Put the route details in the ad: where the day starts, who brings the supplies and whether the work is solo or on a team. Then the interview can be about the work itself.
What to ask cleaning applicants
You and your HireBus team set these cleaning questions during setup, and Iris asks them in each interview:
- Getting to work. Say whether the cleaner meets at the shop or drives between clients, and ask if they can do that.
- The schedule. Name the shift (weekday homes, weekends or evening offices) and ask which hours they can commit to.
- Team or solo. Ask how they divided work on a team or kept track of tasks while working alone in a client's home.
- Client access and care. Ask how they handle keys, alarm instructions, fragile items, and a request that falls outside the booked service.
- Pay. Explain how pay is figured, including travel time between jobs.
Cleaning roles to hire for
- Residential cleaner. Follows your room checklist, handles client access and works alone or with a teammate.
- Team lead. Splits up the house, checks the work, trains new cleaners and handles a client concern.
- Commercial / night crew. Building access, evening availability, floor-care equipment, and reporting issues after the office closes.
- Quality inspector. Checks finished work and follows up with both the crew and the client.
- CSR / scheduler. Booking software, recurring appointments, and reshuffling a route after a same-day cancellation.
Questions cleaning owners ask
Can Iris help when applicants stop responding?
Yes. Iris keeps following up after her first message. Some applicants still won't answer. Among the ones who finish her interview, Iris prioritizes who you should talk to first.
How should we plan our own interview?
Have a team lead ask how they would divide a house, check the finished work and handle a missed task. Give the candidate the time, the place and a way to reach you if plans change.
Can I hire several cleaners at once?
Yes. Openings with the same duties, pay and schedule can share one role. Plans cap the number of scored candidates each month, so compare plan limits before launch.
Founder & CEO of HireBus. Brandon took over his father's window cleaning business in 2012 and grew it past seventy employees in six seasons. He founded HireBus in Denver in 2021 with Rick Breden, PhD, an industrial and organizational psychologist. Read our story.
