Cavan County Childcare Committee

Applying for a job.

Keep an eye out for job advertisements and in the classified sections in the local papers, this website, other websites such as www.childcare.ie and www.rollercoaster.ie, www.activelink.ie/community-exchange local community and church bulletins, local shop notice boards.Contact individual serivces and send your C.V to them directly.

Relief Panel.

Cavan CCC are operating a releif panel of childcare workers. This will be distributed to all childcare serivces that request it. At the moment we are currently in the process of obtaining Garda clearance for those who applied.

If you're interested in being on the relief panel please complete the form in the ‘relief work’section. If you sign up to this you must commit to being Garda vetted.

CV presentation

A C.V should give a very brief but accurate and clear description of the applicants’ education and employment history. It should also give the person reading it a good indication of the person’s suitability for the job in question. Here are some tips for developing your C.V and some common mistakes that people tend to make:

• Not fully naming their qualifications. In many instances childcare services set out minimum criteria such as FETAC level 5 or 6 In Childcare. A common mistake is not distinguishing on the C.V whether the qualifications achieved are full awards or individual modules. Please state if you have full awards or not. Give the exact name of the course as on your certificate.
• Enclose a copy of any training certificates or evidence of qualifications attained.
• If you have attended a range of workshops, information sessions or other non-accredited short courses – please say this! There is nothing worse than someone saying they have completed a course in for example, special needs and it may have only been a workshop. This is misleading and it will be picked up on during an interview. If you don’t know the exact name of the course then say where and with who you completed it, for example if it was through Cavan CCC etc.
• Make sure it is clear what length of time you were employed in a certain place – for example if you worked in a few different crèches, your new employer will need to add up all your years of experience in childcare. Make sure the amount of experience you have can be clearly seen.
• State your positions in that employment for example if you were an assistant, leader or manager and give a very brief description of what your duties were.
• Keep your C.V short – maximum two pages. All correspondence details should be on the first page at the top. It is not necessary to state your age or marital status.
• Make sure you get permission from your previous employers if you want to give their name as a referee.
• Always remember to do a spell and grammer check. Be mindful of the overall look of it, don’t have too much text, check there is consistency with the font size and bold type fonts used.
• If an employer is asking you to complete an application form, make sure you do this and don’t send your C.V unless they specifically ask for it.
• Tailor and update your C.V. Tailor it to suit the job you’re applying for and make it relevant. Sending out a standard one size fits all is a big mistake. Also, update it if you’ve done any new training courses for example. It will be very off putting to any new employer if they find out in an interview that you’ve done a degree course for example and it wasn’t on your C.V!! It speaks volumes about your motivation and interest in the job.

Application form

Some employers ask you to complete an application from instead of giving your C.V. Generally it is easier for an employer to get a better understanding of the person’s employment and educational history as the questions are designed as such to elicit very specific answers. Application forms usually allow you to input all your relevant qualifications and previous experience. They will usually ask a number of questions relating to childcare. This will give the employer a good indication of your suitability for the post. When completing an application form:

Please fill in all parts of it and don’t’ leave anything blank

Sell yourself!! This is an opportunity to say what you want and give the employer the impression that you are capable of carrying out the job.

Job description

Most childcare organisations will have a job description. Ask to see this before you apply for the job. Make sure you read this thoroughly before completing the application form and again before attending an interview. This will basically tell you what is expected from you. Interview and application form questions will be designed in such as way so that they can match this up to the job duties on the job description.

Interview skills.

Depending on where you’re applying for a job the interview format can vary from service to service. Some childcare organisations prefer to take an informal approach and they might show you around the service while talking to you at the same time. The majority however will conduct fairly standard interview procedures. Generally you will be interviewed by two or three people. These usually represent various childcare positions of responsibility within the organisation – For example - a community based crèche might have the manager, a member of the management committee and an independent person -someone from the county childcare committee on the interview panel. A private service would always have the owner/manager and maybe someone else – another childcare provider or an outside independent voice such as Cavan CCC.

When you come in, the interview panel will shake hands with you and introduce you to the panel. Usually one member of the panel will explain the format of the interview. Please listen to the questions carefully and answer to the point. Don’t waffle!! When it comes to scoring you afterwards, the panel may find it very hard to remember everything you were saying so be accurate and to the point.

Appearance and general attitude.

Going for a job interview in childcare does not mean that you dress the same as you would to go for work – you should dress the same as anyone going for an interview – smart and respectable. Do not wear tracksuits, jeans and t-shirts.

Don’t put yourself down in an interview. This will give the employer the impression that you don’t really care whether you get the job or not, that you are not really that interested and that you’re not capable of doing the job.

Do not ‘give out’ about your previous or current employer. Firstly this says that you do not abide confidentiality rules. Secondly you don’t know who’s sitting on the interview panel and how this might offend them. It basically gives an indication that you cannot be trusted.

Do not speak about any confidential situations you may have had in another workplace such as child protection issues.

Knowledge

Prepare, prepare, prepare!! There is nothing worse that someone in an interview that says they forgot to read up on something!!

Applicants for childcare jobs are almost always asked questions on childcare regulations, child development and appropriate activities for the child, staffing and team work, dealing with parents, record keeping, child protection, health & safety, behaviour management etc. Please do so some research before coming into an interview – it gives the impression that you want the job. If you don’t know the answer to something then just say so but that you are willing to learn.