5 Key Attributes Laundry And Dry-cleaning Workers Need To Succeed In Their Career

by Ethan Jones

Friday, November 13, 2015

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Laundry and dry-cleaning workers operate or tend washing or dry-cleaning machines to wash or dry-clean industrial or household articles, such as cloth garments, suede, leather, furs, blankets, draperies, linens, rugs, and carpets. Includes spotters and dyers of these articles.

The core tasks that laundry and dry-cleaning workers are likely to carry out include:

Receive and mark articles for laundry or dry cleaning with identifying code numbers or names, using hand or machine markers.
Start washers, dry cleaners, driers, or extractors, and turn valves or levers to regulate machine processes and the volume of soap, detergent, water, bleach, starch, and other additives.
Sort and count articles removed from dryers, and fold, wrap, or hang them.
Examine and sort into lots articles to be cleaned, according to color, fabric, dirt content, and cleaning technique required.
Load articles into washers or dry-cleaning machines, or direct other workers to perform loading.
Mix and add detergents, dyes, bleaches, starches, and other solutions and chemicals to clean, color, dry, or stiffen articles.

In order to successfully forge ahead with their careers, analysts in a survey carried out by U.S. Department of Labor (via O*NET) have marked out the following as important attributes that laundry and dry-cleaning workers would need. These attributes have been selected from characteristics and requirements strongly associated with the occupation. They are

Abilities: Enduring attributes of the individual that influence performance
Interests: Preferences for work environments. Occupational Interest Profiles (OIPs) are compatible with Holland's (1985, 1997) model of personality types and work environments. Six interest categories are used to describe the work environment of occupations: Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional. An OIP consists of six numerical scores indicating how descriptive and characteristic each work environment (or interest area) is for an occupation
Knowledge: Organized sets of principles and facts applying in general domains
Skills: These include basic skills, which are developed capacities that facilitate learning or the more rapid acquisition of knowledge. Plus cross-functional skills, which are developed capacities that facilitate performance of activities that occur across jobs
Style: Personal characteristics that can affect how well someone performs a job

We have listed out attributes which were scored 80% or more in terms of importance by the analysts.

Having a strong preference for realistic work environments. Realistic occupations frequently involve work activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They often deal with plants, animals, and real-world materials like wood, tools, and machinery. Many of the occupations require working outside, and do not involve a lot of paperwork or working closely with others.
Attribute Type: Interests Score: 90.43%

Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
Attribute Type: Knowledge Score: 85.6%

Being careful about detail and thorough in completing work tasks.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 85.2%

Being honest and ethical.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 85.2%

Being reliable, responsible, and dependable, and fulfilling obligations.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 84.2%