Child care worker to au pair
A child care worker already meets 68% of what the au pair role asks for. The move turns on 3 required skills not yet in the profile.
33/ 100
1 How much of what an au pair is expected to do is already part of a child care worker’s work. Directional: the figure for the reverse move differs, because moving into a speciality is not the same problem as moving out of one. 2 Every skill the au pair role is recorded as needing, required and optional together. What these numbers mean.
Why this move works
An au pair role treats 10 of its required skills as things a child care worker already does. You would walk in with these on day one.
- assist children in developing personal skills
- assist children with homework
- attend to children's basic physical needs
- communicate with youth
- handle chemical cleaning agents
- maintain relations with children's parents
What stands in the way is 3 required skills the profile does not yet cover. Table 3 groups them; Table 4 says which to take first.
Table 2 · What you already bring
Of the 21 skills that carry over, these are the ones fewest other occupations ask for. An au pair role needs them, and most people applying for one will not have them already. This is the part of a child care worker background worth leading with.
- already held baby care health and welfare
- already held carry out wound care assisting and caring
- already held assist children with homework assisting and caring
- already held play with children assisting and caring
- already held prepare ready-made dishes assisting and caring
- already held prepare sandwiches assisting and caring
All 21 carried skills, including the 10 the au pair role treats as required.
Table 3 · What you may need to learn
The 13 missing skills fall into 4 areas of the ESCO skill hierarchy, numbered in the order worth working in. Areas carrying the most required skills come first, and inside each one the required skills sit above the optional ones. Nothing here is a verdict on you: it is a list of what this particular job asks for that your current one does not.
- still to learn entertain people required
- still to learn give constructive feedback required
- still to learn promote human rights required
- optional, not held buy groceries optional
- optional, not held demonstrate when teaching optional
- optional, not held speak different languages optional
- optional, not held feed pets optional
- optional, not held use gardening equipment optional
- optional, not held clean surfaces optional
- optional, not held iron textiles optional
- optional, not held use cooking techniques optional
- optional, not held use food preparation techniques optional
- optional, not held drive vehicles optional
Table 4 · Where to start
The 3 entries an au pair role is least likely to hire without. The ordering is computed from the skill data, not from what pays.
- 01 entertain people practise this
- 02 give constructive feedback practise this
- 03 promote human rights practise this
Each entry opens a course search for that skill. Career Overlap earns nothing from these links.
Appendix · The rest of the record
All 21 skills that carry over
- already held assist children in developing personal skills skill
- already held assist children with homework skill
- already held attend to children's basic physical needs skill
- already held communicate with youth skill
- already held handle chemical cleaning agents skill
- already held maintain relations with children's parents skill
- already held play with children skill
- already held prepare sandwiches skill
- already held supervise children skill
- already held workplace sanitation knowledge
- already held assess the development of youth skill
- already held baby care knowledge
- already held carry out wound care skill
- already held clean rooms skill
- already held common children's diseases knowledge
- already held disability care knowledge
- already held handle children's problems skill
- already held prepare ready-made dishes skill
- already held provide first aid skill
- already held support children's wellbeing skill
- already held support the positiveness of youths skill
10 supplementary skills, helpful but not required
- optional, not held buy groceries optional
- optional, not held feed pets optional
- optional, not held use cooking techniques optional
- optional, not held use food preparation techniques optional
- optional, not held use gardening equipment optional
- optional, not held clean surfaces optional
- optional, not held demonstrate when teaching optional
- optional, not held drive vehicles optional
- optional, not held iron textiles optional
- optional, not held speak different languages optional
9 held skills the au pair role does not ask for
- not needed by the target role babysitting knowledge
- not needed by the target role determine child welfare skill
- not needed by the target role pedagogy knowledge
- not needed by the target role plan youth activities skill
- not needed by the target role relate empathetically skill
- not needed by the target role social development knowledge
- not needed by the target role support traumatised children skill
- not needed by the target role tolerate stress skill
- not needed by the target role work in a multicultural environment in health care skill
Common questions about this move
Can a child care worker become an au pair?
Yes, and it is a moderate move. A child care worker already covers 68% of what an au pair is expected to do: 21 skills carry over, 10 of which the au pair role treats as required.
What skills does a child care worker need to become an au pair?
3 required skills are missing, plus 10 optional ones. They fall into 4 areas of the ESCO skill hierarchy, led by communication, collaboration and creativity. The single most important is entertain people.
How hard is the move from child care worker to au pair?
Its learning distance is 33 out of 100, which is the moderate band. That accounts for both how much is missing and how specialised those skills are.
How this record was compiled
Both occupations are taken from ESCO, which lists the skills and knowledge each occupation is expected to have and marks every one required or optional. Nothing here is a prediction about hiring, and nothing here knows that a particular employer wants a particular certificate. Treat Table 3 as a starting point for your own research rather than a syllabus. The full method states what these figures can and cannot tell you.