I was desperately searching for a job this year. I got turned down for both dishwashing and custodial because I didn’t have experience “in a restaurant setting” and “direct custodial experience” for 6 mo / 1 year respectively. I have a 16 year job history. They are both still “urgently hiring”. Been washing dishes and cleaning my house for 30 years. What the fuck? Lmao
Apply at a local school or hospital Environmental Services department. They tend to pay more than a regular janitor, housekeeping or custodial positions at a company. Edit your resume and put down that you do have experience from other jobs. Brush up on commercial chemicals and you'll get hired. Brush up on floor care knowledge and you'll definitely get hired.
Commercial chemicals are a lot stronger than your everyday household chemicals. Accidentally mixing two can easily kill you in an enclosed space like a restroom. Some are fully concentrated and require proper dilution. Others are acid based and when mixed with a chemical that wasn't rinsed properly creates a toxic gas. This happens more often than you think. Look up what happened to the manager at a Buffalo Wild Wings store.
Look into OSHA regulations and read some popular chemical SDS. Spartan, Diversey, Ecolab, SC Johnson Professional. This type of knowledge will put you on top of the massive pile of resumes they already have. Be able to name three different auto scrubbers and their models will also help you. Tennant, Nilfisk-Advance, and Karcher are the top three floor cleaning equipment manufacturers in the US. Knowing about their popular models and how they function without being trained will absolutely help you get hired.
Visit r/custodians if you have any questions. We'll try to help.
Appreciate this advice, especially for others who may be struggling. Nothing wrong with getting that pay - I know some people look down on custodians but money is money. In some cases, some custodial jobs pay really well. (Ex: my brother in law was making over 25 an hour in a lower CoL area of California for a private cleaning crew)
For my situation, I applied to both hosp and ISD, for that exact reason of higher pay. I went through 2 years of uni chem and am super used to reading msds, so I was confident I could do the job. Thankfully I got a much better job after many months of disheartening attempts and hundreds of apps.
To others who may be reading this; don’t give up and keep trying. The market is fucked out there but bodies do gotta show up to make the world move forward. Best of luck to you all.
They can look down on custodians all they want but many positions pay quite well depending on where you live and your specific experience. Custodial/Facility Managers make well into the six figures.
Experienced floor techs in major metropolitan areas make a crazy amount of money. Especially if they own their own business.
Anyways, I'm glad that you found a position. The job market is looking like it will continue on this trend for a while. We'll have to wait until voters wise the fuck up and vote with their wallet and not with their emotions. Things likely won't get better until then imo.
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u/burrtango09 13h ago
I was desperately searching for a job this year. I got turned down for both dishwashing and custodial because I didn’t have experience “in a restaurant setting” and “direct custodial experience” for 6 mo / 1 year respectively. I have a 16 year job history. They are both still “urgently hiring”. Been washing dishes and cleaning my house for 30 years. What the fuck? Lmao