Custodians maintain and care for buildings, animals, and people. They require various skills, including minor repairs, cleaning, and overseeing general maintenance. Education requirements vary, and custodians may also be responsible for supervising animal care or managing the needs of individuals who cannot care for themselves.
Custodians are people responsible for the maintenance and care of animals, buildings or people. While the term can be used to identify a wide range of professional roles and positions, it is most often applied to people who provide cleaning and maintenance support for public buildings such as schools, apartment buildings or offices. When used this way, the custodian role is essentially that of a caretaker with some additional responsibilities.
Providing custodial care typically requires a successful candidate to possess a number of different skills. Builders are usually proficient at handling minor repairs like unclogging water pipes, replacing light fixtures, and installing carpeting. Along with these types of maintenance jobs, the custodian will also likely oversee or perform general cleaning in the common areas of the building. In schools and office buildings, the custodian is likely to perform tasks such as cleaning bathrooms, washing windows, and keeping heating and cooling systems in operation.
Employment as a custodial worker may not require a high school diploma. For example, custodial jobs in small apartment buildings may be less concerned with formal education and more focused on proficiency in dealing with plumbing problems and keeping basic services offered to tenants in good working order. As long as the candidate can demonstrate the ability to handle minor issues and keep tenants happy, the lack of training and formal education can be overlooked entirely.
Other types of custody careers will require a successful completion of high school and possibly more. With hospitals, schools and office buildings, training at a technical school in subjects such as wiring, plumbing and general building maintenance are often very desirable qualities. In addition, the school custodian must usually pass a background check to ensure that there is no criminal activity involving child abuse.
Along with building maintenance, custodians may also be responsible for other tasks. An animal custodial professional will be tasked with ensuring that animals in a zoo or other facility are properly cared for. This may include supervisory tasks such as feeding, maintaining a favorable environment for each animal, and protecting the animal from harm.
Custodians are also sometimes assigned to oversee the care and welfare of other humans when they are unable to care for themselves. In this capacity, the custodian will undertake the task of arranging and providing ongoing health care, managing the individual’s financial affairs, and generally managing any needs of the individual. Custodians of this type may be appointed by a court or retained by a client for a short or long term, based on the circumstances.
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