Babysitter Resume Example
If you're hoping to start a career as a babysitter, you'll need experience in preparing meals/snacks and maintaining a safe environment. A professional resume for babysitter applications will showcase your relevant skills and career achievements, to help you stand out from the crowd. In this article, we'll explain how to write a winning resume for babysitter applications that best showcases your skills and experience.
This comprehensive guide will give you all the tools you need to craft a babysitter resume that positions you strongly against other candidates. Just like keeping kids entertained and safe, crafting the perfect resume requires patience, attention to detail, and a little creativity.
This article will take you through the key steps of creating a resume that presents your key skills, qualities and career achievements in a format that employers favor. It will also help you tailor your resume according to your unique skills and experience level. Read on to learn the tips Jobseeker careers experts recommend as the best for your babysitter resume.
Main sections of a nanny resume
It's essential to include a few core sections in your babysitter resume, while there are also a few optional sections. A resume for candidates with little or no work experience may focus less on the work experience section, and bring sections to the fore that emphasize their skills, such as hobbies and interests, volunteer work, education, projects and skills lists.
While the content and format of your resume may vary depending on your experience levels, it's important to always include the following sections:
Header and Personal Information
In your babysitter resume header, list your name, email address, phone number and address or location. You can also add your LinkedIn, if you have one, to help employers better understand your work history and skills. While in some countries, you might include additional personal information or a photo, these aren't necessary. Make sure your resume header is as brief as possible and doesn't take up too much valuable space. Choose a clear, professional design that sets the tone for your application.
Only include professional, name-based email addresses in your resume header. If you have an old email address that uses nicknames, puns, references to your personal interests or anything else that could appear unprofessional, set up a new email just for your job applications. Finally, always double-check your contact details are correct and up-to-date before sending your resume.
Jessica King
jessica.king@example.com
(111) 222 33 444 55
5150 Maple Drive, Twin Peaks, WA
linkedin․com/in/jessica–king123
Resume Summary
Next, write a short paragraph to introduce yourself. You could also call this section 'resume summary' or 'personal profile'. In two or three sentences, explain your professional background, achievements and key skills. If you choose to write a resume summary, this focuses on your career experience to date. On the other hand, a resume objective addresses your future plans and career ambitions. However, make sure you keep your resume summary short and snappy, and focused on the skills and experience listed in the job description.
Alternatively, use this section to emphasize your career objectives and explain how and why this role is a suitable step for you at this stage of your career.
The best resume summaries reflect the job description and focus on qualities that are relevant to working as a babysitter, while highlighting elements of your personality that make you an ideal candidate. They also quantify the information provided with evidence. See below for some great examples of how to approach your babysitter resume.
Experienced Childcare Provider with a strong background in creating safe, nurturing environments for children of various ages. Skilled in developing engaging activities, managing daily routines, and effectively communicating with parents. Reliable, patient, and dedicated to fostering the social, emotional, and educational development of children. Proven ability to handle emergencies calmly and efficiently. Holds certifications in First Aid and CPR
Childcare provider with some experience in looking after kids. Have done activities and managed routines. Talked to parents and tried to help kids grow. Can handle situations calmly. Have some safety training
Conversely, an ineffective resume summary would include generic, unspecific information on your skills and experience, while failing to provide any useful information on what makes you a unique and interesting candidate. The visual above includes some examples of what not to do with your babysitter resume summary
Skills
In your skills section, list any skills you've acquired or developed that are relevant to babysitter positions. Consider adding meal preparation skills, communication skills or any other necessary skills for the job. Again, refer to the job description and make sure you include skills that the employer has listed as essential or desirable for employment as a babysitter.
How to include hard skills on your babysitter resume
In your hard skills list, include any specific abilities related to the role you're applying for. These could be technical skills or industry knowledge that showcases your expertise in your chosen profession. Furthermore, your hard skills list helps to show employers how competent and experienced you are at key babysitter duties and responsibilities. Aim to include four or five key hard skills. If you have space, explain how and where you've used that skill to create successful outcomes in your career. These skills will demonstrate your credentials and show how you meet the job description.
Your resume hard skills list should reflect your unique and specific industry expertise and experience, while also fulfilling the requirements listed in the job description. See the examples below for an idea of what an effective babysitter resume hard skills list looks like.
- First aid certification
- Infant CPR training
- Meal preparation skills
Soft skills on your babysitter resume
Soft skills are the personal skills and qualities that make you a good fit for the job. They include transferable skills and strengths that help you settle into the role, adapt to new challenges and build effective working relationships. Indeed, without soft skills, you may struggle to adapt to babysitter roles or meet the standards expected of you. So make sure you include several key soft skills on your resume. Aim to include approximately five soft skills that reflect the skills listed in the job description.
The strongest resume soft skills sections include a mix of skills that match your best personal strengths, and that reflect the skills listed in the job description. See below for some examples of effective soft skills for a nanny resume.
- Communication skills
- Problem-solving ability
- Emotional intelligence
Education
Your resume's education section provides space for you to list your highest and most relevant qualifications for babysitter roles.
Working as a babysitter doesn't usually require a degree. Even though a degree-level education isn't a necessity, it's still important to highlight your key educational achievements, including a CPR Certification or other courses or training that showcases your first aid certification or infant CPR training.
List every relevant qualification, including the name and level of the course, the name of the school, college or university, its location and your graduation date. You can also add some bullet points outlining any high grades, awards you won or specialist subjects you studied. Adding this information will show the employer your dedication to learning and your areas of specialist knowledge.
If you organized or participated in any clubs or societies while at university, or you took part in any voluntary work, you could also mention these here.
Child Development, 2017 - 2020
University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX
Certifications
In your certifications section, list any professional certifications or licenses that are relevant to working as a babysitter. These could be professional accreditations and licenses, or certifications that improve your level of suitability for the position. Therefore, add any professional licenses or certifications, along with valid dates that show they're still valid.
Take a look at some example certifications for a babysitter resume below:
- CPR Certification, 2022
- First Aid, 2022
- SafeSitter Certification, 2022
Work Experience
Your resume work experience section is the chance to show your relevant previous jobs and career achievements as a babysitter. Mention only the most appropriate and relevant jobs you've had in reverse-chronological order, starting with your most recent and working backwards. Add your job title, the name of the employer, the location of the role and your dates of employment.
For each job listed in this section, add some bullet points so the employer can understand the skills you developed, and your achievements. Focus on showcasing the impact you made on the organization, and show evidence of how you made a difference.
An effective resume work experience section is one that constantly echoes the skills and experience listed in the job description, and shows how you used your skills to positive effect in each job. Each bullet point should be carefully crafted to showcase a particular skill or achievement relevant to babysitter jobs, with evidence to show the value you added. Take a look at the examples below for some guidance on what works best for your work experience section.
Childcare Provider, January 2022 - Present
HappyNest Babysitting Services, Durham
- Successfully implemented age-appropriate educational activities, enhancing cognitive and social development for children aged 1-5
- Developed and maintained a safe, nurturing environment, achieving a 100% satisfaction rate from parents in annual surveys
- Trained and supervised a team of 5 junior caregivers, improving overall team efficiency and childcare quality by 30%
Childcare Provider, January 2022 - Present
HappyNest Babysitting Services, Durham
- Assisted with daily childcare tasks, ensuring a positive experience for all children
- Supported team efforts to provide quality care and maintain a safe environment
- Contributed to the development of educational activities for young children
In the graphic above you can see a great example of what to avoid when writing your resume work experience section. Ineffective work experience sections tend to focus too much on everyday responsibilities over skills and achievements. If you use vague descriptions of activities and fail to back up your achievements with evidence, you're likely to fail to make an impact on the reader.
Expert Tip:
If you have limited formal experience, highlight other achievements, like completing training programs, certifications, or successful personal projects. (1) Present this information in a clear and concise format with easy-to-read sections and plenty of white space. (2)
Additional Information
If you need to provide further evidence of your suitability for the job, optional sections can be useful for a nanny resume. Choose any optional sections that showcase essential or desirable skills or experience for babysitter jobs.
Personal Hobbies and Interests
Hobbies and interests can be a useful way of showing your skills and experience beyond your work and education. Your hobbies and interests are useful for a nanny resume if you want to show a different side to your personality, or to stand out among other candidates. They can also be valuable if you're a junior candidate without much relevant work experience. Think about adding hobbies and interests to your resume if they add some insight into your personality that you can't express elsewhere in your application.
Volunteer Experience
If you're lacking relevant babysitter work experience, volunteer work can help to show you still have the relevant skills. List your volunteer job title, the organization you volunteered for, its location and the dates of your involvement, alongside a brief explanation of your responsibilities in the role.
References
It's relatively unusual to include references in a standard babysitter resume, but they are required occasionally. Check the job advert to see if you'll need to add references to your resume. Include a maximum of three professional references, being sure to check with your referees before including them in your resume.
References are available upon request.
Best action words for your babysitter resume
Using strong action words to make your resume resonate with the employer. Choose verbs from the suggestions below that highlight your key skills or those mentioned in the job description.
- Supervise
- Engage
- Nurture
- Prepare
- Organize
- Entertain
- Communicate
- Educate
- Ensure
- Manage
Jobseeker's clean, attractive resume formats can help your applications make a strong impression on employers. Check them out for help designing a winning resume, and see our cover letter templates to help win over recruiters and hiring managers.
Sample babysitter resume
Now we've covered the main sections to include in your babysitter resume, let's take a look at how it all comes together in the example below:
5150 Maple Drive, Twin Peaks, WA
•
jessica.king@example.com
•
(111) 222 33 444 55
•
linkedin․com/in/jessica–king123
Experienced Childcare Provider with a strong background in nurturing, guiding, and supervising children of various ages. Skilled in creating engaging activities, ensuring safety, and fostering a positive, supportive environment. Proven ability to communicate effectively with both children and parents, and to handle emergency situations with calm and efficiency. Dedicated to promoting children's physical, emotional, and social development while maintaining a structured and fun atmosphere.
Childcare Provider
2020
-2022
Little Explorers Childcare (Saint Paul)
- Successfully implemented educational activities that boosted children's cognitive development, resulting in a 30% improvement in early literacy skills
- Maintained a safe and nurturing environment, achieving a 100% parent satisfaction rate and zero safety incidents over two years
- Coordinated with parents and teachers to develop personalized care plans, enhancing individual child development and well-being
First aid certification
Infant CPR training
Meal preparation skills
Communication skills
Problem-solving ability
Emotional intelligence
CPR Certification
First Aid
English - Fluent
Spanish - B2
Best practices for a babysitter resume
- Quantify your career achievements by including evidence of your impact throughout your resume.
- Keep your babysitter resume as brief as possible. Aim for one page for an entry-level role, and two pages for more senior jobs.
- Adapt your resume for every job application for maximum impact. Review the job description to understand the specific requirements for the role.
- Use action verbs to showcase how you've put your babysitter skills to use in your career (e.g. 'supervise', 'engage', 'nurture').
- Include key skills throughout your resume that reflect the job description, and include a dedicated skills section.
- Don't include hobbies unless you're light on work experience and they help you prove a skill required for the job.
- Don't add personal information such as your age, gender, a photo or marital status, as these can lead to bias in the hiring process.
- Don't use an unprofessional email address. Instead, create a simple email address based on your name.
- Don't use unnecessary jargon to try and impress the reader. It may have the opposite effect.
- Don't use elaborate formatting or layouts. These can make your babysitter resume less readable and harder for applicant tracking systems (ATS) to scan.
Guide to making your resume ATS-friendly
Applicant tracking systems (ATS) help recruiters and employers to manage their hiring process. They can handle some of the more time-consuming and resource-intensive jobs, such as initial screening of resumes. Employers often receive hundreds of applications per vacancy, and ATS software can quickly and accurately scan and rank resumes based on their likely suitability for any role. If you follow a few simple tips when writing your babysitter resume, you'll give yourself a better chance of ranking highly in the ATS screening and progressing to the next stage.
Create an ATS-optimized resume by following these quick tips:
- Adopt a traditional structure for your resume, such as a reverse-chronological format or a functional format. These are likely to be the easiest layouts for ATS software to scan.
- Use of job description keywords throughout your resume will help it rank higher in the ATS scanning stage, as it will more closely match the requirements laid out in the job description.
- Using clear, simple headings makes it easier for an ATS application to scan your resume, as it can easily identify what's in each section of your document.
- Utilize a clean, clear resume design that helps make your content more readable. Use simple fonts and subtle color accents and design elements that don't detract from the written content.
- Keep your resume as concise as possible, to make it easier to read, and for ATS software to scan.
For advice and guidance on creating the perfect resume, read our expert career blog and check out our detailed resume examples.
Frequently Asked Questions about a nanny resume
As well as writing a professional babysitter resume, you'll need a cover letter to introduce yourself and emphasize your credentials.
Firstly, think about whether you want to write a full, formal cover letter or whether a brief email to introduce yourself and draw attention to your resume will suffice.
If you choose to write a full cover letter, follow traditional letter-writing conventions surrounding greetings, sign-offs and use of professional language. The body of the cover letter tends to be three paragraphs. The first introduces yourself and the role you're applying for, giving reasons for your application. The second briefly covers your key skills and achievements that are most relevant to babysitter roles. Finally, the third paragraph re-emphasizes your interest in the role and leaves a call to action, encouraging the employer to reach out to you.
For help creating an eye-catching cover letter that impresses recruiters and hiring managers, use Jobseeker's professional cover letter templates.
If you have plenty of experience as a babysitter, you'll want your resume to showcase your extensive career history and achievements. As an experienced candidate, your babysitter resume might include a work experience section that goes back beyond the standard 10 to 15 years. This will give you the chance to highlight your extensive experience and achievements. Include any optional sections that help to show your credentials and reputation in your industry. These could include awards, achievements and successful projects you've been involved in.
A strong resume headline can give the reader an immediate idea of your suitability for babysitter jobs. Resume headlines are also helpful for the ATS stage of the recruitment process, as they can help you reference the job title and one or two keywords for the role. Write a short, concise resume headline incorporating the job title, one or two key skills that match the job description and a reference to your reputation or track record.
See an example resume headline below:
- Responsible Junior Babysitter Available
- Experienced and Caring Babysitter Available
- Experienced Senior Childcare Professional
The most suitable resume format for you depends on two crucial factors. Firstly, whether you have a body of relevant work experience. Secondly, the type of job and its seniority level. For roles where you're lacking experience, such as graduate jobs or career changes, you could use a functional or skills-based resume format. This places your skills and education above your work experience. Once you have some relevant work experience, and for senior positions, a reverse chronological resume format is typically best. This emphasizes your work experience, which will probably be the key thing employers want to know about.
Key takeaways for your babysitter resume
Writing a strong, impactful resume is about using your experience to demonstrate your relevant skills and achievements. You can do this through your work history or other resume sections. Pick a resume format that matches your experience levels, and tailor the content of your resume to reflect the details of the job description.
HR-approved resume templates and other tools by Jobseeker are the easiest way to create a winning job application. Sign up and follow the simple instructions to complete a resume that stands out from the crowd. Whatever job you're applying for, a professional cover letter can make all the difference to your chances. Use Jobseeker's HR-approved tools and cover letter examples to inspire your applications.
Sources:
(1) Writing a Resume, California Department of Human Resources: https://www.calhr.ca.gov/employees/Pages/resume-tips.aspx
(2) Resume Tips, Duke University: https://careerhub.students.duke.edu/resources/resume-tips/