Janitor resume example

• Entry level

  Reliable night-shift cleaner looking for a full-time janitor role after a year with a commercial cleaning contractor. Cleans about 18,000 square feet of offices a shift, including 8 restrooms and two break rooms, and runs a walk-behind auto scrubber. Trained on safety data sheets, chemical dilution and bloodborne pathogens. Available nights and weekends with reliable transportation.

• Mid level

  Janitor with six years in schools and office buildings, covering 35,000 square feet on second shift with no missed areas on monthly inspections. Strips and refinishes VCT floors, runs auto scrubbers, burnishers and carpet extractors, and handles small repairs from work orders. Trusted with master keys and alarm codes. Bloodborne pathogens and OSHA 10 trained.

• Senior

  Lead custodian with fourteen years in K-12 and healthcare buildings, leading a night crew of 7 across a 150,000-square-foot campus. Plans summer floor projects, sets chemical and supply orders, trains new hires on equipment and keeps the school's cleaning checklists. ISSA Certified Custodial Technician who raised inspection scores from 82% to 95% in two years.

• Calling it "general cleaning"

  Fix: Name the tasks a supervisor will need from you on day one: dust mopping and wet mopping hard floors, vacuuming, restroom disinfection and restocking, trash and recycling removal, glass and high-touch surfaces, event setup. A list of real tasks reads as experience; "general cleaning" reads as filler.

• Not naming the floor machines

  Fix: Floor care is the skill that separates janitors. Say which machines you can run on your own: walk-behind or ride-on auto scrubbers, high-speed burnishers, swing machines for stripping, carpet extractors. If you have stripped and refinished VCT floors or done summer deep cleans in a school, give it a bullet with the square footage.

• Giving no coverage or quality numbers

  Fix: Cleaning work can be measured. Add square feet or rooms per shift, number of buildings, how often you finished on time, and any client audit or inspection score. One number per job is enough, such as "kept a 96% average on monthly client inspections."

• Leaving out chemical and building safety

  Fix: Mixing the wrong chemicals or leaving a door unlocked can cause real harm. Show that you read safety data sheets, use dilution systems and the right PPE, put out wet floor signs, report hazards and follow lock-up and alarm procedures. A single clear bullet covers it.

Match these against the job posting you are applying to: the free resume checker shows which keywords your resume is missing.

• Cleaned 32,000 square feet of offices across 4 floors each night, including 12 restrooms, finishing the route 30 minutes early on average.
• Stripped and refinished 60,000 square feet of VCT floors during a summer break, finishing the project a week before staff returned.
• Kept a 96% average on monthly client inspections for two years at a medical office building by following a written room checklist.
• Ran a ride-on auto scrubber on 45,000 square feet of warehouse floor three nights a week, cutting dust complaints from the day shift.
• Restocked dispensers in 20 restrooms twice a shift and logged shortages, so the building did not run out of supplies during a full year.
• Set up and broke down 150 chairs and tables for weekly school events and cleaned the gym afterward, ready for classes by 7 a.m.
• Closed 90 small work orders in a year, from loose door hinges to clogged drains, saving outside service calls for the facility.
• Trained 5 new custodians on chemical dilution, safety data sheets and floor machine use, with no chemical incidents on the crew.
• Cut paper towel and liner use by 15% by adjusting dispenser settings and right-sizing bags for each type of room.
• Locked up and set alarms for 3 buildings every night for four years with no security incidents or missed lock-ups.

• Match the building type in the posting

  A school wants floor projects, event setups and a background check. A hospital or clinic wants disinfection and bloodborne pathogens training. An office or plant wants square footage, speed and lock-up. Put your experience with that building type first, use words from the posting such as "custodian" or "porter," and add the shift you can work. Tailor your resume to a janitor posting

• Send a short note with your application

  A few sentences are enough. Say which shift you want, the kind of building you cleaned last, the floor machines you can run and that you can start soon. If you have a reference from a supervisor or a client, mention it. A short, clear note makes it easy for a facility manager to call you. Write a short janitor cover letter

• Get ready for practical questions

  Supervisors ask how you would clean a restroom from start to finish, what you do with a chemical you do not recognize, how you handle a blood or vomit spill, and what you do if you find a door unlocked at night. Answer step by step, in the order you would actually work. Practice janitor interview questions

• Check that the page is easy to read

  Many janitor resumes are read quickly on a phone by a busy supervisor. Keep it to one page with plain headings, your phone number at the top, the shift you want and one bullet with your square footage. A quick resume check can show you if anything is missing or hard to read. Check your janitor resume