Cleaner interview questions
Cleaning is mostly unsupervised work in somebody else’s building, often at the start or the end of a day. These questions are about judgement, chemicals and getting between sites on time.
| Question | What to listen for |
|---|---|
| What kinds of sites have you cleaned, and on what sort of schedule? | Site types and frequency. Offices nightly is different work from a medical fit out weekly. |
| How do you work out the order you clean a site in? | Top down, dry before wet, dirtiest last, and a route that does not walk back over wet floors. |
| What do you check on a chemical before you use it? | The label and the safety data sheet, dilution, and what it must not be mixed with. "Whatever is under the sink" is a flag. |
| What do you do if you run out of a product mid shift? | Tell the supervisor, do what can be done safely, and do not substitute something unsuitable. |
| How do you clean to a checklist without it becoming a tick and run? | The checklist as the minimum and a look around at the end. Somebody who says they check their own work has pride in it. |
| Tell us about a site that was left in a worse state than usual. What did you do? | A real example, communicated rather than absorbed in silence. Extra time should be reported, not donated. |
| What do you do if you find something broken, or something that looks like damage? | Photograph it, report it the same shift, do not touch it. The timing matters more than the words. |
| How do you work safely on your own in an empty building? | Lone worker checks: telling somebody, a phone that works, signs out, and not doing anything that needs two people alone. |
| How do you handle keys, alarms and access codes? | Named person, signed in and out, never lent, never left in a vehicle. This is the answer that protects the contract. |
| A client complains about something you cleaned. What happens next? | Go back, fix it, tell the supervisor, and look at whether the time allowed was realistic. |
| How do you plan your travel between two sites in the same shift? | Travel time counted as part of the run rather than as their own problem, and a realistic gap between sites. |
| This work is early mornings and some evenings across several sites. What suits you? | Specific windows. Split runs suit some people and not others, and it is better said now. |
| How would you get between the sites on the run we have described? | A plan that works with the distances involved. This is a question about the run, not about their circumstances. |
| What would you like to ask us? | Questions about the sites, the run or the equipment. |
What is in the file
- Template, blank, with each section down the side and room for the answer.
- Example, the same sheet filled in for Clearview Cleaning.
- How to use, with the steps and the mistakes below.
How to fill it in
- Read the cleaner job description first, and cut any question the job does not actually need answered.
- Ask every candidate the same questions in the same order, so the answers can be compared rather than remembered.
- Print the blank sheet and write what each person said beside the question, during the interview rather than after it.
- Score at the end against the job description, not against who you liked talking to.
Common mistakes
- Questions about age, health, pregnancy, family responsibilities, religion, race or union membership, which are not about the job and carry real risk
- A different set of questions for each candidate, which makes the decision impossible to explain later
- Asking about availability and then rostering outside it in the first fortnight
Sources
The official pages this wording was read against, on 21 October 2026.
- Fair Work Ombudsman, Hiring employees
- Fair Work Ombudsman, Protection from discrimination at work
- Fair Work Ombudsman, Job ads
- Fair Work Ombudsman, Find my award
When a spreadsheet stops being enough
Roster Flow shows a cleaner the sites on their run with the address on each shift, and clock ins can be tied to the site rather than to the office nobody visits.
Questions
What is on the cleaner interview questions?
14 sections down the side, running from what kinds of sites have you cleaned, and on what sort of schedule? to what would you like to ask us?. The example beside them is filled in for Clearview Cleaning: fourteen questions about sites, chemicals, working alone and getting between jobs.
Does the cleaner interview questions work anything out for you?
No. It is a document with 14 sections to answer in your own words, not a calculator. Nothing on it is a formula.
Can I use the cleaner interview questions in Google Sheets?
Yes. Open cleaner-interview-questions.xlsx from Google Drive, or use File, then Import, then Upload with cleaner-interview-questions.csv. The document and its example come across either way.
Is the wording in the cleaner interview questions ready to use as it is?
The cleaner interview questions is a starting point for Clearview Cleaning or any business like it, to adapt rather than sign. The wording was checked against the official sources on 21 October 2026, it is not legal advice, and it has not been through a workplace relations professional.