Elena Prokopets
Babysitting is arguably a job every other person did at some point. Perhaps you were watching your neighbor’s kids for extra cash in high school. Or lined up some hourly nanny gigs when you were in college. Finally, there are also a ton of career nannies, doing childcare work for decades, professionally.
Full-time nannies with relevant education, high work ethics, language knowledge, and other specialty skills can earn $150,000-$180,000 a year in cities like New York or Los Angeles. For instance, Heidi Joline, one of such top-earning nannies, has taken courses at Yale and Stanford around child psychology, newborn care, and child health. She also passed the International Nanny Association Exam.
That said: even part-time nanny jobs now pay better. Fresh analysis from UrbanSitter says average nanny pay jumped to $20,57/per hour (up by 11%) compared to last year. The demand for nannies has also been continuously after pre-school closures due to Covid-19.
So if you are looking for new gigs, it’s time to refresh your resume. In this post, we show how to describe babysitting on a resume in a professional and parent-appealing way.
Here’s How to Put Babysitting on a Resume
- Write your job title: Babysitter or Nanny. If you’ve been hired by a family, don’t put anything extra as an employer name. If you worked through a staffing agency, list them as your employer.
- Add city and state. This helps the family understand whether you are a local (and know the area already) or just moved in recently (meaning you might still not know all the facilities in the area).
- Put your employment dates. A lot of babysitting gigs are irregular, but most parents understand that. It’s fine to use [year]-[year] format instead of [month,year]-[month-year]. Also, don’t stress too much about any employment gaps on your resume.
- Describe your responsibilities. When doing so, detail the kid(s) age and explain what types of things you did. For example, handled school pick-up, helped with homework, prepared food, taught a new language, etc.
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Sample Babysitter Descriptions for Resume
Now let’s take a look at how the above tips work in practice. Below is a sample babysitting on resume entry for a part-time nanny.
Babysitter, Columbus, Ohio.
June 2021-April 2022
Assisted a neighboring family with the care of two children, 3 and 5 years old, three times a week, plus on-demand during special occasions.
- Regularly drove both kids to dance classes and helped them pack after classes
- Cooked healthy gluten-free snacks (because of the younger dietary restrictions)
- Taught social skills during playdates and provided emotional support at home
- Communicated updates on the kids’ emotional state and overall development to parents
Babysitter, Top Nanny Agency
Los Angeles, California
December 2018-present
One of the highest-rated private nanny agencies in LA with immaculate service standards. I’ve had four ongoing babysitting placements via the agency with HNW families.
- Ongoing housetraining lessons to two supervised tweens and post-activity entertainment.
- On-call assistance for evening hours (7 pm to 2 am) for one of the families.
- Focus on creating a safe, welcoming, and fun atmosphere with all children under my care
Need more guidance? Check our detailed nanny resume example with extra writing tips next.
Banging Babysitter Skills for Resume
If you’ve held a steady string of babysitting jobs, your descriptions of duties might look repetitive. After all: your job doesn’t assume a great degree of variability. Yet, there are many ways to describe what you did as a nanny (apart from helping build blanket forts or finding lost toys).
Remember: your babysitting resume shouldn’t be tailored towards kids. It’s for their parents. So use “adult” descriptive language and some power words to best communicate your abilities.
To help you out, we’ve made a quick reference list of popular babysitting skills for a resume. Feel free to swipe some options.
Childcare skills
- Child soothing techniques
- Safe-sleeping protocols
- Potty training
- Language training
- Patience
- Empathy
- Emotional intelligence
- Compassion
- Physical stamina
- High energy levels
- Good sense of humor
- Ability to entertain
- Storytelling
- Conflict resolution
Organizational skills
- Time management
- High personal accountability
- Daily activity planning
- Child’s schedule coordination
- Weekend / day-trip planning
- Playdate and birthday party planning
- Family calendar management
- Food & activities budgeting
- Expense reporting
Instructional skills
- Math tutoring
- Homework assistance
- Language tutoring (Spanish)
- Kindergarten readiness training
- Summer reading schedule management
- Age-appropriate entertainment
- Drawing skills teaching
- Piano lessons
- Sports coaching skills
- Homeschooling
- Creative play
Child development and health skills
- Motoric skills development
- Positive reinforcement techniques
- Montessori method
- Solution-based casework
- Special needs education
- Infant CPR/AED knowledge
- Parent interaction
- Therapeutic providers Interactions
- Developmental concerns identification
Final Thoughts
Babysitting jobs are easy to come by and many are well-paid. But the higher the rate — the more demanding parents could be. The goal of your babysitting resume is to reassure the worried parent that you are a person they can fully trust with their kids.
The best way to secure parents’ trust is by submitting a professional resume. Pick a well-designed resume template (we’ve got over 180 free options!). List your career history and highlighta range of soft and hard skills, plus some short bits about your personality. Also, attaching a positive personal reference letter from past families can really tilt the odds in your favor!
