How to Become a Nanny

Nannies provide childcare services, often on a consistent, long-term basis. They may also provide caretaking services outside the home, take on domestic duties, and assist in a child’s education or skills development.

In contrast to a babysitter, who is generally only responsible for watching children for a few hours at a time, a nanny often has more comprehensive duties and obligations and is more involved in the children’s lives.

As a nanny, you won’t just be expected to look after a child—you’ll also need to add value to their lives and fulfill some of the roles of a parent or guardian.

Job responsibilities

As a professional nanny, you may be expected to perform any of the following tasks for the children you’re caring for:

• Preparing meals
• Providing emotional support
• Providing transportation to school, extracurricular events, and other activities
• Planning activities
• Cleaning up any messes made during the nannying period
• Coordinating and/or supervising playdates
• Disciplining children
• Helping with homework

Your role and responsibilities as a nanny may vary widely from one family to the next. For this reason, it’s important to communicate with your employer about their expectations before you accept a nanny job.

Negotiable tasks

In most cases, your duties as a nanny will be limited to the ones listed above. However, you have the option to expand beyond traditional nanny tasks by:

• Cooking for the whole family
• Doing housekeeping tasks unrelated to childcare
• Cleaning up after the parents (including by doing laundry)
• Taking care of family pets
• Supervising other children outside the family
• Running errands
• Shopping

We spoke to Danny Rosenthal, president of United Nanny Agency, and asked him about the most unusual responsibilities he has been given during his time as a nanny. He said he had planned and hosted birthday parties, taught piano lessons, and coordinated all sorts of household appointments, including home carpet cleaning and plumbing.

He even traveled to Europe with one family and stayed in London with the kids for a week while the parents went back to the states. None of these are traditional nannying responsibilities, and they’re good examples of tasks you should negotiate with your employer beforehand.

Nannying doesn’t have universal requirements. However, possessing a few basic skills and qualifications that are relevant to the role can make it much easier to find nannying jobs.

Educational requirements

There are no formal educational requirements for being a nanny. However, many parents will look at your academic background when assessing you as a candidate. If they want someone to tutor their children, they may choose a nanny who has a degree in a field they’d like them to succeed in.

That said, if you’re a college student working toward a degree or you’ve got no higher education qualifications at all, don’t worry—there are plenty of other ways to land work.

Training and certifications

Although certifications aren’t legally required for nannying in any state and you can theoretically get a nannying job without them, any experienced nanny will tell you that there are a couple of basic certifications you’ll need if you want to stand a chance against the competition:

• Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)
• First aid
• Water safety
• Food safety

The first two are essential. Many parents will expect you to have undergone CPR and first aid training and won’t even consider your application if you haven’t.

Rosenthal agreed that they’re “a must.” However, he also added that many agencies, including the one that he runs, will pay for a candidate to get their certificate when placing them with a family.

Food and water safety training are less crucial—they’re more of an added plus, although they’re very common certifications among nannies. There are also other certifications you can get, depending on whether you want to specialize in a particular type of nannying (e.g., newborn or special needs care) or just increase your earning potential.

Skills and characteristics

Parents won’t just care about your qualifications on paper. You’ll play a big role in their child’s life and development, so who you are on a personal level is important as a nanny—much more so than in many other occupations.

Here are some of the core traits and skills parents hope to see in a new nanny:

• Love of children (and the job)
• Patience
• Safety knowledge and awareness
• Communication skills
• Trustworthiness and reliability
• Professionalism and ability to set boundaries
• Integrity and strong moral values
• Good manners
• Ability to keep calm during emergencies
• Cooking or baking and nutritional knowledge
• Sense of humor
• Organizational and time management skills

All this is to say that as a nanny, you’ll be given a huge amount of trust and responsibility. Showing that you’re worthy is essential for becoming a successful child caregiver.

Background screening

Because of the sensitive nature of employment as a nanny, there’s a chance potential employers will run a background check or look into your professional or personal track record to make sure you’re a safe choice. However, it depends on who you’re applying to.

According to Rosenthal, many families searching for a nanny on their own won’t think of getting an official screening. On the other hand, nearly every placement agency will use a screening company to run a background check on prospective nannies.

You should be prepared for the following types of checks:

• Criminal record check
• Employment reference check
• Online presence and social media screening

Make sure to vet the information about you that is visible to the public online, and change your privacy settings if necessary.

As long as you meet the base requirements for professional nanny work, the rest of the process of becoming a nanny is pretty straightforward. You’ll just need to complete three simple steps to start your nannying career.

1. Choose a specialty

This step is optional. You don’t necessarily need to choose a specialty—you can easily market yourself as a general nanny capable of caring for children of any age group.

However, specializing can help you distinguish yourself from the competition, develop targeted skills, and find jobs more suited to your background and career interests.

Below are a few of the main types of nannying you can do:

• Newborn or maternal nanny: Cares for very young infants and usually has special training or a certification in newborn care.
• Special needs nanny: Provides specialized care for children with physical, mental, or developmental disabilities.
• Travel nanny: Accompanies families on vacation and provides childcare during short trips, which could range from a few days to a few weeks or even months.
• Au pair: Provides childcare services abroad. Au pairs care for children as a form of cultural exchange, usually receiving a stipend, free rent, and covered living expenses as compensation. Although they’re not technically nannies, they have similar duties.
• Family assistant: Performs childcare tasks in addition to certain duties typically carried out by a domestic worker, such as cleaning the house, scheduling appointments, planning parties and events, shopping, cooking and preparing meals for the whole family, and running errands (e.g., picking up dry cleaning or mailing packages).
• Live-in nanny: Lives in the same household as the children they’re caring for, usually with their own separate living space. Oftentimes, wages are lower because rent, meals, and other living expenses are included as compensation.
• Short-term or temporary nanny: Provides childcare on a temporary basis, often during school breaks. Sometimes referred to as “summer nannying,” this is a particularly good short-term side hustle for teachers (and college students). Nannies may also work in rotation (with rotational nannies often referred to as “ROTAs”) or with multiple families.
• Mother’s helper: These are typically young people—often teenagers too young to be nannies—who help parents with various childcare and household tasks. Their role is different from a nanny’s in that they’re not primary caregivers, and they usually work under the direct supervision of the parent, providing backup and assistance.

Before applying for a particular type of nannying position, make sure you fully understand the responsibilities and what specialized training or certifications are required (if any).

2. Compile job application materials

These may include:

• A resume
• References
• Copies of certifications
• Letters of recommendation
• Cover letters (or a template to help you write these in the next step)

Rosenthal also suggested creating a “portfolio” to show off the ways you stand out as a nanny. He suggested a list of favorite activities or books, for example. “It can be anything to show off your nanny personality,” he said.

Writing a nannying resume

Nanny resumes are similar to standard corporate resumes (featuring your education, skills, previous employment, etc.). However, your nannying resume needs to be personal and give employers a sense of who you really are while maintaining a certain level of professionalism.

It’s a good idea to list the duties you performed in each of your previous roles (since nanny responsibilities can vary so widely) and clarify why you left each nanny job. Make sure to specify the ages of the children you’ve worked with in the past, which should be their ages at the time you first started as their nanny.

You don’t need to include a photo of yourself

Rosenthal advised against having a photo in your resume—partly for the benefit of the families you apply to. “Unfortunately, photos lead families to unknowingly discriminate as families are not companies and are unaware they need to follow employment laws,” he said.

3. Start applying for nannying jobs

There are a few different ways to get nanny jobs. Each route has its own advantages and disadvantages.

Here are the main ways:

• Create profiles on nanny websites: Register for popular nanny websites like Care.com or SitterCity. Once you’ve set up an account, parents in your area will be able to see your profile when looking for a new nanny.
• Join an agency: When you sign up with a nanny agency, they’ll connect you with local families that need nanny services. Search on Google for nanny agencies in your area.
• Respond to job ads: Search for jobs yourself on local job boards and websites like Craigslist. Reach out to families that seem like a good fit.
• Post ads for your services: Market yourself by posting fliers at your local community center or library or posting ads for your nanny services on websites or social media platforms.

You don’t have to pick just one of these options. To cast a large net, you can combine passive and active job-seeking methods. Creating profiles on nanny websites is one of the most standard approaches, and even Rosenthal’s agency asks candidates to build a profile on their platform rather than submit a resume during the application process.

“A candidate may want to share a bio, photo, video introduction, professional childcare experience, references, education background, special skills, ages of children they’ve worked with, and years of experience,” he said. The agency then asks nannies to share what they are looking for in a position and what they think is the hardest part about nannying.

Every nanny has to start somewhere. If you’ve got no work experience, you can still impress parents and build up a decent reputation over time by following a few pieces of expert advice.

Consider getting a specialized certification

As mentioned, you don’t need any official certifications or qualifications to become a nanny. However, if you’re very inexperienced, you might convince employers to overlook this deficit if you’ve completed special training to provide a particular type of childcare. A niche certification will show that you’re dedicated and focused, and it’ll make you stand out from the competition.

Here are a few examples of types of specialized childcare you can get certified for:

• Newborn care
• Early childhood education
• Special needs care
• Youth fitness specialist
• Children’s nutritionist
• Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) risk reduction training
• Sleep training
• Potty training
• Lactation specialist

Getting one of these certifications is a great move if you eventually want to turn nannying into a full-time career and you have a clear idea of what types of care you want to provide. It can also open the door to more job opportunities and higher pay.

General certifications to boost your income

If you don’t want to specialize, you can also get the following general-purpose nanny certifications:

• Professional Nanny and Childcare Provider (PNCP) certification by the US Nanny Association
• Nanny Basic Skills Assessment certification by the International Nanny Association (INA)

These qualifications will demonstrate that you’re serious about being a nanny and that you’ve invested a lot of time and energy toward developing your childcare skills.

With that said, none of these qualifications are essential. Rosenthal was able to succeed with minimal qualifications. “My official childcare qualifications are extremely limited,” he said. “I succeeded by presenting myself as extremely professional, which really helps families infer how responsible, thoughtful, and organized you are.”

Highlight relevant work experience

Just because you don’t have nannying experience doesn’t mean you don’t have relevant professional experience. You may have picked up transferable skills without even realizing.

These jobs can all demonstrate your suitability for working as a nanny:

• Caretaking
• Babysitting
• Teaching or tutoring
• Coaching
• Working as a camp counselor
• Volunteer work

Rosenthal said that his experience as a camp counselor helped his nannying career enormously. “My first resume boasted my past professional childcare experience being a Circus Camp counselor for 14 years, working my way up to camp director,” he said.

He also used his camp counselor connections to help with his other job application documents. He reached out to the parents of past campers, former camp staff, and camp administrators to write letters of recommendations and serve as his references, which he found helpful.

To show your suitability for a nannying role, the key is how you frame your past work experience. Emphasize any work you’ve ever done with children and find ways to show that the experience will make you a good nanny.

Showcase special skills and knowledge

While childcare skills are certainly important to a nanny career, they’re not the only skills that parents value. To make yourself a more attractive candidate, you should also emphasize the knowledge and skills you can pass on to the children you’re caring for.

Educational background

While there are certain degrees that have obvious relevance to a career as a nanny, such as a bachelor’s or master’s degree in early childhood education or psychology, possessing any type of strong academic credentials can be an advantage.

The key is showing potential employers how you can use your knowledge to educate their children or enrich their lives. If you’ve got an art degree, show how you can unlock their child’s creativity. If you studied science, explain that you can help their child develop the foundational knowledge for a lucrative career in a STEM field.

Special skills

Think about skills you have that took a long time to develop. If you received any private lessons, coaching, or mentoring when you were a kid, odds are that you have valuable skills that other parents would love for you to pass on to their children.

Rosenthal agreed that unique skills like these are a good selling point. “Sharing personal passions and interests are a great way for candidates to outshine and stand out from others vying for a nanny position,” he said.

All of the following skills are particularly marketable for aspiring nannies:

• Languages: Many parents love the idea of having a nanny who can teach their little ones a new language while they’re not in school. Make sure to mention any and all languages you speak on your resume.
• Sports: Some parents want an active nanny who can play sports with their children. Capitalize on any skills you have in terms of team or individual sports, outdoor activities, or martial arts.
• Music: Can you sing or play an instrument at a high level? If so, you could be the ideal nanny for a young child who dreams of one day becoming a musician.
• Art: Creative activities are important for a child’s development, and they can even serve a therapeutic role. For this reason, art skills can be a definite asset for a nanny.
• Dancing: If you have experience with any type of dancing (e.g., ballet or tap dancing), you can market that skill by offering to give dance lessons to the children you’re caring for.

It goes without saying that you should be able to demonstrate any skills you claim to have. You should also be prepared to play an instructional role for the children you’re placed in charge of.

Research rates in your area

Check out what other nannies in your town or city are charging to get an idea of how to set your rates. Rosenthal explained that it’s important to avoid undercharging or overcharging, as doing this can betray your lack of experience in the field and make families wary about hiring you.

“This is the number one way to tell if you are a professional or not. Those new to the industry never understand how much to charge,” he said. “Even first-time families will figure out if you are charging too low or too high when they interview numerous candidates.”

When setting your own rates based on competitors in the field, make sure you look at nannies who have similar qualifications, experience, and skills so you don’t end up selling yourself short. And never take less than the minimum wage in your local area.

How much do nannies earn?

According to ZipRecruiter, full-time nannies in the US earn an average of $25 per hour, with most earning somewhere in the range of $10.82–$39.66 hourly. 1

However, the exact amount you can earn as a nanny depends on factors like your experience level, certifications, the type of contract you have (e.g., live-in vs. live-out nanny), and where you’re based.

Rosenthal emphasized that “The work of a nanny is extremely difficult.” The rule of thumb, he said, is that the more you get paid, the more time you give up in your own personal life. Although nanny work can be incredibly satisfying and lucrative, this is something worth considering before you dive into the line of work.