Create a job-winning janitor resume with this simple guide

A resume guide for janitors teaching the basics of how to create an effective and job-winning resume. Topics covered in this resume guide include how to choose a format, writing a resume summary, selecting key janitorial skills, and properly listing work experience and education. 

Janitors are essential team members in business facilities, grade schools, universities, government buildings, and much more – basically every industry needs quality and hard-working janitors!

In this guide, we will teach you 5 key steps to writing the ideal janitor’s resume to help you land the job you seek.

Keep reading to learn how to: 

• Choose a resume format that works for your experience level 
• Write a strong resume summary to help your resume stand out
• Select a range of hard and soft skills to enhance your janitor resume
• Emphasize your key janitorial responsibilities in the work experience section 
• Include a concise and accurate education section

Office Cleaner Resume Example

House Cleaner Resume Sample

Janitor Resume Example

1. Choose a resume format that works for your experience level 

When it comes to choosing the best possible resume format as a janitor, it ultimately comes down to how much experience you have thus far.

Each resume format serves a different purpose, making it essential to choose the format that matches your needs as a job applicant.

The 3 most common formats and their related purposes is as follows:

• Reverse-chronological: This resume places heavy emphasis on work experience, listing a person’s most recent job first and working backward from there. Most employers expect to see this resume, as it is considered the standard format in the majority of industries.
• Functional: Functional resumes remove the focus from work experience and instead focus on education, skills, and unpaid experience. This format is well-suited for applicants who have extremely limited work experience and have recently graduated from school or college.
• Hybrid: The hybrid resume combines elements of both of the above formats, creating a resume that equally values all sections. Rather than placing extra emphasis on one section, the focus of the document is more evenly spread out. This format works best for applicants with some work experience who are either changing careers or have large gaps in their employment history. 

2. Write a strong resume summary to help your resume stand out

A resume summary is a brief statement that starts the document with a bang. Though summaries are not always considered necessary, a well-written one can help you to stand apart from competing applicants.

Here is an example of a weak janitor summary, followed by a stronger example and corrected explanation:

What's wrong with this example? In this example, the applicant offers two highly important details (the number of years worked and the training of a crew). However, these details become lost by the second vague sentence that fails to provide specific information that would make it more valuable within the summary. 

Why is this better? This corrected example places much more emphasis on the key details from the incorrect version, listing them first in the summary. Additionally, the applicant provides further context around how they helped troubled students or students in need, clearly stating their ability to work with Residential Assistants in times of emergencies. 

3. Select a range of hard and soft skills to enhance your janitor resume

Working as a janitor requires you to have many different skills beyond just cleaning. As such, it is crucial to include both hard and soft skills on your resume to demonstrate to employers that you have a wide range of applicable abilities. 

To list skills on your resume, you have 3 main options:

• Create a dedicated skills section: a separate block of text that is fully devoted to your skills.
• Include skills in work experience: the inclusion of skills within work experience both as adjectives and as explanations for how skills were applied in the field. 
• Include skills in resume summary: the inclusion of skills in a resume summary typically comes in the form of adjectives. 

Typically, you want to employ a combination of all three of these options. This way, your resume has powerful keywords and skills distributed throughout all section. Leave your most technical skills for the skills section and use the others to spice up the language in other parts of the resume. 

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4. Emphasize your key janitorial responsibilities in the work experience  section

Your work experience section is typically the bread and butter of your resume. Not only does this section give employers insight into your employment history but it also gives you one of the best opportunities to highlight any of your key responsibilities or accomplishment from previous positions.

As you write this section, make sure that each of your descriptive bullet points is engaging and offers quantifiable and high-quality information.

5. Include a concise and accurate education section

As a janitor, there are typically no minimum educational requirements to land a job in the field. However, applicants with at least a high school diploma or GED, as well as janitor-related certifications, can use these details to make their resumes more compelling to employers.

When writing out your education section, make sure to include:

• Your highest level of education (when applicable – GED, Associate’s, etc.)
• The school you attended
• Your date of graduation
• For certifications, include the formal certificate name and the certifying institution