
Hobbies and Interests to Put on a Resume (List of 20+ Examples)
Should you put interests and hobbies on a resume? Learn the answer to this question, and pick up 5 tips that will help you do it right.
You're about to write the perfect housekeeping resume.
But first say hello to the housekeeping hiring manager. Her name's Alice.
She's hiring for a job with sky-high pay and stratospheric benefits.
Naturally, she's got 300+ housekeeping resumes to sort through.
They all say the same thing: "I'm an experienced housekeeper. Hire me."
What keeps her from picking a name from an ice bucket? How can you make your housekeeper resume sparkle like a newly serviced suite?
This guide will show you:
Here's a sample resume for a housekeeper made using our resume builder.
Want to save time and have your resume ready in 5 minutes? Try our resume builder. It’s fast and easy to use. Plus, you’ll get ready-made content to add with one click. See 20+ resume templates and create your resume here.
Sample resume made with our builder—See more resume samples here.
Looking for other positions related to maintenance and repair, too? We’ve got you covered:
Or maybe you want to craft a winning technical resume? There we go: Technical Resume Example & Writing Guide
1
Does format really matter for a housekeeping resume?
You bet it does.
The person who hires housekeepers is the one with the white glove, checking for dust.
She will not accept housekeeper resumes with typos and formatting errors.
Impress her with a respected resume layout like the reverse-chronological format. It puts your best attributes first.
That's great, since the average hotel HR manager spends mere seconds reading each resume.
Not sure how to do it? Don't worry. I'm about to show you how to knock your housekeeping resume format out of the park.
Pick a clear, legible font. Use eye-friendly headings. Make good use of white space.
Save your professional housekeeper resume in the PDF format. Other formats can scramble in transit. PDFs look the same even on Mars.
Need a template for your reverse-chronological resume format? See the housekeeping resume samples at the top of this article, and in the rest of this article.
Pro Tip: Check the job description to make sure PDFs are allowed. Some Applicant Tracking Systems struggle with housekeeper resumes saved in that format.
Want to make sure your resume will hook every recruiter and get you that interview? Get our free checklist and learn what makes a job-winning resume: 46 Things You Need To Do Before You Send Your Resume.
Want to try a few other formats for your hotel housekeeping resume? See this guide: "3 Resume Formats: How to Choose the Best One [Examples]"
2
Most resumes for housekeepers have the same effect on HR people as soft pillows on hotel guests: They put them to sleep.
You want your housekeeping resume to work like a 5am wakeup call.
Let's peek into the HR manager's office.
Her name is Jan.
She's sitting under her gigantic framed Mondrian, sipping Frappuccino and nibbling Stroopwafel.
She's practically buried by a mountain of 300+ resumes for housekeeping.
They all say the same thing:
"I'm qualified. Give me a job."
Boring.
Then she sees yours.
She doesn't break into song, but you get the distinct impression she might.
Wow.
What did you do right?
You started your housekeeping resume with a resume summary or a resume objective.
Use a resume summary if you've got bins of experience.
Use a resume objective if you've got hardly any.
Either way, use numbers and achievements, like in our executive housekeeping resume samples below.
Here are two very different house cleaner resume samples:
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Experienced housekeeping supervisor. Experienced at cleaning rooms and supervising housekeepers. Seeking job as housekeeping executive with Hyatt. |
Like a bad vacuum cleaner, that resume summary does the job, but not very well.
But look at the next of our housekeeping resume samples. It stands out like a honeymoon suite with a gift basket of Vosges chocolates on the duvet.
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Experienced housekeeping supervisor with proven skills in daily and deep cleaning, seeking job with Hyatt Hotels. Directed six housekeeping staff at Marriott Courtyard and increased positive customer comments by 38%. Saved $200,000 for management by noticing recurring problem with the guest room toilet valves. |
That's guaranteed to make the HR manager stop daydreaming about The Vampire Diaries.
When making a resume in our builder, drag & drop bullet points, skills, and auto-fill the boring stuff. Spell check? Check. Start building a professional resume template here for free.
When you’re done, Zety’s resume builder will score your resume and tell you exactly how to make it better.
I'll show you how to make a housekeeping resume summary just like it in a minute.
Let's say you don't have experience, or you do, but it's not in housekeeping.
In that case, start your hotel or residential housekeeper resume with a resume objective.
Here's how that can work:
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Housekeeper seeking job with Marriott. No experience yet but I'm a very fast learner. |
That's not awful, but neither are the other 300 housekeeping resumes on the manager's desk.
You've got to rise above them.
To do that, add achievements backed by numbers. Look at this entry level housekeeping resume sample:
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Energetic housekeeper, skilled in daily cleaning and responding to customer needs. As a crew member at McDonalds, facilitated regular sweeping, mopping, vacuuming, and customer service. Received 95% positive feedback from management for punctuality, presentability, and flexibility. |
Now that's how to show experience on a hotel housekeeping resume, even when you don't have experience. Our hiring manager, Jan, just dropped her beignet.
The key concept? Search your past jobs to find hidden housekeeping duties.
For more help, look again at the sample resume for housekeeping at the top of this guide.
Pro Tip: Your resume summary or resume objective is the highlights reel for your housekeeper resume. Write it last so you've got plenty of material.
Want more tips to write the best housekeeping resume you can? See these guides: How To Write A Resume Summary: 21 Best Examples You Will See AND +20 Resume Objective Examples - Use Them on Your Resume (Tips)
3
True or false: Housekeepers don't need tips.
False, right? Nothing could be more wrong.
Here's another:
True or false: Housekeepers don't need experience.
False.
To get a job as a housekeeper, you need housekeeping experience. If you want to be a housekeeper supervisor, you need experience at that.
In other words, match your experience to the housekeeping job description.
List your most recent job first. Add 5-6 bullet points, packed with achievements and numbers.
Here are two hotel housekeeping resume samples that show how that works.
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Housekeeping Supervisor Marriott Courtyard NYC 2014 - 2017
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Remember Jan? Our hiring manager?
She's forgotten all the other cleaning service resumes on her desk.
But compare it to this:
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Housekeeping Supervisor Marriott Courtyard NYC 2014 - 2017
|
It's clean, but it's a little too clean. Like a suite with all the furniture gone.
But what if you don't have any housekeeping experience? What if you've never had any private, hospital, or hotel housekeeping jobs?
Remember what we did with our housekeeper resume objective statement?
We mined your past for housekeeping achievements.
We'll do the same for a housekeeper resume with no experience.
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Housekeeping Experience: Never had any hotel cleaning jobs yet, but I'm very enthusiastic!
Other Experience
Waiting Tables Odd Jobs Groundskeeper |
Ugh. Fawlty Towers, right? I'm not denying it's experience. But it's not housekeeping experience.
There's no reason to pass that to a hotel HR manager. Instead, imitate the next of our housekeeping resume examples:
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Housekeeping Experience
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Now that's a housekeeper, even though he's never actually been one. He dug into his past jobs and pulled out all the housekeeping duties.
Better still, he matched his housekeeping responsibilities to the position.
Pro Tip: Be careful not to bore the hotel or hospital hiring manager with stale words like "led," or "managed." Use action words in your cleaning resume.
You can use a plain old online thesaurus to find other words for "cleaning," or synonyms for "strong work ethic." Tip: Don’t assume all synonyms work everywhere. You don’t want to say you maintained beds, but rather that you changed bed sheets.
Need specific action words to make your housekeeping resume shimmer? Find some here: "+80 Examples of Resume Action Words for Every Profession"
4
Housekeepers don't need much education. Right?
Wrong.
Most housekeepers can get by with just high school. But a bilingual education helps. And a college degree looks great on a housekeeping supervisor resume.
Put hospital corners on your housekeeping resume education section by adding:
Then list details that fit the job description.
Like this:
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Greater Bronx High School New York
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That's like a set of 50-thread-count sheets. Too thin.
But look what happens when we add a few details:
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Greater Bronx High School New York
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Any housekeeper can do that. It just takes a little thought to match a housekeeping resume to a job description like a set of fitted sheets.
Pro Tip: The best housekeeper resumes custom-fit each section to the job description. For help with that, see our guide on tailoring a resume to a job offer.
Want your housekeeping resume to get attention like a gold plated ice machine? Make your education section glitter with this guide: "How to Put Your Education on a Resume [Tips & Examples]"
5
Step into the hotel HR director's office.
On the desk sits a massive bottle of Advil.
The reason? She's read hundreds of housekeeping resumes.
They list the same skills, then fail to prove them.
But not yours.
Your housekeeper resume lists your skills. But it proves them with experience and education.
I'll show you how in a minute.
First, why do you need skills keywords in a resume for housekeeping?
Answer: because most hotel HR managers use Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS).
If your resume lacks the right keywords, you won't even get through the electronic lobby. After all, what is a housekeeper without skills?
First build a master list of all your housekeeping skills.
Then list the skills that match this job description.
Finally, show the skills in your experience section, like this:
Bam. You win. The private homeowner or HR manager just put your house cleaning resume in the Interview pile.
Need some sample housekeeping skills? Get them in the job offer, and in other job offers online. Use the list below to get started.
List of Skills to Put on a Housekeeping Resume
Hard Skills | Hard Skills | Soft Skills |
Cleaning Rooms | Cleaning Bathrooms | Communication |
Daily Cleaning | Polishing | Teamwork |
Deep Cleaning | Buffing | Time Management |
Vacuuming | Cleaning Common Areas | Customer Service |
Mopping | Reporting Safety Issues | Multitasking |
Window Treatment Cleaning | Infection Control | Honesty |
Carpet Cleaning | Chemical Handling, MSDS | Service Mindset |
Responding to Guest Requests | Sweeping | Listening |
Waxing | Supply Management | Problem Solving |
Replacing Linens | Reporting Maintenance Problems | Self-Motivation |
Removing Trash | Reporting Lost Items | Flexibility |
The advice above can turn your housekeeping resume into Conrad Hilton's dream come true.
It works just as well for a hospital housekeeping resume, a private housekeeper resume, or a resume for a hotel job.
Pro Tip: If you only use the skills in the job description, it's pandering. Mix it up. See the the sample resume for housekeeping at the top of this article for guidance.
Want to give your housekeeper resume skills section an upgrade? Use our guide: "+30 Best Examples of What Skills to Put on a Resume (Proven Tips)"
6
Let's say you're the recruiter.
You've got 300+ resumes for housekeepers. They all look pretty much alike.
They've got the same skills and experience.
How do you decide?
Answer: you pick the most well-rounded person.
You know, the one you'd want to work with.
Prove you are that person, with a hobbies section.
In a pile of identical housekeeper resumes, that one stands out like room service at the Four Seasons.
Why?
Because it shows qualities that improve your quality of work.
Embroidery and baking both demonstrate attention to detail. Book club meetings show teamwork. The animal rescue hobby shows a service mindset.
Don't want to add a hobbies section? List other activities that prove your housekeeping chops.
Housekeepers need to be active, so physical activity makes a good resume builder. Housekeepers should have a service mindset, so volunteer work looks good, too.
Now that job candidate is competent, service-minded, and physically able.
Yet almost anyone can find some lifestyle trappings like that. Do it, and your housekeeping resume will shine like it's been polished with a magic chamois.
It works just as well on a director of housekeeping resume as it does on a resume for a self-employed housekeeper.
Pro Tip: A housekeeper resume can include hobbies, volunteer work, and interests. Also add classes, references, sports, or anything else that makes you shine.
Need some help building a great hobbies section for your housekeeping resume? See our guide: "+20 Best Examples of Hobbies & Interests To Put on a Resume (5 Tips)"
7
Myth: Nobody reads cover letters any more.
Fact: 60% of hiring managers don't read cover letters. 40% consider them essential.
Don't know which group your hiring manager falls into? Include a housekeeper cover letter with your resume.
Worst case, the HR director doesn't read it.
Best case, you get first pick of the best hospital or hotel housekeeping jobs.
Write it like this:
Use the recruiter's name.
Mention a few details about the company.
Mention the two or three best features from your resume that fit the position.
End your cover letter with a call to action. That's as easy as, "I'd welcome the chance to speak more with you about your needs."
A well-written cover letter can elevate your resume to VIP status.
Pro Tip: After you send in your housekeeping resume and cover letter, follow up on your job application! A phone call or email in a few days will refresh the HR manager's memory at just the right time.
Plus, a great cover letter that matches your resume will give you an advantage over other candidates. You can write it in our cover letter builder here. Here's what it may look like:
See more cover letter templates and start writing.
Want a sample cover letter for your housekeeping resume? See our guide: "How To Write A Cover Letter [Complete Guide With Examples]"
8
Everybody adds contact info to a housekeeping resume.
Not everybody does it right.
Start by adding:
Like this:
Karen Sarmiento, karenhsarmiento@gmail.com – 212-671-2976
Then add links to your online presence. Include your Twitter handle or LinkedIn portfolio.
Think you don't need a LinkedIn portfolio? Many hiring managers use them as the only way to find new recruits.
Learn to build a great LinkedIn portfolio for a housekeeper or other job hunter here.
Pro Tip: Those Facebook photos from that pool party seven years ago? They're waiting to sabotage your job search goals. Clean them up with our guide on cleaning up your online presence.
Want more help to build the best housekeeping resume you can? See our guide: "How to Make a Resume: A Step-by-Step Guide (+30 Examples)"
By now you've got a leg up on everyone else writing resumes for housekeepers. That's because you know the key strategies:
Got questions or tips about how to make a great resume for housekeeping jobs? Give us a shout in the comments section!
Should you put interests and hobbies on a resume? Learn the answer to this question, and pick up 5 tips that will help you do it right.
Looking for nanny resume examples to help you showcase your experience? Read our professional guide and write a nanny resume that’s a top contender.
Writing a resume with no experience seems like a mission impossible. But there’s a way to make a resume with no work experience look great! And you’re about to see how.