Janitorial Interview Questions That Screen for Reliability
The short answer: ask questions that put the candidate in the moments where reliability gets tested, and write down what they say they would do first. "Are you dependable?" gets a yes from every candidate. "Your ride cancels at 4:45 and your shift starts at 6:00. What do you do, and when?" gets you an answer you can score. Below are 12 janitorial interview questions built that way, grouped into showing up, the building after hours and the route when nobody checks, each with what a strong and a weak answer sound like.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts about 2,432,600 janitors and building cleaners and projects about 321,800 openings a year through 2035. In the 2017 ISSA/BSCAI building service contractor benchmarking study, 41 percent of contractors who responded reported annual employee turnover of 50 percent or higher. A commercial cleaning company runs a revolving door, and every hire that walks back out of it costs the account something.
Why reliability is most of the seat
A night crew cleaner can learn your products, your floor machine and your route sheet in a few shifts. What you cannot train in a few shifts is whether they call before a missed shift or after it, whether they report the monitor they knocked off a desk, and whether floor 5 gets mopped on the night nobody is going to inspect it.
Those three things decide your accounts. A no-show leaves a building light, and the facility manager notices at 7 a.m. A cleaner who lets a stranger through a locked door puts the contract at risk in one night. A cleaner who skips the areas nobody checks drags down the inspection score a little each week until the account manager hears about it from the client.
The interview is the one place you can hear how a candidate thinks about those moments before you hand them a key card and an alarm code. Our guide to hiring a janitor for the night crew covers the two instincts the seat runs on once the candidate is on the route. This post is about the questions that come before that: the ones about showing up, trust and consistency.
How to run the interview
Ask every candidate the same questions in the same order. Read the scenario, then stop talking. Write down the first thing they say they would do before you react or follow up. The first move is the answer. What they add after you nod is them reading you.
Score each answer 1 for a weak first move, 2 for mixed and 3 for strong. Score before you talk about the candidate with anyone. Many strong janitors say little in an interview, so listen for the move and let the words go. Our guide to interview questions for trades hires explains why this format beats "tell me about yourself".
Questions about showing up
1. "Your shift starts at 6:00 p.m. At 4:45 your ride cancels. The building is 40 minutes away by bus. What do you do, and when?"
Strong: calls the supervisor at 4:45, gives an honest arrival time, and gets on the bus. They treat the call as part of the job.
Weak: texts the supervisor at 6:10, or waits to see whether another ride turns up before saying anything.
2. "You're on the schedule Friday night. On Wednesday, your other job offers you a Friday shift at time and a half. What do you do?"
Strong: tells the supervisor on Wednesday, asks whether a swap is possible, and works the Friday shift if nobody can cover it.
Weak: calls off Friday afternoon, or takes the other shift and says nothing.
3. "It's your third week. At the end of your shift, the supervisor asks whether you can cover a second building Saturday from 6 to 10 a.m. You have plans at 11."
Strong: gives a straight answer on the spot. If it is yes, they are there at 6:00. If the plans make it tight, they say so now.
Weak: says yes to be agreeable and then calls off Saturday at 5:30 a.m.
4. "You wake up at 3:00 p.m. feeling sick. Your shift starts at 6:00, and you know the crew is already one person short tonight."
Strong: calls the supervisor early, at 3:00 or soon after, so there is time to cover the building, and passes along anything the cover person needs to know about their areas.
Weak: waits until 5:45 to see whether they feel better, or does not call at all.
Questions about the building after hours
5. "It's 10:30 p.m. You're alone on the fourth floor of a law office. A tenant left a stack of files and an envelope of cash on a desk. Your scope sheet says empty trash and dust desks."
Strong: empties the trash, dusts around the files without moving them, leaves the envelope exactly where it is, and tells the supervisor so the account manager can let the facility manager know.
Weak: straightens the files to dust the desk, or leaves the cash and says nothing to anyone.
6. "At 9:00 p.m., someone in business clothes knocks on the locked lobby door. They say they work on the sixth floor and forgot their badge. They're polite and in a hurry."
Strong: stays polite and keeps the door closed, points them to building security or the after-hours number on the post orders, and tells the supervisor.
Weak: lets them in because they look like they belong there.
7. "Halfway through your route, you catch a cord with the vacuum and knock a monitor off a desk. The screen cracks. Nobody saw it."
Strong: reports it that night, with a note or a photo, before the tenant finds it in the morning.
Weak: sets the monitor back on the desk and leaves it for the tenant to find.
8. "It's 11:45 p.m. You finish, go to set the alarm, and it won't arm. You're sure the code is right, and the supervisor isn't answering."
Strong: follows the building's written procedure, calls the alarm company or security number on the post orders, stays a reasonable time, and leaves a message and a note so there is a record.
Weak: leaves the building unarmed and goes home without telling anyone.
Questions about the route when nobody checks
9. "It's 1:00 a.m. and you're 30 minutes behind. The route sheet says mop all restrooms on floors 2 through 5. The floor 5 restrooms look clean enough."
Strong: mops them, or, if they truly cannot finish, tells the supervisor exactly which areas were skipped before they leave.
Weak: skips floor 5 and marks the route complete.
10. "In your first week, the crew lead tells you the crew always skips the fourth-floor break room on Fridays because nobody checks it."
Strong: does the break room, and asks the supervisor what the scope sheet says if the lead pushes back.
Weak: goes along with the crew because they want to fit in on their first week.
11. "The dilution station in the supply closet is empty. The concentrate is on the shelf, and the label says 2 ounces per gallon. You're behind."
Strong: measures the concentrate to the label, or uses a ready-to-use product from the closet, and tells the supervisor the station is empty.
Weak: pours the concentrate by eye because they are in a hurry.
12. "At 10:00 p.m., you're about to mop the main lobby. A few tenants still walk through it. The wet floor signs are in the closet on the far side of the building."
Strong: goes and gets the signs before the mop hits the floor.
Weak: mops without them because it is only for a few minutes.
Check reliability outside the interview too
The interview tells you how a candidate thinks about showing up. Four other steps show you whether they do it.
- Phone screen. Confirm the shift, the building and how the candidate will get there. Ask every candidate the same way: "This shift starts at 6:00 p.m. at this address. How will you get there each night?"
- The interview itself. Note whether the candidate arrived on time and called if they were running late. It is the first shift you get to see.
- References. Ask the same three questions of every reference: how was their attendance, did they call before missing a shift, and would you hire them again.
- Supervised first shift. Put the candidate on a real route with a lead. Whether they show up for it on time is part of the result.
After the hire, track call-offs and late arrivals for the first 30 days. A pattern in the first month rarely fixes itself in the second.
Questions to skip
"Are you reliable?" Every candidate says yes. Scenario questions and references answer it better.
"Do you have kids?" or "Who watches your children at night?" Ask every candidate whether they can work the scheduled shift, and leave the reasons out of it.
"Why is there a gap on your application?" Ask about the work they did and the shifts they worked instead. A gap can have a lawful reason you are better off not hearing in an interview.
Anything about age, health, religion, national origin or citizenship status beyond your standard lawful employment eligibility process. Keep every question tied to the work of the seat, and ask every candidate the same ones. If you are unsure whether a question is allowed where you hire, check with an employment attorney.
Frequently asked questions
What are good janitorial interview questions?
Scenario questions from the shift: a ride that cancels before a 6 p.m. start, a stranger at the locked door, a broken monitor nobody saw, restrooms that look clean enough at 1 a.m. Ask every candidate the same questions and write down what they would do first.
How do you screen a janitor for reliability?
Use four steps together: scenario questions about showing up, attendance questions for every reference, the on-time record from the interview and the supervised first shift, and 30 days of tracking call-offs after the hire.
What questions should I ask when hiring janitors for night work?
Ask about the moments they will handle alone: an alarm that will not arm, a tenant's cash left on a desk, a request to open a locked door, a route that is running late. Night crew work happens without a supervisor in the room, so the answers matter more than they would on a day shift.
How do I reduce janitor no-shows?
Confirm the shift and the commute in the phone screen, ask every reference about attendance, make calling in early easy and expected, and track call-offs in the first 30 days. Our guide to hiring a janitor for the night crew covers the first 90 days.
Should I ask about criminal history in a janitorial interview?
Many states and cities limit when and how you can ask. Handle background checks through your usual lawful process, the same way for every candidate, and check the rules where you hire with an employment attorney.
How long should a janitorial interview take?
About 20 to 30 minutes covers the 12 questions and a few minutes for the candidate's questions about the shift and the buildings. The supervised first shift tells you the rest.
First Move Assessment measures the first instincts behind these questions before you hire (it does not check backgrounds or attendance, so keep the reference calls): get the three sample reports.