Your profile on SOSgarde.ca is your calling card: it lets families – your potential employers – find you and gives them a real sense of who you are and what you can do.
As such, it is very important to put your best foot forward and show families what you can do for them. We’ve posted before on the topic of updating profiles for the holidays but here are a few more tips to create a STAND OUT profile:
- Spell and grammar check your writing: Think of your profile as a digital curriculum vitae. A potential employer won’t be impressed by a badly written, full of errors profile. It shows a lack of effort or interest on your part that would lead many to the conclusion that perhaps you aren’t really interested in getting the work. Google Docs is a free document creation tool that contains spelling and grammar checks. Use it to check the wording of your profile before you post it.
- Revise your profile regularly: Having an out of date profile is like a business having an out of date website: it
doesn’t look professional. Even if you are only looking for part time work, professionalism is the order of the day! If your profile refers to your availability over Christmas and it’s now June, it’s time to update! Put a note in your calendar to regularly revise your profile, keeping in mind certain important points of the year when this could be particularly useful: holidays, school holidays, start of the school year, etc. - Be specific: this relates to the previous point in that you are more likely to see interest from families if you are specific about your skills, availability and the kind of work you are looking for. Example? Updating your profile in April / May with your summer availability is smart! Just when parents start looking for summer holiday care, your profile will clearly show whether you will be a good fit for them!
- Be clear: don’t be afraid to show off a little! If you have CPR certification, say so. If you are a 9th level Royal Conservatory piano player, say so. If you speak four languages, say so! Do you have mad crafting skills? Say so! All of these things could be features that a potential employer could find interesting and relevant. Make a point form list of your skills so that it is not too wordy but clearly shows what you can do!
- Pictures are worth a thousand words: you don’t need to spend money to look professional in a picture but get someone to take a decent one and post it with your profile. The holiday snapshot of you enjoying an umbrella drink might be cute but doesn’t scream “I’ll be responsible with your kids / dog / house / parents”.
And remember: it’s FREE to join SOSgarde.ca as a potential caregiver, so it’s worth making a little effort and finding the work that you want!