Do you want to advance and continue your studies or find a job 💼 ? We give you the keys to help you highlight the fact that you were an au pair abroad 🌎.
How do you add the au pair experience to your resume?
Before you even start, you need to think about what you’re going to write. Our first advice is that you should always make your resume 📄 adapted to the situation. I mean, if you want to get a job as a seasonal waiter, for example, writing that you are bilingual in a language 🗣️ is something to emphasize, while having done an internship in compatibility is less so.
Write down the aim of your au pair stay
When you decided to leave as an au pair, it was probably for a reason: to learn a new language, to discover a different culture, to gain experience in childcare, etc. It can be interesting for your future employer to know why you decided to become an au pair. It shows that you are determined to achieve your goal.
Do not hesitate to specify whether you managed to achieve it and by what means or why you failed. ⚠️ Don’t be embarrassed to say that you failed because knowing how to step back and determine the causes of failure is a useful skill in the professional world.
👉 Read our article “5 reasons why you should become an au pair”.
Be specific in describing your experience
Always remember that your CV has to fit the situation, the job, or the school you are applying to 📘 so you may have to keep some things short and others detailed. So you may need to keep some things short and others detailed. We recommend describing:
- The duration of your stay, as well as the daily tasks you will be doing.
- The family situation (single parent, nuclear, number of children and their ages, etc.)
- If you were taking language courses outside your working hours.
Here is an example ⬆️ we have the duration, the family situation, as well as the au pair’s assignments and the goal of the au pair experience. It lacks precision, but that is probably the purpose of the CV. In order to adapt to the role you are applying for, it might be interesting for you not to elaborate too much. Then, that gives your interviewer the opportunity to ask you questions about it.
However, detailing your experience abroad helps to justify your skills 💪.
List the skills developed or acquired thanks to your au pair experience
During your au pair experience, you have certainly acquired some skills. It is the transferable skills (those that you can use in the workplace) that interest your future boss. Furthermore, having properly detailed your experiences will make it easier for you to demonstrate how you developed or acquired them.
For example, looking after children, managing the house, taking university courses, visiting the country or other things justify your organizational skills 📅 and how you prioritize.
Butrfly tip: don’t hesitate to say in your interview which skills you want to develop further, how and why.
Why should you emphasize your au pair experience?
Even if you don’t realize it yet, your experience abroad has given you a lot as a person, and this will give you an advantage over others in the future.
5 reasons why your au pair experience will be appreciated by your future employer
- Fluent language
Obviously, being bilingual or fluent is interesting for your future manager. Then, if you haven’t already done so, consider taking a test to prove your level (TCF, DELF or whatever).
- Adaptability
Without realizing it, you have developed this skill by stepping out of your comfort zone, by mixing for X amount of time with another culture, by radically changing your way of life, you have acquired this ability. It’s a real asset in the working world.
- Maturity
Another quality that employers like in their employees is that they are mature. Going au pair means becoming more responsible, independent and growing up much faster with new responsibilities to manage.
- Ability to build relationships
Being on your own in a new country means starting from scratch and making friends. Being an au pair also means strengthening your ability to build relationships with people from a different culture. It also shows your ability to live in a multicultural environment.
- Problem-solving skills
Life as an au pair is not all rosy, especially at the beginning. You had to face challenges that you had never dealt with before, especially in a foreign language. Solving these problems has potentially made you a person who analyses the situation and makes well-considered and effective decisions.
Updating your online profile
If you have a LinkedIn profile, now is the time to update it. The same goes for your Indeed or other profile. It is not uncommon for schools, but especially employers, to look at the profile of candidates who apply. In order to get external offers, you can also think about using relevant keywords to gain visibility.
Butrfly tip: when you create your profile, you can put a link to your LinkedIn profile where you give more details of your previous experience.
