How To Land Work In Daycares, Childcares, and Preschools

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Childcare Chatboard

How To Land Work In Daycares, Childcares, and Preschools

by Elizabeth

Feb 7, 2011

I know what it's like to try and find work in the ECE field in the daycare, childcare, and preschool centers/programs. (I've been doing it myself for several years.) Teacher and Assistant Teacher positions are rarely advertised and it's not like there's a central location online where you can go to browse open positions. This means you have to be active in your search and approach potential employers on your own. But how do you do it? Where should you start? How aggressive should you be? These are just a few questions I'll be answering as I share my tips and advice for landing work in the daycare, childcare, and preschool sector.

Ready? Let's begin!...

-Determine your maximun drive time. Just how far are you willing to drive for work? 10-15 minutes? 20-25 minutes? 30- 35 minutes? 40-45 minutes? 50 or more minutes?

-Mass E-Mail potential employers. Once you determine just how far you're willing to drive for work, start sending out mass E-Mails (make sure you ...See MoreI know what it's like to try and find work in the ECE field in the daycare, childcare, and preschool centers/programs. (I've been doing it myself for several years.) Teacher and Assistant Teacher positions are rarely advertised and it's not like there's a central location online where you can go to browse open positions. This means you have to be active in your search and approach potential employers on your own. But how do you do it? Where should you start? How aggressive should you be? These are just a few questions I'll be answering as I share my tips and advice for landing work in the daycare, childcare, and preschool sector.

Ready? Let's begin!...

-Determine your maximun drive time. Just how far are you willing to drive for work? 10-15 minutes? 20-25 minutes? 30- 35 minutes? 40-45 minutes? 50 or more minutes?

-Mass E-Mail potential employers. Once you determine just how far you're willing to drive for work, start sending out mass E-Mails (make sure you use BCC) to every single potential employer within your determine drive time.

-Attach your résumé to the E-Mail and use the body of the E- Mail as your cover letter. Introduce yourself, talk about your experience, explain your qualifications, and, above all, SELL YOURSELF! Explain why you'd make a good candidate, why they should hire you or how you're uniquely different from other candidates.

-Put 'SEEKING WORK', 'SEEKING EMPLOYMENT' or the like in the subject line of the E-Mail. Be up front with potential employers. Let them know that you ARE looking.

-Mass E-Mail consistently 3 times a year. The E-Mail should go out every spring (March/April), summer (June/July), and fall (September/October). If you want to do it a 4th time, then I suggest mid winter (December/January). By being consistent, you're helping to really get your name out there.

-Be persistent with potential employers. If there's a place in particular you'd like to work, never give up trying to get in. For example: I live near the Great Lakes Naval Base where MWR is responsible for the staffing of its CDCs (child development centers) and YCs (youth centers). MWR retains applications and other employment materials for 3 months. So every 3 months, I simply re-apply.

-Consider all your options. Everyone wants to work full- time hours and many people can't afford to work anything but full-time hours. However, in a downturned economy where there are more individuals than jobs to go around, be open to working part-time hours or even subbing. More often than not, subbing will lead to permanent work and part-time work will lead to full-time work. Besides, there are employers out there who will only start out new hires on an on-call or part-time basis. So by being open, you show potential employers that you can be flexible to their needs. Employers like individuals who can be flexible and work around their needs.

Being we're in a downturned economy where there are more individuals than jobs to go around, means you also have to be competitive, especially since a lot of certified teachers who were laid off in the public and private schools are now flooding the daycare, childcare, and preschool sector hoping to maintain contact with children and still have some semblence of "teaching experience" going for them so when the economy improves they can easily return to the public and private schools and regain the pay and benefits they had before the economy got bad.

Education wise, of you have a CDA I'd consider getting an Associate's degree in ECE. If you have an Associate's degree, I'd consider getting a Bachelor's degree in ECE. If you have a Bachelor's degree, I'd consider getting a Master's in ECE. There's many great non-licensure degree programs out there and the more education you have, the better chance you stand in terms of being competative, especially against the certified teachers flooding the daycare, childcare, and preschool sector.

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