Amelia Amesbury, Assistant Technical Specialist at BICSc, reports.
There are many different aspects to my job that I love but perhaps my absolute favourite thing to do, when I get the opportunity, is to go onto sites and meet the people within the cleaning industry and listen to their stories. Now a popular story to tell, and I am guilty of this myself, is how someone entered the industry, and the sentence usually begins with: “I entered the cleaning industry in a really strange route” - but is there a strange way into the industry? I wanted to share with you some of those stories.
Story number one:
Initially, this lady wanted a career as a hairdresser, she attended college and began working in a salon but soon understood that this wasn’t the career for her. In 2006 she became a mum and stayed home to look after her family but before this she did a few different roles, a mortgage broker, HR administrator to name a few. Fast forward some years when her children have now started school and she can now look for a job that fits around school hours, she applied for a job as a receptionist for a company within the cleaning industry, but the hours didn’t suit her, the company called back and spoke of a new position as Resource Desk Administrator that they would like her to consider, she said yes and within 6 years she had been promoted to their Business Development Manager.
Story number two:
His career in the cleaning industry began at the age of 19. When he got a summer job as a catering assistant in a primary school. He admitted he didn’t know what the job would entail but he was excited. Despite obvious challenges that come from catering, he rose to the challenge ensuring that his area was organised and clean. His supervisor recognised his work ethic and passion and soon started to offer him cleaning experience in all types of cleaning areas, he progressed to a senior role before taking a gap year. Since then, he has gained knowledge and experience as an area manager working his way up through different management levels and cleaning sectors. With nearly 50 years in the industry, he continues to manage and pass on his knowledge to new people in the industry.
Story number three:
This individual had always dreamed of a career in theatre and even studied the craft at a university level and had a part-time job at Costa at a train station where she became friendly with the cleaning team. Then like so many people, her plans were put on hold during the Covid-19 pandemic, she found herself wanting stability and wanted to buy a house so she found a job that would support this and joined the cleaning team at the train station. She worked as a cleaning operative on the trains and after a year was asked to become the supervisor, it was during this time that she found a passion for people and training. She soon found a career that supported her new passion and now continues to develop her knowledge of the industry.
Three very different stories, three strange routes into the industry and although these stories are special and unique to those individuals are they really that strange? Most people in the industry have very similar stories to tell, so maybe that’s what unites us, we all come from very different places but have all managed to end up in the same place. A strange route into the industry? There is no such thing!
www.bics.org.uk
About the contributor
Amelia Amesbury
Assistant Technical Specialist
BICSc