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

Always negotiate with your employer before accepting tasks beyond the scope of traditional nannying and set clear boundaries and expectations in advance to avoid conflict.

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

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. Water safety training is less crucial—it’s more of an added plus, although it’s a very common certification among nannies.

There are additional 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. We’ll go into more depth about these specialized certifications later on.

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
• 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. Not all parents do this, but some might.

You should be prepared for parents to conduct a:

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

Make sure to check what information about you online is visible to the public and change your privacy settings if necessary.

Once you’ve decided to start working as a nanny, you need to start advertising your services and find families to work with. Follow the steps below 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: Works abroad as a nanny as a form of cultural exchange, usually receiving a stipend, free rent, and covered living expenses as compensation.
• 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).

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. Create a resume

Nanny resumes are different from standard corporate resumes. Your resume needs to be personal and give employers a sense of who you really are. With that said, it also needs to maintain a certain level of professionalism.

Unlike other resumes and CVs, your resume for nanny jobs should include a profile picture. Parents want to see who you are. Make sure to specify the ages of the children you’ve worked with in the past (give their ages at the time you first started as their nanny).

It’s a good idea to list the duties you performed in each role (since nanny responsibilities can vary so widely) and clarify why you left each nanny job.

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.

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

Employers may be willing to overlook your lack of experience 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

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.

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

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.

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

Checking out what other nannies in your town or city are charging will help you avoid undercharging or overcharging, both of which can betray your lack of experience in the field and make families wary about hiring you.

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.

How much do nannies earn?

According to Glassdoor, nannies in the US earn an average of $34,802 per year, with a standard salary range of $24,000–$50,000. 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.