Qualifications
The main qualifications for being a housekeeper are having lots of elbow grease and knowing how to use it for the sake of your clients. Hard work, attention to detail, and the desire to make things spotless qualify you to be a housekeeper.
What other qualifications do housekeepers need? Honesty and integrity, for starters. As a person working in other people's homes, you'll have access to sensitive information. Oh sure, you could rifle through their mail or tax files. But that's boring (and illegal). We're talking truly sensitive information, like a prescription for baldness or—gasp—a whole closet full of Snuggies just waiting for cold weather movie nights. Horror movies, of course...because that's a horrifying scenario.
Being a great housekeeper is about getting things clean, but it's also about keeping your clients' secrets and working in their home like it's your own. Do the neighbors you clean for down the street need to know about other people's wart removal meds or their Nickelback music collection? No. Nobody needs to know about that.