I am fortunate to work directly with business owners, senior leadership teams, hiring managers, and HR/people teams across the UK every week who are looking to hire staff for a variety of roles within childcare organisations. When I view a CV, or put this in front of a hiring manager, it will take about 30 seconds to form an opinion.

That opinion determines what happens next.

The below is meant as a guide for childcare professionals specifically - practitioners, room leaders, nursery managers, wraparound supervisors, and everyone in between. I want to help you understand exactly what makes the difference, because I see the same avoidable mistakes on CVs every single day…

Get The Basics Right

Hiring teams and managers in childcare (and most businesses) are busy and form judgements quickly. Even if the organisation has a large, dedicated recruitment team, your CV needs to make a great first impression – you cannot rely on people reading between the lines!

Anything that makes your CV harder to read is working against you.

The Personal Statement: Your Chance to Make a Great First Impression

I always look forward to reading a great personal statement. I also hate reading a poor one. And most personal statements aren’t great. Most are either too vague, too generic, or offer no insight into you.

You just need to write a few lines. Tell me who you are, what you do, and what you bring. Be specific about your level, your setting context, your area of interest, and where you want to go next.

EXAMPLE - Room Leader looking for their next step…

Experienced Level 3 Early Years Educator with 5 years’ experience working in nursery settings. Currently a Room Leader in a 60-place private day nursery, leading a team of four in the pre-school room, and supporting the management team in safeguarding and compliance responsibilities. I have a particular interest in SEND and inclusion. Looking for a Senior Room Leader, 3rd in Charge, or Deputy Manager role where I can develop my leadership skills further.

This is the type of personal statement that makes me want to read on and gives me genuine insight into their situation and will help me understand if they could be right for the role I’m advertising.

You can also add specific information that might show your suitability for the role you’re applying to. For example, if you have great transport links to the location, include this.

Work Experience: Include Detail

List your work history in reverse chronological order, with your most recent role first. For each position, include your job title, employer, location, dates, and a short description of the setting.

Add bullet points only for unique responsibilities or achievements and avoid repeating the same information for each job. The most common mistake is generic job descriptions. Being “responsible for caring for children aged 0 to 5” is not providing any useful insight.

Compare that to what you should be writing:

Those bullet points give us something to talk about. They give hiring managers confidence in your knowledge and show that you have experience in key aspects of the role.

On leadership specifically, if you haven’t held a formal leadership title, include any informal leadership responsibilities you have taken on. If you’ve mentored an apprentice, covered management when absent, contributed towards planning, or led an event or meeting - say so. Every childcare provider operates differently, and you may have been exposed to something that others in the same role elsewhere have not.

The Childcare-Specific Information EVERY CV Needs

Qualifications
List every relevant qualification with the awarding body and date. Your Level 2, 3, 4, or 5 early years qualification. Paediatric First Aid certificate (include the expiry date). Safeguarding, especially DSL training. And any specialist training: SEND, Makaton, forest school, food hygiene etc.

DBS and Right to Work in UK Status
Particularly important if you have an enhanced DBS Certificate on the Update Service (huge green flag!), if you’re not a UK citizen but have settled status or work visa, or you require sponsorship. Employers need to know whether your situation may impact their onboarding process and whether they can legally employ you. I see CVs every day that do not include this information and hiring teams will always prioritise those that do.

The mistakes that may cost you an interview:

If you would like a second opinion on your CV before you apply or want to understand how it is likely to land with childcare employers, our team is happy to help. We review CVs regularly and can give you direct, honest feedback from the perspective of the people who will actually be reading it.

Steve Brennan, Recruitment Director, Love Childcare Recruitment