How to Get a Job Staging Homes

We’re asked daily how to get a job staging homes. It’s not that surprising, since our #1 goal is to help people get into the home staging industry, or start their own home staging business.

So what’s our answer? How do you get a job staging homes?

We have a recommended process to get your first home staging job and to increase your chances of success in the industry, and that’s what we’ll be explaining in today’s blog post.

Let’s get started!

Lay Strong Home Staging Foundations

#1 Learn all you can about home staging

There are hundreds of home staging blogs and free home staging resources available online where you can get a taste of home staging.

You might even be able to find a free home staging course.

Spend some time browsing these to confirm if this is an industry that you can see yourself working in. Just be sure to take a look at the date the content was published, as much of it is 5 to 10 years old.

Once you’ve absorbed as much free information as you can, it’s a good idea to look into some sort of home staging training such as that provided here at the Home Staging Institute.

#2 Earn a home staging certification

There are a small handful of online home staging courses that you can choose from, ranging in price from $150 to well over $1000.

We’ve done a small survey of all the top home staging courses here for your quick reference, but we’d highly encourage you to consider our most popular course – the Professional Home Staging Course. It costs just $247 for lifetime access, and you’ll earn your home staging certification after passing a short online exam.

#3 Fine-tune your eye for staging

If you’re anything like 90% of our readers, you are well on your way to fine-tuning your home staging eye. But how do you know if this is you?

• You browse real estate listings in your down-time, even though you have no intention to buy any of the houses you are looking at
• You find yourself critiquing the curb appeal of houses when you are walking about your neighborhood
• You might even attend the occasional open home that you have no intention of buying.

If you are not doing any of these, it’s 100% free to get started! The Zillow app literally has tens of thousands of houses you can browse this evening, and you can take mental notes about what you would change to make that property more appealing to buyers.

Flexing this “home staging muscle” in the comfort of your own home, or the homes of people who aren’t your clients will help build your confidence for doing your first home staging consultations with paying customers.

Soon enough you’ll be able to walk into any house and quickly identify a handful of easy-win opportunities that you can recommend to the realtor or home seller.

Decide Which Home Staging Role You Want

You should have some idea of what sort of home staging job you want by now.

Do you want to be in the office preparing proposals and quotes, helping with inventory management, managing a warehouse, or being on-site staging the property?

If you’re unsure, learn more about the various home staging careers available, and begin to narrow down what it is that interests you most.

Read some home staging job descriptions

We recommend taking a look at your local job website and doing a search for home staging jobs.

You’ll quickly be able to read a few job descriptions to decide which role it is that interests you most.

You’ll also have a better understanding of home staging job requirements so you can either upskill or take not of these requirements so you can address them within your CV and cover letter.

Once you have a good understanding of what role you want in the home staging industry and have read job descriptions from a number of home staging companies that are actively hiring for this position, you’ll be in a great position to start crafting your CV and cover letter.

Start Job Hunting

Once you’ve learned all you can about home staging, completed some form of home staging training or online classes, and fine-tuned your home staging eye, then you can start to polish up your CV ready to hunt for your first home staging job.

Depending on what role you’ve decided you want in the industry, you’ll want to tweak your CV to target your dream job. This means focusing on your home staging skills if you are going to be out and about actually staging houses, or on your office skills (presentations, spreadsheets, etc) if you are going to be more of an admin person in the industry that doesn’t need a large about of design know-how.

Prepare your CV

Every job starts with preparing your CV, and getting your first home staging job is no different.

There are plenty of CV templates online, and we could write a few thousand words on the topic here, but you are better off reading a few articles specifically on what is involved in preparing your standard CV. Novoresume has a good article on how to write a CV, and we have a specific article on writing a home staging resume.

When it comes to applying for home staging jobs specifically, our main piece of advice is to include relevant experience and education – whether it be formal or informal.

If you have taken a home staging course, then definitely include this.

If you have interned at a home staging company, then this needs to be included too.

Write your cover letter

Your cover letter is your chance to explain exactly why you are passionate about home staging and want a job in this industry.

It is also the place where you can specifically address some main requirements in the job description.

Typically when reading a home staging job description you’ll be able to identify two or three key requirements the recruiter is looking for.

For example, they might specifically say:

1. They want someone with experience in the industry
2. They want someone not afraid to get stuck into the unglamorous jobs
3. They want someone who has taken a home staging course

In this example, you’ll use three paragraphs of your cover letter to address each of these points. Here’s a short example:

1. “I have worked within the home staging industry for the last 6 months as a customer liaison at Acme Home Staging Limited, here in Atlanta. During this role, I was exposed to a wide variety of tasks within the business, including managing proposals, administration tasks, and helping with hands-on staging when called upon. I am now seeking a role where I can focus more closely on the staging tasks as this is where my passion lays”
2. “In saying this, I understand that working within this industry means I cannot expect to be hands-on staging homes all day, every day. I have experience working in dispatch at a warehouse, and am also comfortable driving furniture trucks when needed.”
3. “Recently I have taken an online home staging course at the Home Staging Institute, and have earned my Certified Staging Expert certificate with an exceptional score of 193/200. This involved self-directed online study, hands-on staging, and an exam upon completion of the course. Earning this certificate reinforced my passion for this industry and I am excited about the opportunity to work at your company.

These are just examples! Copy/paste and amend them to suit your own circumstances, or simply use them or inspiration.

Final Word on How to Get a Job Staging Homes

By now you should understand thoroughly how to get a job staging homes.

It boils down to this:

1. Learn all you can about home staging (for free, online)
2. Earn your home staging certification to prove you have knowledge of the industry
3. Finetune your home staging eye
4. Decide what home staging job you actually want
5. Prepare your CV, and tweak it for the roles you are applying for
6. Start job hunting!