There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being an office cleaner. For example, did you know that they make an average of $13.2 an hour? That's $27,453 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 7% and produce 159,800 job opportunities across the U.S.
There are certain skills that many office cleaners have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed interpersonal skills, mechanical skills and physical strength.
If you're interested in becoming an office cleaner, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 11.8% of office cleaners have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 1.1% of office cleaners have master's degrees. Even though some office cleaners have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of cleaner you might progress to a role such as technician eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title facilities manager.
What Am I Worth?
The role of an office cleaner includes a wide range of responsibilities. These responsibilities can vary based on an individual's specific job, company, or industry.Here are some general office cleaner responsibilities:
There are several types of office cleaner, including:
Housekeepers are in charge of making sure a private home or commercial establishment, like a hotel, is clean. Simply put, you vaccuum, wash the sheets, replace the old sheets with clean sheets, straighten up the rooms, and make the beds.
Generally, you won't have to interact with visitors unless it is a private home. This means communication skills aren't really needed but a good set of headphones might do you some good. You can finally catch up on that podcast or catch the latest tunes, or whatever the kids are listening to nowadays.
There is a lot of opportunity in this field, as there are a lot of places that could use a good cleaning. So really it comes down to what kind of company you hope to work for. It's nice to have options, isn't it?
Clean up, clean up. Everybody, everywhere. As a janitor, the song you used to sing as a kid, when your parents made you clean your room, is even useful today, in your job. The majority of your day will be spent making sure everything is clean and in good condition.
Janitors typically work inside, although some may need to extend their duties to maintaining cleanliness outside as well. From sweeping the floors to mowing the lawn, everything stays in pristine order with you in charge.
Usually, janitors work evening shifts. This gives you plenty of space to work with no one in your way. That way you can get in and get out quickly. You won't need a formal education as a janitor, but you will learn on-the-job, so make sure you're paying attention during training.
As a cleaner, it is your responsibility to ensure the building or buildings you're in charge of are spotless. From sweeping the floors and washing windows to cleaning the bathrooms and maybe even mowing the lawn, your goal is to make the building(s) shine.
A lot of your job is done after hours usually, as that's when everyone has gone home and will be out of your way. Some of the work may be unpleasant since there will be areas that are more dirty than others.
Luckily, the job isn't too demanding education wise, so you should be able to pick it up after a bit of on-the-job training. Other than training, you won't need any formal education. Another plus for this position is that you can essentially work anywhere. Everyone needs an exceptional cleaner.
Mouse over a state to see the number of active office cleaner jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where office cleaners earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.
Rank | State | Number of Jobs | Average Salary |
---|---|---|---|
1 | California | 3,399 | $30,787 |
2 | Florida | 2,984 | $23,984 |
3 | Texas | 2,709 | $25,251 |
4 | Ohio | 1,972 | $25,015 |
5 | New York | 1,910 | $32,422 |
6 | Pennsylvania | 1,763 | $26,701 |
7 | Illinois | 1,695 | $28,524 |
8 | Michigan | 1,357 | $26,028 |
9 | Virginia | 1,179 | $24,119 |
10 | Georgia | 1,178 | $26,852 |
11 | North Carolina | 1,105 | $24,006 |
12 | Indiana | 1,068 | $26,011 |
13 | New Jersey | 1,006 | $27,533 |
14 | Wisconsin | 942 | $25,056 |
15 | Massachusetts | 921 | $30,149 |
16 | Tennessee | 891 | $27,068 |
17 | Minnesota | 839 | $28,336 |
18 | Arizona | 833 | $28,829 |
19 | Washington | 828 | $32,538 |
20 | Missouri | 820 | $26,043 |
21 | Maryland | 730 | $27,949 |
22 | Colorado | 649 | $26,399 |
23 | South Carolina | 596 | $19,343 |
24 | Kentucky | 535 | $25,777 |
25 | Iowa | 479 | $27,570 |
26 | Oregon | 473 | $32,116 |
27 | Alabama | 466 | $21,535 |
28 | Utah | 426 | $24,378 |
29 | Louisiana | 412 | $21,340 |
30 | Oklahoma | 370 | $24,436 |
31 | Connecticut | 351 | $32,027 |
32 | Kansas | 341 | $27,396 |
33 | Arkansas | 293 | $22,790 |
34 | Nevada | 292 | $27,171 |
35 | Mississippi | 279 | $19,529 |
36 | Idaho | 252 | $24,188 |
37 | Nebraska | 235 | $26,967 |
38 | New Mexico | 230 | $21,846 |
39 | New Hampshire | 210 | $29,245 |
40 | West Virginia | 206 | $22,181 |
41 | Montana | 164 | $26,006 |
42 | Maine | 159 | $29,175 |
43 | Rhode Island | 154 | $29,541 |
44 | Alaska | 145 | $30,167 |
45 | Hawaii | 123 | $31,919 |
46 | Delaware | 110 | $25,073 |
47 | North Dakota | 106 | $26,761 |
48 | Vermont | 89 | $30,004 |
49 | Wyoming | 86 | $26,791 |
50 | South Dakota | 81 | $29,332 |
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 18.1% of office cleaners listed commercial cleaning on their resume, but soft skills such as interpersonal skills and mechanical skills are important as well.
Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Office Cleaner templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Office Cleaner resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.
After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
1. Start & Operate Your Own Successful Office Cleaning Business
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2. Microsoft Office 365 Administration
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3. Microsoft Office; Excel, Word & PowerPoint 2019 - Beginners
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Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as an office cleaner. The best states for people in this position are Washington, New York, Oregon, and Connecticut. Office cleaners make the most in Washington with an average salary of $32,538. Whereas in New York and Oregon, they would average $32,422 and $32,116, respectively. While office cleaners would only make an average of $32,027 in Connecticut, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. Alaska
$30,167
Avg. Salary
2. New York
$32,422
Avg. Salary
3. Oregon
$32,116
Avg. Salary
Rank | Company | Average Salary | Hourly Rate | Job Openings |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Handy | $31,167 | $14.98 | 9 |
2 | One Source Assoc. | $29,814 | $14.33 | 13 |
3 | ViacomCBS | $28,332 | $13.62 | 7 |
4 | Varsity Bus | $27,988 | $13.46 | 10 |
5 | Homes.com | $27,515 | $13.23 | 6 |
6 | ManpowerGroup | $27,318 | $13.13 | 11 |
7 | CLEAN Uniform | $27,286 | $13.12 | 8 |
8 | Clean Sweep Inc | $27,274 | $13.11 | 8 |
9 | Commercial Cleaning Systems, Inc. | $27,273 | $13.11 | 9 |
10 | ABM Industries | $27,221 | $13.09 | 15 |