Congratulations! If you are reading this, you are actively taking steps toward getting organized! Knowing when to hire help is one thing, but knowing what to look for when hiring a professional home organizer is another.
NAPO GA’s members and professional organizers have compiled a list of considerations when hiring a professional. Keep in mind everyone's needs are different, but this list will help narrow down your choices and move you toward a more organized and stress free home.
Professionalism
Make sure you are hiring a true professional – someone who takes their job seriously. Viewing credentials and professional affiliations can help separate the professionals from the hobbyists. If you are searching for a home organizer in Georgia then checking our list of Members is a great start.
Problem Solving
Make sure your home organizer is adept at problem solving when it comes to cleaning up the home or finding a place to store away necessary items. Meck Organizing calls it, “putting the puzzle together.”
“Every item has a way of fitting into the big picture, or they are extra pieces that need to be left out. So the first step is getting a description of that picture, and for that the client has full artistic license! Our team first works with the client to find out how they want things to look, feel, and function. Then it becomes clear what items are to be used to bring that vision to life, and where to place them to do so. The best arrangement and solutions are the ones that last long after the organizers leave. Organizers need to plan their moves based on what is not working for the client and what the client envisions would work better. They need to ask the client the right questions to find out those things and make the right decisions with those things top of mind.”
- Nancy Meck, Meck Organizing
Reliability
Point being, you need someone you can rely on. Ways to determine this are how responsive they are when following up and responding to emails and phone calls. You can also look at their online reviews or ask for references.
Integrity
Integrity is everything, and without it, there’s no honesty or trust between professional and client. This also plays an important role in the process. If you cannot trust or respect who you have hired you might find taking on the project to be even harder with their help. Nancy goes further to explain that organizing is very personal work.
“We are in people’s homes, working with their businesses, introduced to their personal lives. We encourage people to ask a series of questions when interviewing organizers to see if the person seems to be someone they can trust to be professional, for instance ask how long they have been doing this work, do they have liability insurance, what are examples of projects they’ve done like the one that needs to be done now, and what did they do for work before becoming a professional organizer. Such questions can weed out candidates that don’t have the qualities and experience wanted in someone who is coming to help with such a private part of a client’s life and can help clients identify ones that do. If the person hired is liked and trusted, there will be great synergy between the client and organizer leading to efficient progress. This often is because the client is comfortable letting the organizer do things without the client being present. As famed former UCLA basketball coach John Wooden said, “The true test of a man’s character is what he does when no one is watching.”
These considerations on what to look for when hiring a professional home organizer help you narrow down your options and hire someone who is the right fit for you. Home organization can have a big impact on one's personal and professional life.
Don’t wait to hire a professional, do it now! You won't regret it.
