What does a Childcare Worker do?

Attend to children at schools, businesses, private households, and childcare institutions. Day to day that includes work like maintain a safe play environment and Observe and monitor children's play activities.

What skills should a Childcare Worker put on a resume?

O*NET rates Monitoring, Service Orientation, Social Perceptiveness, Active Listening, and Coordination among the most important skills for this occupation. Name the ones that are genuinely yours and show where you used them. A resume that lists skills you do not have is weaker than one that lists fewer.

What software should a Childcare Worker list?

Software recorded for this occupation includes Educational software, Google Classroom, Microsoft Office software, Microsoft Word, and Nearpod. Applicant tracking systems match on the exact product name, so write the tool as the posting writes it rather than describing it in general terms.

What other job titles cover Childcare Worker work?

O*NET records 40 titles for this occupation, including Child Care Worker, Childcare Provider, Infant Teacher, and Toddler Teacher. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.

What qualifications does a Childcare Worker need?

In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 39% reported their level of education as "High School Diploma, or the equivalent". That is what current postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.

Will this resume pass an ATS for a Childcare Worker role?

No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer's system is configured, including ours. What you can control is that the resume parses cleanly, names the work in the words the posting uses, and does not claim anything you cannot back up.

Childcare Worker resume example

A resume for a Childcare Worker needs to show the work itself: attend to children at schools, businesses, private households, and childcare institutions. Day to day that means work like this: maintain a safe play environment; observe and monitor children's play activities. Recruiters and applicant tracking systems both read for the tasks and tools this role actually involves, so the strongest resume names them in your own experience rather than describing the job in the abstract. Below are the tasks O*NET records for this occupation, the software and tools it uses, the titles it is advertised under, and the skills worth naming if they are genuinely yours.

Also advertised as

The same job is posted under many titles. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.

Child Care Worker
Childcare Provider
Infant Teacher
Toddler Teacher
Caregiver
Child Caregiver
Daycare Teacher
Daycare Worker
After School Coordinator
After School Counselor
Attendant
Baby Attendant
Baby Sitter
Before and After School Daycare Worker
Boarding Mother
Child Attendant
Child Care Aide
Child Care Assistant

O*NET records 40 titles for this occupation in total.

What this work actually involves

Tasks recorded for this occupation, in O*NET's words. If your experience covers one of these, it belongs on your resume in your own words.

Maintain a safe play environment.
Observe and monitor children's play activities.
Communicate with children's parents or guardians about daily activities, behaviors, and related issues.
Support children's emotional and social development, encouraging understanding of others and positive self-concepts.
Care for children in institutional setting, such as group homes, nursery schools, private businesses, or schools for people with disabilities.
Sanitize toys and play equipment.
Dress children and change diapers.
Keep records on individual children, including daily observations and information about activities, meals served, and medications administered.
Identify signs of emotional or developmental problems in children and bring them to parents' or guardians' attention.
Instruct children in health and personal habits, such as eating, resting, and toilet habits.
Organize and store toys and materials to ensure order in activity areas.
Perform general administrative tasks, such as taking attendance, editing internal paperwork, and making phone calls.

24 tasks are recorded in total; these are the most central.

Example bullets for this role

Built from this occupation's own tasks. The brackets stay empty on purpose: we will not invent a number for you, and a fabricated metric is the fastest way to lose an interview you had already won.

Maintain a safe play environment, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Observe and monitor children's play activities, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Communicate with children's parents or guardians about daily activities, behaviors, and related issues, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Support children's emotional and social development, encouraging understanding of others and positive self-concepts, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].

Software used in this role

Recorded for this occupation by O*NET. An applicant tracking system matches the exact product name, so write the tool the way the posting writes it.

Educational software
Google Classroom
Microsoft Office software
Microsoft Word
Nearpod
Scheduling software
Schoology
Seesaw
Tadpoles
Web browser software

Tools and equipment

The physical equipment this occupation is recorded as using. Worth naming when a posting asks for it by name.

Alarms
Baby bottles
Child car safety seats
Climbing structures
Desktop computers
Dryers
Educational toys
Emergency first aid kits
Fire extingushers
Kitchen stoves
Laptop computers
Medicine dosing syringes

What this job rates as most important

O*NET rates every skill for importance to this occupation. These are the highest rated, in order.

01Monitoring
02Service Orientation
03Social Perceptiveness
04Active Listening
05Coordination
06Critical Thinking
07Speaking
08Active Learning
09Complex Problem Solving
10Instructing

Knowledge areas

The subject knowledge this occupation draws on, rated by importance.

Customer and Personal Service
English Language
Education and Training
Public Safety and Security
Psychology

What qualifications people in this job have

From O*NET's survey of people doing this work. This is what postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.

39%High School Diploma, or the equivalent
23%Associate's Degree
14%Less than a High School Diploma

What level this role is pitched at

O*NET places this occupation in “Some Preparation Needed”. These occupations usually require a high school diploma.

Some previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is usually needed. For example, a teller would benefit from experience working directly with the public.

Common questions

What does a Childcare Worker do?: Attend to children at schools, businesses, private households, and childcare institutions. Day to day that includes work like maintain a safe play environment and Observe and monitor children's play activities.
What skills should a Childcare Worker put on a resume?: O*NET rates Monitoring, Service Orientation, Social Perceptiveness, Active Listening, and Coordination among the most important skills for this occupation. Name the ones that are genuinely yours and show where you used them. A resume that lists skills you do not have is weaker than one that lists fewer.
What software should a Childcare Worker list?: Software recorded for this occupation includes Educational software, Google Classroom, Microsoft Office software, Microsoft Word, and Nearpod. Applicant tracking systems match on the exact product name, so write the tool as the posting writes it rather than describing it in general terms.
What other job titles cover Childcare Worker work?: O*NET records 40 titles for this occupation, including Child Care Worker, Childcare Provider, Infant Teacher, and Toddler Teacher. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.
What qualifications does a Childcare Worker need?: In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 39% reported their level of education as "High School Diploma, or the equivalent". That is what current postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.
Will this resume pass an ATS for a Childcare Worker role?: No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer's system is configured, including ours. What you can control is that the resume parses cleanly, names the work in the words the posting uses, and does not claim anything you cannot back up.

Related roles

Occupations O*NET records as closest to this one, and worth looking at if this search is not moving.

What this page cannot tell you

No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer’s ATS is configured, including ours.
This page makes no claim about pay, demand or how many people hold this job. O*NET does not publish that here and we will not estimate it.
Keyword overlap is one input to a resume’s score, not a verdict on you. A resume that names skills you do not have is worse than one that names fewer.

If this is the job you are aiming at, the guide to tailoring a resume covers how to aim one posting properly, and building and exporting a resume here is free.

Occupation data from the O*NET 29.1 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under CC BY 4.0. O*NET is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. SpartanResume is not endorsed by USDOL/ETA.