12 Top Babysitter Skills for Resume Building

Babysitter, nanny, au pair, childcare worker: whatever you call yourself, you know that this job requires skills, professionalism and hard work. It’s often undervalued as an “easy job” that “anyone can do” — but that’s far from the truth.

So whether you’re looking for babysitter roles or wondering how to present your babysitting experience as you apply for other jobs, keep reading. We’ll explore the most common and important babysitter skills for resumes.

Important Babysitter Skills for Your Resume

Interpersonal Skills

Babysitting is all about getting on with other people. It’s not just about making the children like you, either. You need to anticipate their needs (even when they’re not yet able to express them!), enforce limits, mediate in arguments, be fair but also fun, calm children down when they need it and much more.

Plus, you’ll put your interpersonal skills to work with the parents and guardians, too. From building a relationship of trust to keeping them updated and even resolving potential conflicts — like parents arriving home an hour later than planned — interpersonal skills will prove extremely valuable.

Responsibility

As a babysitter, you’re responsible for the health, safety and well-being of little humans who are prone to doing dangerous things. What’s more, children typically don’t like following the rules — even when they’re good for them. Needless to say, experienced babysitters are used to being an authority figure.

Communication Skills

Communication skills are critical for babysitters. You’ll use them for giving parents updates and communicating potential problems with them, convincing the children to do things they don’t want to do, giving instructions, finding out why children are upset and much more.

Remember, communication skills aren’t one-way. Listening skills are also essential if you want to avoid being a tyrannical, inflexible babysitter. From listening to parents’ instructions to understanding why children don’t want to take a bath or why they’re stressed about school, you’ll use them constantly.

Time Management

Babysitting requires excellent time management and planning skills. Children, especially younger ones, operate on a tight schedule. Dinner time might be at 6pm and bedtime at 7pm, with 30 minutes to watch TV before bed. Fall behind schedule and your charges will potentially sleep badly and be tired and cranky the next day.

It’s not just bedtime that’s important, either. Toddlers often take a midday nap after their lunch. Early morning babysitters, meanwhile, have to make sure the children get to school on time. And if you’re taking children to a playdate, you’ll need to get them out the door on time — no matter how long it takes them to tie their shoes or find their favorite teddy.

Make sure to stress time management on your resume. Parents, guardians and potential employers will want to see it.

Creativity

From creating new, educational games to thinking up ways to get the children to eat broccoli, being a babysitter calls for plenty of creativity. More experienced babysitters typically have more resources to fall back on, but creativity will always come in handy. This is especially true if you regularly babysit the same kids, who have probably already heard your go-to bedtime stories.

Problem-Solving

Problems come up all the time when you’re babysitting. Perhaps a child only wants to drink out of their favorite cup, which has mysteriously disappeared. Or maybe you’re looking after three children, and they all need your attention at the same time: one has spilled juice over the white carpet while another is crying because they’ve fallen over and the third needs their diaper changed. Suffice it to say that “problem-solving” should be on your resume.

Empathy

Children get frustrated, tired and upset. Parents are busy and might not have time to wash the dishes or buy their child’s favorite dinner. This means that as a babysitter, empathy is key. It will stop you from getting annoyed, and it will also help you avoid temper tantrums. Simply by saying “I understand why you don’t want to eat dinner right now” or “I understand that going to bed in the dark is scary”, you can often defuse situations — and get the children to eat their dinner and go to bed.

First Aid and Safety Awareness

Hopefully, as a babysitter, the worst injury a child under your care will experience will be a scraped knee. However, there’s always the risk of children choking on their food, falling badly, eating something poisonous or worse. First aid training will put both your and the children’s guardians’ minds at rest. The American Red Cross also offers babysitting and childcare courses, which often include basic first aid skills.

Cooking

Not all babysitting jobs involve cooking, but some will. Babysitters often have to prepare healthy snacks, cook dinner and decide on appropriate amounts of dessert. Having basic cooking and meal preparation skills on your resume will reassure parents and guardians that their children will be well fed. If you have done a food allergens awareness course, this is also worth including.

Teaching and Mentoring

One of your responsibilities as a babysitter for older children will be making sure they do their homework. A good babysitter will be comfortable helping with basic academic activities, such as reviewing spelling lists or explaining fractions.

Perhaps even more importantly, babysitters should help motivate the children in their care and build their confidence with their schoolwork. Mentoring is a key part of being a babysitter.

Experience with Neurodivergent Children

Parents and guardians of neurodiverse children can sometimes struggle to find a babysitter equipped to care for their children. Whether their child is autistic, dyslexic, has ADHD or is otherwise neurodivergent, they often need an informed and adaptable babysitter. If you have positive experiences of babysitting neurodivergent children or have undertaken training on neurodivergent children’s needs, include it on your resume.

Languages

Many parents, guardians and daycare centers look for babysitters that speak multiple languages so as to help children get a headstart at school. If you have proficiency in additional languages, make sure to highlight this on your resume. Don’t forget that sign languages are also increasingly in demand.

How to Build a Babysitter Resume that Will Impress Parents

Although many babysitters find their work through word of mouth, writing a resume is a great idea. It will allow parents and guardians to quickly see how much experience you’ve had and what skills you possess. Plus, it will also enable you to apply for work in agencies and daycare centers.

Your resume should highlight your best features while being machine-readable and professionally laid out. You want to strike a careful balance between including all your key skills and experiences, and not including so much information that it becomes overwhelming. With resumes, less is often more.

Building a resume doesn’t have to be guesswork, however. Here at Rocket Resume, we have babysitter resume templates that will help you write a resume from scratch in minutes. What’s more, all our templates come with recruiter-suggested phrasing to help you impress parents and employers.

Build your resume today.