Writing A Resume When You're New To The Field Of Childcare

[kyllemae]

Hello Everyone!

I'm hoping there are a few of us out there who are currently studying or have just finished studying their Certificate III in Early Childhood E&C, who are also complete newbies to the field and can help me with my dilemma My question is, if you wish to look for work right when you start the certificate and want to upload resume/cover letters to recruitment sites, drop them off at potential centres or respond to positions you find available online, how do you write that all important resume and cover letter when you have no prior experience except for the passion to work with children and currently studying your certificate III?

As a mature-age student, I have a lot of life experience and plenty of skills I've used successfully in other careers (and life!) that I can apply to my new career in childcare, should I focus on those? Does anyone know of a resume/cover letter template I can read somewhere online to start me in the right direction?

Thank you!!

[Lorina]

Yes, I would recommend that you add skills that you believe that benefit you while working in the childcare industry. If you also have started work placement at a centre you could also include the tasks you were responsible for as part as your duties in your resume itself for "experiences".

,
Lorina

[Lorina]

If you have MS Word you can use a template from there itself... However if not basically your resume will have different headings and then under those headings you write information about yourself and your work experience. So at the top, you have your name, your contact details, email etc. Then you could probably have the following:

Qualifications - you could mention you are currently studying a cert 3 qualification.

Work Experience - here you could add your previous job experiences starting from the most recent. Add your position, the name of the company the date you started and finished, you should also add your key responsibilities. I know that there may be a lot to choose from but choose the ones that stand out.

Skills and Interests - here you could mention any skills you have such as speaking, reading or writing in another language etc. This should only be brief and only put the ones that could benefit you for this position.

Hope this gives you an idea to get started,

,
Lorina

[kyllemae]

Lorina, thanks again!! Such great information! I visited the careerone website you suggested and actually found a sample resume and cover letter when submitting for an early childhood position as well as samples for someone applying for a position when they don't have any prior work experience. I'm hopeful that after looking over all of those I can come up with something that works for me! You have been more than helpful Lorina, thank you!

[Lorina]

You're welcome!

Great to hear that you found some samples! It really helps when you have something to refer to.

Good Luck in finding a position and I'm here to help if needed!

,
Lorina