Child and youth worker CV: example and tips

What employers look for in a child and youth worker

Child and youth workers help children and young people have a good childhood. You plan and lead activities, follow up individual children and pupils, and give children the chance to make their own choices within safe limits. In schools you often give practical support to individual pupils together with the teachers. The employer wants to know whether you are reliable, take the initiative and work well with teachers and parents.

Municipalities and private kindergartens often use applicant tracking systems that sort applications by the words in the ad. Use the same words in your CV where they match what you have done. Read our guide to an ATS-friendly CV, or paste the ad into Selja and let it find the words for you. Most ads are in Norwegian, and these terms come up often:

• Trade certificate (fagbrev) as a child and youth worker.
• Play, activities, language stimulation and outdoor life.
• Following up individual children and pupils who need adapted support.
• Working with parents, the head of the kindergarten group and teachers.
• Inclusion, relational skills and a safe and good kindergarten and school environment.
• After-school programmes (SFO and AKS) and youth clubs.
• Reliable, flexible and with good Norwegian.

Trade certificate, experienced worker route and police certificate

The trade certificate is your most important formal qualification. The training takes two years at school and two years in a workplace: Vg1 helse- og oppvekstfag (health and childhood studies), Vg2 barne- og ungdomsarbeiderfag (child and youth work) and an apprenticeship that ends with a trade test. List the certificate clearly under education, for example “Trade certificate as a child and youth worker, 2024”, and the apprenticeship as work experience with the place and period.

If you have worked for a long time in a kindergarten or school without the certificate, there are two routes. As an experienced worker through the praksiskandidat scheme, you need varied work experience at least 25 percent longer than the normal training period, according to the Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training (Udir). For a trade with two years at school and two in a workplace, that means at least five years. Through the scheme for taking the certificate while employed, you must have a job, at least one year of varied full-time experience in the trade, and a contract agreed between you, your employer and the county authority. Both routes require an exam before the trade test. If you have started, say so, for example “Experienced worker candidate, trade test planned for spring 2027”.

Under the Kindergarten Act, anyone to be employed permanently or temporarily in a kindergarten must present a police certificate (politiattest). The Education Act sets the same requirement for people to be employed in primary and lower secondary schools, after-school programmes and homework help. You do not attach it to your application. The employer asks for it before you are employed.

Example of a summary

The summary is the three to five sentences at the top of your CV: who you are, what you can do and what you are looking for. Rewrite it for kindergartens and schools. Here are two made up examples. You will find more tips in our guide to writing a CV summary.

• Example, kindergarten: “Child and youth worker with a trade certificate from 2021 and five years of experience with toddlers and older kindergarten children. Responsible for settling in new children and for language groups of four to six children. Confident working with parents, including with an interpreter. Looking for a permanent role in a kindergarten that spends a lot of time outdoors.”
• Example, school and after-school programme: “Child and youth worker with a trade certificate and three years of experience as a skilled worker in a primary school and its after-school programme. Followed up pupils who need close adult support in the classroom and at break times, and led activity groups in the after-school programme. Calm, clear and good at noticing children who withdraw. Looking for a full-time role combining school and after-school work.”

Bullet points with results: weak versus strong

The most common problem is bullet points that only describe the job, such as “played with the children”. Show instead what you did, for whom and what improved. Start with a strong verb in the past tense. The examples are made up:

• Weak: “Worked in a kindergarten.” Strong: “Was responsible for five children aged one to two in the toddler group, with daily contact with parents at drop off and pick up.”
• Weak: “Responsible for settling in.” Strong: “Led the settling in of eight new children in August, with a fixed plan for the first three days that parents received in advance.”
• Weak: “Language work.” Strong: “Ran language groups twice a week for four children with another mother tongue, using songs, books and pictures linked to the group's current theme.”
• Weak: “Helped pupils.” Strong: “Followed up two pupils in year 3 who needed close support, and helped them both stay in the classroom for the whole school day after Christmas.”
• Weak: “Activities in the after-school programme.” Strong: “Started a weekly outdoor group in the after-school programme with 15 regular participants, and planned the trips together with the children.”
• Weak: “Conflicts.” Strong: “Introduced fixed play groups at break time with the class teacher, which led to fewer conflicts in the class according to the teachers' records.”

Skills, courses and systems

List specific skills and courses, with the name and year. Courses from the municipality or kindergarten count if they fit the job.

• Tools and methods you have used, for example language screening with TRAS, augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) and signing to support speech (tegn til tale).
• Programmes for interaction and behaviour, for example The Incredible Years, if you have been trained in it.
• Paediatric first aid and CPR.
• Systems for parent contact and documentation, for example Vigilo, Visma Flyt or Kidplan.
• Vocational college courses, for example in child and youth work, with the name and year.
• Languages you use with children and parents, and a category B driving licence if you have one.

Apprentice, or many years in kindergartens and schools

If you are newly qualified, your apprenticeship is your most important experience. List it as work experience with the place, group or department and period, and say what you were responsible for towards the end. Include temporary jobs, summer jobs, coaching and volunteering with children and young people. If you are applying for an apprenticeship, say why you want to work with children and what you did in your work placement in Vg2. Our guide to a CV for recent graduates has more advice.

If you have worked for many years, highlight responsibility: settling in, language groups, working with parents, supervising apprentices or running activities in the after-school programme. Cut older jobs down to one line. If you have a vocational college qualification, or are thinking of becoming a kindergarten teacher, mention it in the summary. See also our guides to a kindergarten teacher CV and a milieu worker and milieu therapist CV, a common next step for child and youth workers.

Common mistakes in a child and youth worker CV

Look out for these in particular before you send your CV:

• The trade certificate is missing, or has no year.
• The title assistant instead of skilled worker. If you hold the certificate, use the right title.
• The age group is missing. Say whether you have worked with toddlers, older children or young people.
• Photos of or details about the children. Never write names or anything that could identify a child.
• Only qualities such as “loves children”, with no examples.
• No information about when you can start, or the percentage of a full-time post you want.

Get an honest review of your CV, and create the application with Selja

Before you apply, you can get an honest review of your whole CV with the CV score, the way a kindergarten manager or head teacher reads it. The first one is free and needs no account. With the ATS score you see which words from a specific ad are missing.

If you apply to both kindergartens and schools, the ads ask for different things. With Selja you paste in the job ad and upload the CV you already have. In under a minute you get a professional, ATS-friendly CV and cover letter tailored to the job, with the words from the ad where they match what you have done. Selja never adds experience you do not have, and asks you if the ad asks for something your CV does not show. Get started, or see the prices.

The application and the interview

The application can be short. Say which job you are applying for, that you hold the trade certificate, and give a concrete example of how you work with children. Mention something about the kindergarten or school, for example priorities from its website. See our guide on how to write an application and our example of a job application.

In the interview you are often asked about situations: a child who does not want to be dropped off, a conflict between pupils or a worried parent. Practise with the interview questions for the role, and read through your CV and application one last time before you send them.