Nanny or housekeeper: how to present your experience without formal qualifications

You have looked after children, cleaned a home or helped a family for several months, but you have no qualification to put on a CV. You can still describe your skills precisely. Start by explaining your actual duties, how often you performed them and the responsibilities you really held.

Informal work, responsibilities in your own household and help given to relatives can demonstrate useful skills. Make the context clear: family support, paid work or occasional assignments. The examples below are fictional and should be adapted to your own background.

1. Take stock of your actual experience

Use a sheet of paper or your phone’s notes. For each period, record who you helped, the arrangement, how long it lasted, how often you worked and what you did. If you cannot remember the exact month, give an approximate period rather than inventing a date.

• Childcare: the number and ages of children, preparing their belongings, play activities, following routines and meals according to parents’ instructions.
• Housekeeping: rooms cleaned, dishes, laundry, ironing, tidying and equipment you have actually used.
• Organisation: schedules, shopping lists, updates to the family and reporting when supplies run low.

Do more than write “reliable and hardworking”. Think of a situation that helps explain those qualities.

A precise description: “For six months, I helped my aunt look after her two children, aged 4 and 7, two afternoons a week: play activities, preparing their belongings and tidying their space. This was unpaid family support.”

2. Turn duties into understandable skills

Describe a concrete action and its context. You do not need impressive numbers or promises you cannot substantiate.

• “I do cleaning” becomes “Regular cleaning of floors, the kitchen and bathroom in a three-room home, following the family’s instructions”.
• “I look after children” becomes “Occasional care for two children aged 5 and 8, including quiet activities and updates to parents about the day”.
• “I am organised” becomes “Planning laundry, ironing and cleaning across the week using a task list”.

Explain your limits: “I can use an iron, but I need guidance with this cleaning machine.” A task you have never performed should not appear as an established skill. Do not present yourself as a healthcare professional or an early childhood specialist without the relevant training.

Illustrative stock photo: Anna Shvets, Pexels. The person pictured is not presented as an applicant or an employed nanny.

3. Prepare a one-page experience profile

A readable page can help you explain your background even if you have never had a written contract. Include your name, a contact number, your town or general neighbourhood, the role you want and your actual availability. You do not need to include your precise address, an identity document number or identifying information about children you have cared for.

Fictional example to adapt
First name SURNAME — Non-live-in housekeeper
Town: Douala — Phone: [your number]
Availability: [actual days and hours]

Experience
2024–2025 — Domestic cleaning for a private household, paid part-time work, two mornings a week.
• Cleaning floors, the kitchen and bathrooms.
• Laundry and ironing with the household’s equipment.
• Organising tasks around agreed priorities.

Other experience
2023 — Unpaid family support: occasional care for a 6-year-old during school holidays.

Skills and languages
[Tasks you can perform] — [languages you actually speak and your level].
Reference available with the person’s permission.

For education, describe your background honestly: “Attended school up to [class], no qualification obtained”, if that matches your situation. Include only training you actually completed. Do not turn learning within a family into a certificate.

4. Gather evidence while respecting privacy

A former household or someone you have helped may be able to describe your work. Ask permission before sharing their name and phone number with an employer. If you have no professional referee, explain your relationship: “a relative I regularly helped”.

Asking for a reference: “Hello, I am preparing an application for a housekeeping role. Would you be willing to confirm the tasks I performed for you and the period involved? May I share your phone number with an employer who requests a reference?”

Photos are not essential. If you show an example of tidying or cleaning, use a space you have permission to photograph and share. Avoid children’s faces, documents, personal belongings and details that identify a home. Do not publish private conversations as proof of your reliability.

5. Adapt your application to the vacancy

Read the duties carefully. Choose two or three relevant experiences, then explain what you can do and what you still need to learn. A clear application does not remove a qualification or training requirement stated in a vacancy: do not claim to meet it if you do not.

Application message: “Hello, I am contacting you about your housekeeping vacancy on Kamerjob. I have one year of paid part-time experience cleaning a private home: floors, kitchen, bathrooms, laundry and ironing. I do not have a qualification in this field. I can explain how I organise the work and provide a reference with their permission. I am available [days/hours] in [town]. Is the role still available?”

Replace the durations and tasks with your own. For a nanny role, mention the ages of children you have cared for and the context of that experience, without identifying them.

6. Prepare a 30-second introduction

If writing is difficult, ask someone you trust to help prepare your profile. Read it back, or have it read aloud, to check every detail. Practise describing your background simply.

Example: “My name is [first name]. I cleaned a private home two mornings a week for a year. I handled floors, the kitchen and laundry, following a list of priorities. I also have childcare experience within my family. I am looking for a non-live-in housekeeping role in [town] and would like to understand your expectations.”

Prepare an example of an unexpected situation too: a task you could not finish, an instruction you needed to clarify or a missing cleaning product. Explain what you did without inventing a success or revealing a family’s private life.

Before sending your application, check dates, duties, availability and your referees’ permission. Then browse vacancies on Kamerjob and tailor your introduction to the role.

Read also: questions to ask before accepting a nanny or housekeeping job and writing a CV without qualifications or formal experience.

Stock photographs: William Fortunato (cover) and Anna Shvets, via Pexels.

The Kamerjob team