All job-searching nannies should create a childcare resume that is specific to this industry. A childcare-specific resume will focus on a candidate’s professional work history working with children, including past childcare work positions held from age 18 forward, applicable trainings and certifications, volunteer work with children, and childcare-related skill sets.
The childcare resume is one of the very first requirements an applicant must fulfill in order to become a candidate within our Nanny Placement Service. We look for specific experience, education, and skills to qualify nannies to be represented by our agency, and a detailed childcare resume will tell us much of what we need to know about an applicant right away!
If you are writing a childcare resume from scratch or needing to update your current childcare resume, follow our advice to create a resume that will inform, impress, and inspire!
Contact Information
Make sure that your resume starts with your name and contact information. Most often, applicants will provide their home address, email address, and phone number as contact information. Be sure that you use a professional email address, and if you don’t have one, consider creating one for the purpose of job searching! We suggest doing something like (firstname).(lastname)@(emailserver).com. You may choose to leave your home address off your resume, but is it helpful for parents to know where you live so they can estimate what your commute will be to their home and determine if the commute is feasible long-term.
Introduction
The purpose of the introduction portion of a resume is to inform the reader of what kind of job you are looking for and what skills you are bringing to the table. Are you looking for full-time or part-time work? Put that in your introduction. Are you able to make a long-term commitment or just available temporarily or until you finish the degree you are working on? Put that in your introduction. Are your biggest strengths your creativity and problem solving or patience and compassion? Put that in your introduction. This should be a one or two sentence paragraph that summarizes the end goal of your job search. It’s the first thing we or a family is going to read on your resume, so make those few sentences count!
Education
Use this area of your resume to list your educational background starting with high school. When listing your college background, be sure to list your major and whether or not you have a degree, the degree is still in process, or you are taking a break. You can always list how many college credits you have toward your degree and what your GPA is/was if you have not finished (or don’t intend to finish). Even if your degree or major is in an unrelated field, an applicant that attended college will be more impressive than one who never pursued any continuing education after high school.
Childcare Experience
In a childcare resume, you should be listing your past and current professional childcare experience first and in reverse chronological order with your most recent or current position first. Applicable professional childcare experience includes nannying, day cares, preschool teaching (and any other time spent working with kids in a classroom, ie. student teaching or internships), coaching, tutoring, time spent as a camp counselor, and any other professionally-paid work experience where you were in charge of children.
{Note: The International Nanny Association defines “professional childcare experience” as any paid childcare position held from the age 18 forward.}
When detailing your work experience, elaborate on the job itself (ages and number of the children, the hours/frequency of the job, etc), your duties & responsibilities, and list some accomplishments or goals that were met in the position (ie. sleep training, potty training, teaching a child to read, etc). Parents want to see how many years of experience you have, whether or not you’ve worked with children the same age as theirs, and whether or not you will be able to help them meet the goals they have for their children. Don’t be afraid to be detailed when talking about past jobs, because the more information you can give these parents about your skills and successes, the better your chances are of being invited to interview.
Other Work Experience (optional)
You are able to balance out the rest of your resume by listing your other work experience in a separate section. These entries can be less detailed since the work doesn’t directly apply to a childcare career or count as childcare experience. Consider briefly stating the job title, company, and dates of employment and then listing the qualities or characteristics that you took away from that job and how they apply to childcare. Examples are leadership, teamwork, interpersonal communication, multi-tasking, project management, working for multiple employers, etc.
Other Topic Ideas
To really make your resume stand out, take advantage of your one chance at a first impression and pack your resume with information about what you have to offer! Here are some other ideas for headings within your resume:
- Skills
- Certifications (CPR/First Aid, Lifeguard, Newborn Care Specialist, Doula, Certified Nurse Assistant, etc)
- Your Current Vaccination List (flu shot, DTaP, COVID)
- Volunteer Experience and Internships
- Professional Development (childcare books read, childcare classes completed, childcare conferences attended, etc)
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If you are brand new to the nanny industry and need more help preparing for job searching and interviews, we offer one-on-one job search consulting for nannies! Email jaynie@minannysolutions.com for more information about this program!