Applicants often seem to think that having a lot of experience with children is enough to be considered for a nanny job or to land a nanny position, and they often exaggerate their experience to impress recruiters and to try to increase their chances of getting a job.
When creating their profile on our portal, or when they want to register with an agency, candidates often introduce themselves by saying things like: “I am 24 years old and I have more than 15 years of experience” or “I started in childcare at 8 years old”. Once we even had a candidate who explained that she had started her career as a nanny at the age of 5!
It’s difficult to take your application seriously when you claim to have experience that you can’t have.
We don’t want to disrespect anyone here, but let’s face it: when you’re in your 20s, technically it’s not always really possible to have 10, 15 or 20 years of experience… It’s okay not to have a lot of experience, it’s even normal when you’re young… The important thing is to be honest about it
When stating your number of years of experience, you must be accurate and you must consider only your professional experience, i.e. paid experience acquired after the age of 18, and you should not take into account your personal experience with your family, or your acquaintances for example.
It’s not just young candidates who exaggerate their experience. For example, many candidates claim to have more than 10, 15, or 20 years of experience, and in fact, when you add up all their experience, it amounts to half that time.
Yes, experience is important of course, but that’s not the only thing that counts, and exaggerating your experience is useless. On the contrary, it can even be detrimental to you.
If you want to make a good impression, simply make sure that you are honest about how much experience you have within the industry!