You could do a Commercial Laundry Operative Level 2 Intermediate Apprenticeship to get into this job.

This takes around 1 year to complete.

Entry requirements

You'll usually need:

• some GCSEs, usually including English and maths, or equivalent, for an intermediate apprenticeship

You can apply directly for jobs. Experience in dry-cleaning or commercial clothes pressing may give you an advantage, although many employers will train you on the job.

Customer care skills would also be useful, for example from working in retail or hospitality.

Further information

You can find out more about working in laundry and dry cleaning services from the Guild of Cleaners and Launderers.

You'll need:

• customer service skills
• to be thorough and pay attention to detail
• the ability to work well with others
• to be flexible and open to change
• the ability to use your initiative
• excellent verbal communication skills
• the ability to organise your time and workload
• patience and the ability to remain calm in stressful situations
• to be able to carry out basic tasks on a computer or hand-held device

As a laundry worker, you could:

• sort laundry according to fabric, colour and cleaning process
• tag items with bar codes or computer chips for identification
• treat heavily stained items before cleaning
• set machine controls, add cleaning agents and wash or steam laundry
• check quality before finishing items by drying, pressing and folding
• deal with customer payments, give cleaning advice and prepare laundry for deliveries

You could work at a laundry, in a hotel, in an NHS or private hospital or at an adult care home.

Your working environment may be physically demanding, humid and hot.