How to list nanny experience on a professional resume
A professional resume lands a professional job.
A solid nanny resume gets seen
Previous nanny experience may be your best chance to move up the ranks into more professional, higher paying jobs. But if a family doesn’t understand what that experience looked like, it will be hard for them to know how it could translate into your work with their family.
We have previously discussed what to include in your nanny resume, as there are a lot of details that will signal to a potential employer not only what your experience is, but your overall approach to the work. In today’s post, we will zero in on describing the details of your nanny experience. This will ensure that families easily understand what you’ve done before and how it would help you in working with their particular family.
What to list on a resume from your nanny experience
Length of position: always include your start and end dates for each position. If you want, and you have room, you can include why a position ended (such as if they moved or the children started school). If it is a particularly short position, you can include this up front, e.g. “Summer break position June 2022-August 2022”.
Part time, full time, or as needed: this helps the family understand your experience better, and it helps you be up front and transparent about your experience so the parents don’t feel tricked when you get to the interview. I.e., if you’ve worked with a family for 3 years as needed, list that. It shows new potential employers that this family loved you and kept calling you for three years, without making it seem like you were their full time nanny.
Ages and number of kids: this helps parents see their family in your experience. Maybe they, too, have three kids, or had a new baby with a 2-year-old sibling. It also shows your range of experience with different ages and your ability to handle several kids at once.
Location: if you are applying for a nanny position in a big city, parents love to know that you’ve done this before. Navigating busy streets, understanding how long it can take to get somewhere, and keeping kids safe in a city are all important parts of the job. The reverse could be said for a town without public transit where the family may want to know that you have experience driving children as needed.
Special needs or requirements: working with a child with special needs, multiples, or kids with food allergies, to name a few, requires a lot out of you as a caregiver. You may need a different approach to your nannying, a different kind of flexibility, or just an openness to learn. Families whose children may require extra attention in some form will be looking for this experience in your resume, and families who don’t will note your special skillset and dedication.
Any other specifications of the position: what were your responsibilities? Maybe one position was all about getting kids to and from school and activities, navigating public transit in a safe and timely way. Maybe another was an infant position where you helped baby through all the early stages of development and became an expert swaddler/sleep trainer/food preparer. List a few specifications for each position and make sure that each position has at least one detail that sets it apart from the others. This way, you show a potential employer specific ways that each position made you a better, more experienced and skilled nanny.
You could argue that this shows that any of your previous employers would be a reference for you because you were great.
What about references?
Some people like to list their reference’s contact information together with each position. You could argue that this shows that any of your previous employers would be a reference for you because you were great.
However, people offering to be your reference are doing you a big favor, and you want to make sure each time they talk to a potential new employer, they’ve had a heads up and that they will be able to speak about you as enthusiastically as the first time someone called.
For this reason, we recommend that you hold off on giving out references’s contact information until after you’ve interviewed with a family and moved on to their next round in the hiring process. If you really want, you can note in the experience section, “will be a reference”, or similar. This way new families know this previous family loves you, and that if they want, they will be able to talk to them.
Looking to list your nanny experience on a non-childcare, professional resume?
If you are applying for a job outside of childcare, you still want to highlight your nanny experience and the skills you’ve learned in that field. But if your new potential employer isn’t looking to hire you for work with their kiddos, do they really want to hear about the ages of your previous charges?
When applying for a non-childcare, professional position, take a different approach to listing your nanny experience. Instead of zeroing in on specific duties that would show a new family you have child-specific skills (experience transitioning into bottle feedings, say), focus on the skills you’ve learned that would be applicable in this new role.
List responsibilities such as
Timeliness and coordination of activities, schedules, appointments
Juggling several things at once, like conflicting schedules and pickups, feeding one child while napping another
Clear communication with parents and conflict management
Quick thinking and flexibility when things don’t go as planned
Let’s face it, if you are a rockstar nanny, you’ve acquired plenty of skills that will serve you in the corporate world (for instance). Take some time to think about these skills and how they would help you in the kind of job you are applying for and adjust how you explain your nanny experience on the resume accordingly.
Are you ready for your next great nanny job?
At Smart Sitting, we help fantastic nannies get connected with professional, rewarding childcare positions. We match you with families whose positions are aligned with what you are looking for. Our dedicated team gets to know both you and families, allowing us to make thoughtful matches. We are also here to support you in your career, with events, workshops, and an open door when you need help navigating any part of your position.
(And if you are at the beginning of your professional nannying career, why not check out these 4 tips about how to become a professional nanny?)
If you think you have what it takes to become a Smartsitter, we would love to hear from you. Click the button below to start your application right away!
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