include a pediatric intensive care unit, pediatric emergency department, Valerie Fund Children s Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders, and a neonatal ICU with New Jersey s only ECMO unit. The pediatric staff pharmacist works in the decentralized pharmacy satellite and provides collaborative pharmaceutical care to the Children s Hospital of New Jersey including NICU and PICU, and the emergency department.

   We offer a great work environment, competitive rates and excellent benefits, including:

   • Medical/Dental/Vision plans
   • 401 (k)
   • Vacation/Personal/Holiday/Sick Time Off
   • Short & Long Term Disability
   • Basic Life & Accidental Death Insurance
   • Tuition Reimbursement
   • Health Care/Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   To find housekeeping workers for your business, try out a few different recruiting strategies:

   • Consider internal talent. One of the most important talent pools for any company is its current employees.
   • Ask for referrals. Reach out to friends, family members, and your current work to ask if they know any housekeeping workers they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit entry-level housekeeping workers with the right educational background.
   • Social media platforms. LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter have more than 3.5 billion users, and they're a great place for company branding and reaching potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your housekeeping worker job on Zippia to find and recruit housekeeping worker candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Recruiting housekeeping workers requires you to bring your A-game to the interview process. The first interview should introduce the company and the role to the candidate as much as they present their background experience and reasons for applying for the job. During later interviews, you can go into more detail about the technical details of the job and ask behavioral questions to gauge how they'd fit into your current company culture.

   You should also ask about candidates' unique skills and talents to see if they match the ideal candidate profile you developed earlier. Candidates good enough for the next step can complete the technical interview.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new housekeeping worker

   Once you've found the housekeeping worker candidate you'd like to hire, it's time to write an offer letter. This should include an explicit job offer that includes the salary and the details of any other perks. Qualified candidates might be looking at multiple positions, so your offer must be competitive if you like the candidate. Also, be prepared for a negotiation stage, as candidates may way want to tweak the details of your initial offer. Once you've settled on these details, you can draft a contract to formalize your agreement.

   It's also important to follow up with applicants who do not get the job with an email letting them know that the position is filled.

   Once that's done, you can draft an onboarding schedule for the new housekeeping worker. Human Resources should complete Employee Action Forms and ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc. They should also ensure that new employee files are created for internal recordkeeping.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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