CV for a Cleaning Job With No Experience: What to Write and an Example

Short answer: a CV for a cleaning job with no experience should prove the three things every cleaning employer checks before anything else: that you are trustworthy in someone's home, office or ward, that you turn up reliably, and that you work to a standard without being watched. Put a short profile at the top that names the kind of cleaning you want (domestic, office, hotel housekeeping or hospital), list the places you have kept clean even unpaid, name the products and equipment you can use, and give two referees who can vouch for your honesty. One page, saved as a PDF.

This guide walks through a cleaning CV with no experience section by section and ends with a full example you can follow.

What cleaning employers want to see on a CV

A cleaning job is a job of trust. You will be alone in a house, in an office after hours or on a hospital ward with patients' belongings. Managers read a cleaning CV for:

• Trust: referees who know you, a stable address, a police clearance if the advert asks for one.
• Reliability: early starts, evening shifts, no missed days.
• Standards: you notice dirt others miss and you finish the job.
• Safety: you know not to mix chemicals, you use gloves, you follow a checklist.
• Fitness: hours on your feet, lifting, stretching, bending.

How to write a cleaning CV with no experience

Profile: name the cleaning you want

Say which setting, your availability and two true strengths.

Hard-working and trustworthy person looking for an office or domestic cleaning position in Lusaka. Keep a spotless home for a family of six, know how to use cleaning chemicals safely, and can start early mornings. References available from my church and a previous employer.

Experience: the cleaning you have already done

You have cleaned somewhere. Use the heading Experience and list it honestly:

• Running your own home or a relative's: laundry, floors, kitchen, bathrooms, windows.
• Helping at a church, mosque, school or community hall before events.
• Informal paid cleaning for neighbours, a shop or a guesthouse, even one day a week.
• Any job where cleaning was part of it: a kitchen porter, a market stall, a car wash.

Turn each into a bullet with a verb: "Cleaned and prepared a 200-seat church hall before weekly services for two years, including floors, chairs and toilets."

Skills: name the tasks and the tools

Be specific; it shows you know the work. Examples: mopping and buffing floors, dusting and polishing, bathroom sanitising, laundry and ironing, window cleaning, safe use of bleach and disinfectant, vacuum cleaner, industrial floor machine, waste handling, deep cleaning, working to a checklist. Add languages and anything from a short training course, for example a hygiene or infection control session.

Education and certificates

Your highest school level and year is enough. If you have a food hygiene certificate, a first aid certificate or a hospital cleaning induction, list it; hospitals and hotels value them.

References and clearances

Two referees is the minimum for a cleaning CV: a previous employer (even informal), a landlord, a religious leader or a teacher. In the UK, cleaning in care homes or schools needs a DBS check; in Kenya many employers ask for a certificate of good conduct; in South Africa a police clearance. You can note "Police clearance available" in the profile if you have it. Formats are in our guide to references on a CV.

Cleaning job CV example with no experience

Memory is a fictional applicant; the example shows the shape.

Memory Banda
Lusaka, Zambia · +260 9xx xxx xxx · memory.banda@email.com

Profile
Trustworthy and hard-working person looking for an office or domestic cleaning position. Keep a spotless home for a family of six, know safe use of cleaning chemicals, and can start from 5 am. Police clearance available.

Experience
Home manager, Banda household, Lusaka, 2020 to present
· Daily cleaning of a four-bedroom house: floors, kitchen, two bathrooms, laundry and ironing for six people.
· Weekly deep clean including windows, curtains and outside areas.

Volunteer cleaner, Kabwata Community Church, 2022 to present
· Prepared the 200-seat hall before Sunday services with a team of four: sweeping, mopping, chairs and toilets.

Part-time cleaner, Chilenje guesthouse, 2025 (three months)
· Cleaned and reset six guest rooms a day to the owner's checklist.

Skills
Floors and bathrooms · Laundry and ironing · Safe chemical use · Deep cleaning · Working to a checklist · Early starts · English and Nyanja

Education
Grade 12, Kabulonga Girls' Secondary School, 2019.

Referees
Guesthouse owner and church administrator, details on request.

Want the AI CV Agent to write these lines with you from your own facts? Build your CV with the AI CV Agent.

Questions about cleaning CVs

How do I write a cleaner CV with no experience?

List the cleaning you have done at home, at church or for neighbours as experience, name the tasks and products you can handle as skills, and give two referees who can speak for your honesty. The job is taught in a day; trust and reliability are what the CV must prove.

What is the difference between a domestic, office and hospital cleaning CV?

The setting changes what you stress. Domestic work stresses trust and all-round skills (laundry, cooking if asked); office cleaning stresses evening availability and working alone to a checklist; hotel housekeeping stresses speed and room standards; hospital cleaning stresses infection control and following procedures exactly. One CV with a tailored profile covers all four.

Should I include a photo on a cleaning CV?

Only where the advert asks or where photos are normal in your country. A clear, neat CV matters more than a photo; see our country guide on photos on a CV.

Do I need a cover letter for a cleaning job?

Not usually, but a short application letter helps when a company or a hospital advertises formally. Our free cover letter generator writes one from your CV in a few minutes.

Build it on your phone

Choose a plain design from the CV templates, let the builder suggest duties for a cleaner, and preview the whole page free before you download the PDF. If you have never written a CV before, start with how to write a CV with no experience.

That is a CV for a cleaning job with no experience: proof of trust, proof of reliability, the tasks you can already do, and two people who will say so.