When you are looking for nanny jobs abroad, there are plenty of ways to help yourself stand out. From choosing the right nanny agency to promote you to prospective employers to ensuring that you have the skills to teach English as a second language, there will be many ways to make sure you are as appealing as possible to the very best families across the world, and with the right skills and knowledge even a rookie could appear far more attractive than a nanny with many years of experience.
Once you have chosen the right nanny agency, you will need to make sure that you know what families are looking for in a nanny. This may well vary somewhat from country to country and therefore it will be well worth doing a little bit of research into the things that most appeal to families in the geographical location that most interests you.
In countries such as Russia, for instance, one of the most prominent reasons for hiring foreign nannies is to ensure that children are brought up to speak fluent English and, therefore, in interviews it may well be worth stressing just how keen you are to help children learn, and just how much focus you will put on developing their linguistic abilities. Of course, taking TEFL courses will often help, and speaking with your chosen agency will no doubt allow you to find out the best way to get such a qualification.
When it comes to interviews, research will also be very important. Knowing in advance which questions are likely to be asked and ensuring that you prepare an appealing answer will be very important, and whilst you will want to be truthful in such interviews it is also wise to make sure that you answer questions in a way that will most please your prospective employers. If you have been a nanny before, think about your past jobs and ensure you can give good reasons why you left previous employment or any reasons why you may have been forced to leave. For example, if a family you have worked for in the past was moving to a location that was not right for you this may well be okay, and explaining such situations in detail will allow you to not only clear up any concerns, but also to put across a sense of your integrity too.
In interviews it is important to be positive. When asked about problematic jobs you have taken, rather than dwelling on specifics you may well wish to explain that all jobs have been different and any challenges have simply allowed you to become better at your job. Those who have not had past experience as a nanny may wish to think of times in which they were forced to take control of situations and times in which they have been in charge of younger children and how they dealt with any challenging circumstances.
The best way to appeal to families as a nanny will be to choose the right international nanny agency, understand what families in certain regions are looking for and to be very well prepared for the questions that such families are likely to ask.