Two Important Questions to Ask Yourself Before Hiring a New Cleaning Employee

Jean Hanson

When hiring a new cleaning employee, many of us have fallen into that old trap of hiring a "warm body" because Sally just quit and Nancy is out sick and "I need someone to do the work - NOW!"

If you've ever done this, you've probably regretted the decision to hire these warm bodies because they didn't work out and may have cost you a lot of money and problems in the long run.

Have you ever heard the phrase "hire for attitude and train for skill"? This is an important tip for hiring employees because it's hard to change someone's negative attitude, but it IS possible to teach people with a positive attitude a new skill.

So what are the two important questions?

• Does this applicant have a positive attitude?
• Is the applicant trainable?

If you've ever worked with a person who has a bad attitude, you know they can be "energy suckers". Before you know it they've adversely affected the people around them and pretty soon you've got negativity flowing through your company.

Attitude is so important to personal and professional success. It affects our behavior and it affects our co-workers, customers, motivation level and how we deal with change. Attitude can make a huge difference in working in a positive, high-energy workplace or working at a job we dread going to every day.

When an applicant has a positive attitude she is ready to learn whatever skills are needed to perform the job. And when a person has these qualities, she usually turns out to be a long-term employee who is good at customer service and problem solving. That's because she wants to do a good job by making customers happy.

So the next time you start looking for a new employee, ask yourself these two very important questions. If you can answer YES to both questions, you'll be one step closer to finding a great new employee.

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Jean Hanson helps owners of residential cleaning companies build a more profitable and successful cleaning business through her online community at MyHouseCleaningBiz.com. Read inspirational cleaning success stories at http://www.cleaning-success.com, and sign up for House Cleaning Profit Tips at http://www.MyHouseCleaningBiz.com.