Adding Babysitting Experience to a Professional Resume
As you craft an interview-winning resume, one significant consideration is the type of experience you’ll include. Some shy away from including babysitting experience on their resume. However, in many instances, babysitting experience can add value.
In this post, we cover:
How babysitting adds value to a resume
When to include babysitting experience on your resume
When not to include babysitting experience on a resume
Steps to include babysitting experience on your resume
Where to include babysitting experience on a resume with examples
How does babysitting experience on a resume add value?
Start by thinking about valuable soft skills.
If you fall under the category of individuals who are hesitant to include babysitting experience on your resume, consider this: When a parent entrusts you to take care of their children, it speaks volumes about the level of faith they have in you and trustworthiness is a highly sought-after soft skill by employers.
Additional soft skills that babysitting experience can help to highlight on your resume include
Professionalism
Responsibility
Timeliness
Organization
Problem-solving
The ability to work independently
Certain babysitting jobs also require transferrable hard skills. For example, if you were responsible for scheduling childcare activities and duties, that skill would transfer to administrative assistant and office management jobs. Or, if you were responsible for healthy meal planning, that’s a transferable skill to positions like home healthcare worker and dietician. And suppose you hold certifications in first aid or CPR. Those are also transferable hard skills to other positions, including teaching, nursing, and other healthcare jobs.
Babysitting can also add value to your resume by filling in any employment gaps you might have due to taking a break from full-time employment to be a full-time parent, going back to school, or due to other personal reasons.
When to include babysitting experience on a resume
You now know the value babysitting experience can add to your resume, so under what circumstances might you choose to include it?
First, it’s worth noting that this post focuses on adding babysitting experience to your resume with the assumption that you’re not applying for a babysitting position. That said, it goes without saying that if you’re applying for a babysitting job or are looking to work with a babysitting agency, you’ll want to design your resume with babysitting experience as the focus. If this defines you, use the tips in this article while also referring to the following to design a babysitting resume to land interviews: “US Resume Format: How to Write and Best Practice Examples.”
Now that we have that out of the way, adding babysitting experience to your resume could be beneficial if you’re:
A childcare professional. Aside from applying for a babysitting position, the most obvious reason to include babysitting experience on your resume is if you’re applying for a position as a childcare professional. For example, a daycare worker or teacher could benefit from highlighting such experience.
An entry-level candidate with little experience. Suppose you’re a recent college graduate or entry-level candidate with little work experience. In that case, babysitting can help highlight your ability to hold down a job and showcase the acquired skills that can help you succeed in the position you’re applying to.
Reentering the workforce. As previously mentioned, if you’ve taken a break from the workforce, including babysitting experience on your resume can help fill in employment gaps that might come into question during the application process.
When not to include babysitting experience on a resume
Though there are plenty of reasons babysitting experience on a resume can add value to your job search, there are also reasons not to include it. Avoid adding babysitting experience to your resume if you fall under any of the following categories:
You had short tenures or lacked consistency. If you’ve only babysat for a short duration or very inconsistently, it might be wise to leave it off your resume. It’s best to include babysitting experience if you’ve done it regularly – every week, for at least four months or more.
You have plenty of relevant work experience. If the Work Experience section of your resume is robust and tells a solid story of your accomplishments, there’s no need to include babysitting experience.
It doesn’t add value. As proven above, there are solid transferable skills as a babysitter that support other roles. However, if you find that adding babysitting experience adds little to no value to your resume, avoid including it. Your resume should only incorporate information that adds value and is relevant to the position.
It takes up too much resume real estate. In most instances, your resume should be no longer than two pages. Therefore, avoid adding babysitting experience if it makes your resume go beyond this.
Steps to include babysitting experience on a resume
As you warm up to the idea of including babysitting experience on your resume, it’s natural to wonder what specific experience to include and how to best include it. Here, we take a look at the steps to help you with both.
1. List out all of your babysitting jobs
First, make a list of all of your babysitting jobs.
Who did you work for?
What was the duration of each job?
What additional duties were you responsible for beyond watching children?
Was there anything significant or unique about each job?
2. Identify the required skills for babysitting
Next, make a list of all the hard and soft skills you used to support your babysitting jobs. Some common skills used while babysitting include:
Problem-solving
Creativity
Time management
Homework support
First aid
CPR
Meal planning and preparation
Conflict resolution
Prioritizing
Positive discipline
Communication
Child development
Scheduling
Organization
Tutoring
Bilingual abilities
Water safety
3. Decide which babysitting jobs, skills, and accomplishments to include
Refer to the job description and highlight the required skills and experience. Compare the highlights from the job description to your babysitting experience and skills lists. From there, note your transferable skills and knowledge that align with the job description and determine which skills and expertise will add the most value to your resume.
4. Determine what title you’ll use
Instead of including each babysitting job as a standalone position in your Work Experience section, it's best to combine all of your experience under a single heading or position. As such, you’ll need to decide what title to use for your combined experience.
Some options that might sound more professional than “Babysitter” include:
Child Care Professional
Nanny
Child Care Provider
5. Use power verbs for each bullet point
As you create your bulleted list of achievements as a babysitter, select powerful action verbs to kick off each bullet point. Action verbs add a dash of confidence to your resume and make it a more interesting read for employers.
Some power verbs you might use to describe babysitting duties and achievements include:
Cared
Oversaw
Managed
Tutored
Created
Monitored
Applied
Prepared
Where to include babysitting experience on a resume
The most obvious place to include babysitting experience on a resume is the Work Experience section. Additional sections where you can incorporate your babysitting abilities include the Skills, Core Competencies, and Certifications sections.
Work Experience section
When incorporating babysitting in the Work Experience section, include the job title you decide to use, dates of employment, and key responsibilities and achievements. You can also choose to include the names of the families you worked for if it’s a short list, or you can choose to forgo including an employer’s name altogether. If you’re employed by a babysitting or nanny agency that refers you out for jobs, you’ll note them as your employer.
Below are two babysitting experience examples you might find in the Work Experience section of a resume.
Child Care Provider
Houston, TX
2021 to 2023
Cared for four children, including two teenagers and two children under the age of 6
Tutored teenagers in English and Math, supporting both in achieving the honor roll each semester
Oversaw healthy meal planning for daily breakfast and lunch meals
Drove children to extracurricular activities, including sports practice, dance lessons, and band practice
Fostered healthy sibling communication and conflict resolution
Created homework plans and schedules to support after-school care
TX Nanny Services | Dallas, TX
Nanny | 2018 to 2021
Cared for two toddlers five days a week
Prepared daily snacks and meals, teaching healthy options for wellbeing
Applied age-appropriate activities to support childhood development
Scheduled parent-child activities to foster relationship-building between parents in the community
Managed children’s daily sleep, meal, and activity schedules while parents were working
Drove children to pertinent appointments when parents were unavailable
Skills or Core Competencies section
As mentioned previously, babysitters possess numerous hard and soft skills that are transferable to other roles. Depending on how you choose to format your resume, you can include those that are relevant in your Core Competencies section, which falls just below your Resume Summary section, or in a standalone Skills list near the end of your resume.
Expert Tip
If your resume includes a Core Competencies and Skills section, avoid including the same competencies or skills in both lists. Doing so is redundant and unnecessarily takes up space on your resume.
Certifications section
If you hold certifications as a babysitter that are relevant to the jobs you’re applying to, include those in the Certifications section of your resume. Some examples of certifications you might have as a babysitter that are also relevant for many jobs in the healthcare, teaching, and daycare fields include:
Babysitting and Advanced Child Care Certification (American Red Cross)
CPR Certification
Kids Nutrition Specialist Certification (American Fitness Professionals & Associates)
Aquatics & Water Safety Certification (YMCA)
Babysitting experience on a resume adds value
When given thoughtful consideration, adding babysitting experience on a resume can add value and help you stand out to hiring teams. Whether you’re looking to include transferable and relevant skills, fill in employment gaps, or generally add value to your resume, the above guidance can help you achieve these goals.
Should you include babysitting experience on your resume? Or, if it’s already included, are you confident that it adds value and represents you in the best light possible? Why not submit it for a free resume review to find out?