This page gives you two worked cleaner CV examples, one for a first job and one with experience, along with the reasoning behind each section. Cleaning CVs are often written too briefly, which costs applicants interviews for work they could easily do. Placeholders appear in square brackets and must all be replaced before submitting.
Example One: Cleaner CV With Limited Experience
Personal Details
[Full name]
[City, province]
[Phone number]
[Email address, if you have one]
Professional Summary
Reliable and hardworking individual seeking a cleaning position in [city]. Experienced in maintaining clean and hygienic environments, comfortable working early shifts and available immediately. Physically fit and able to work unsupervised.
Key Skills
- Floor cleaning, sweeping, mopping and vacuuming
- Ablution cleaning and sanitising
- Safe use of cleaning chemicals and correct dilution
- Waste removal and recycling separation
- Working unsupervised and completing a schedule
- Reliability and punctuality for early shifts
- Languages: [English, isiZulu, Sesotho]
Experience
Domestic Cleaner (part-time)
[Private household or agency], [City] | [March 2023] to [present]
- Cleaned a [three-bedroom] home twice weekly, including floors, bathrooms, kitchen and laundry.
- Used appropriate cleaning products for different surfaces without causing damage.
- Worked unsupervised and completed all tasks within the agreed time.
- Maintained a trusted working relationship over [two] years.
Volunteer, [Organisation Name]
[City] | [2022]
- Assisted with cleaning and preparing a community hall for weekly events.
- Worked as part of a team under supervision.
Education
[Highest grade completed], [School name], [year]
Example Two: Cleaner CV With Commercial Experience
Professional Summary
Cleaner with [five] years of commercial experience across [office and healthcare] environments, including operation of industrial cleaning equipment and adherence to infection control procedures. Full attendance record and experience working early shifts unsupervised.
Key Skills
- Industrial floor scrubber and polisher operation
- Deep cleaning, including carpet cleaning and floor stripping
- Chemical handling, dilution ratios and safe storage
- Infection control and colour-coded equipment procedures
- Ablution sanitising and consumable restocking
- Waste and clinical waste handling
- Working at height using safe access equipment
- Safety signage and hazard awareness
- Languages: [English, isiXhosa, Afrikaans]
Work Experience
Cleaner
[Employer name], [City] | [January 2021] to [present]
[Three-floor office building of approximately two thousand square metres]
- Maintained cleanliness across [three floors] serving approximately [one hundred and twenty] staff.
- Cleaned and sanitised ablutions [twice daily] and restocked consumables to schedule.
- Operated an industrial floor scrubber and polisher for weekly deep cleaning.
- Diluted and applied cleaning chemicals according to manufacturer instructions.
- Placed safety signage during wet floor work, maintaining an incident-free record.
- Reported maintenance faults promptly, supporting timely repairs.
- Worked an early shift unsupervised with full attendance over [three] years.
Cleaner
[Employer name], [City] | [June 2019] to [December 2020]
[Private clinic]
- Followed colour-coded equipment procedures to prevent cross-contamination.
- Cleaned consulting and treatment rooms between patients to infection control standard.
- Handled and disposed of clinical waste according to protocol.
Education and Certifications
[Highest grade completed], [School name], [year]
[First aid level one], [Provider], [year]
[Any chemical handling or infection control training], [Provider], [year]
Why These CVs Work
Naming the Environment
Cleaning an office is different from cleaning a clinic, a school or a factory. Naming the environment tells an employer immediately whether your experience transfers, and healthcare cleaning in particular is treated as specialised because of infection control requirements.
Chemical Knowledge Is a Skill
Knowing which product suits which surface, the correct dilution and which chemicals must never be mixed is genuine knowledge that protects both the building and the cleaner. Most cleaning CVs leave it out entirely, which undersells the role.
Equipment Operation
Industrial scrubbers, polishers and access equipment distinguish a commercial cleaner from a domestic one. If you have operated them, name them, because it widens the roles you can be considered for.
Attendance and Unsupervised Work
Cleaning frequently starts before the building opens or continues after it closes, which means the employer is trusting someone to arrive alone and work without oversight. A full attendance record and evidence of working unsupervised speak directly to that.
How to Adapt These
- Replace every bracketed placeholder with your own detail.
- Name the environments you have cleaned, since it determines where your experience transfers.
- State the area or number of rooms covered, which conveys scale.
- List any equipment you can operate.
- Include any training in chemical handling, infection control or first aid.
- State your availability for early, late or weekend shifts.
- Mention your attendance record if it is strong.
Common Mistakes on Cleaner CVs
- Writing two lines and assuming the work speaks for itself.
- Omitting the environment, so an employer cannot judge whether the experience transfers.
- Leaving out chemical and equipment knowledge, which are real skills.
- Failing to mention working unsupervised, which employers specifically look for.
- Not stating availability for early or late shifts.
- Omitting references, which matter greatly for work inside buildings and homes.
- Leaving out languages.
Related Pages
For fuller duty wording to draw from, see Cleaner Duties for CV. For CV wording across other roles, browse the duties for CV hub.
FAQs
Can I use this cleaner CV example directly?
Use the structure and replace all content with your own detail. The value is in the layout and in knowing what to include, not in the specific wording, which should describe your actual work.
What if I have only done domestic cleaning?
Include it as a proper entry with dates and duties. Domestic cleaning demonstrates reliability, working unsupervised and trust inside someone’s home, all of which commercial employers value. Length of service with one household is particularly persuasive.
Should I mention which chemicals I can use?
Mention that you understand product selection, dilution and safe handling rather than listing brand names. It is genuine knowledge that protects surfaces and people, and most cleaning CVs omit it entirely.
Does healthcare cleaning experience help?
Yes, considerably. Infection control procedures, colour-coded equipment and clinical waste handling are specialised, and that experience transfers well into other regulated environments such as food production and laboratories.
How important are references for cleaning work?
Very. Cleaners work inside buildings and homes, often alone and outside normal hours, so employers weigh contactable references heavily. Ask permission before listing anyone and make sure they can speak to your reliability.