5 Reasons Why being a Nanny is an Excellent Career Foundation
Negotiation Skills
Anybody who has had to negotiate a three-year-old out of a tantrum will know that it can make the G8 summit look like a walk in the park. No seriously. As a nanny not only will you have to negotiate your days off, job perks and the petty cash for your charges, but also how to convince the little ones that greens are the new sweets.
Whether you develop your future career upward into a management role in childcare or whether you take your skills with you into an entirely new sphere, those nannies that have experienced the world of daily negotiation can potentially become excellent sales and marketing executives, lawyers or mediators.
Flexibility
Being a nanny means being available. Changes in working hours can happen overnight. Most full-time nannies also go on holiday with their charges and employers and may need to change their personal plans last minute because of changes in the family.
This kind of flexibility shows an ability to adapt and grow, and is an exceptionally valuable trait in most professions that require progression.
Employers, particularly in environments where there is rapid growth and change truly value people with the capacity to manage change without copious amounts of fallout. Having been a nanny for several years will certainly illustrate this valuable asset that you bring to the table.
Taking orders diplomatically
Nannies have to be able to take instructions, even ones they don’t like. Combining this with the diplomacy of the first skill mentioned above, negotiation, you will have a very powerful set of skills. Being able to take orders, negotiate and advise at the same time, makes an excellent face of the business staff opportunity and future employers won’t miss this.
Confidentiality
Nannies are often the gatekeepers for the privacy of the families they care for. How well you do this, both by not spilling the beans about what really goes on in your employer’s household or by what you find out about their working lives, will build you a reputation of trustworthiness that is akin to golden goose in todays world. Whether you are climbing the ladder to become a celebrity nanny or aiming to move into the world of finance or law, this single trait will make you a star choice.
Leadership
Looking after children means having to make decisions all the time. Many of those decisions are split second and have to be calm and rational. These decisions also impact on the wellbeing of others, not simply the children in your care, but also your employers and others around you. A CV illustrating a successful career as a nanny shows your ability to manage people both children and adults, situations both domestic and business and a combination of the other traits make you perfect as a candidate into almost any other industry.
Training as a nanny could well be the first step on the ladder to greatness you could never have imagined. Get trained now. HATA provides training and placement services for nannies and childcarers in the UK, and also for Nannies coming to the UK from abroad.
