When making a career change from childcare, you can consider going into customer service, HR, accounting, healthcare, and many other fields, thanks to the transferable skills you gained in this industry.
In this guide, we will cover the specific fields worth transitioning to, provide tips on writing a strong career change resume, and offer practical advice on financial planning to help you reduce stress along the way.
Key Takeaways
Some telltale signs it’s time for a career change from childcare include feeling burned out, unsatisfied with low pay, stalled with no advancement opportunities, and overwhelmed by poor work-life balance.
You can leverage your transferable skills, such as communication, organization, conflict resolution, and time management, to stand out, even in a new field.
To craft a strong career change resume, it is important to focus on quantifying your achievements with universal metrics.
Upskilling, managing your salary expectations, and creating a transition fund can also help make the transition into a new career smoother and more successful.
Top 4 Signs It’s Time to Leave Your Childcare Career
Here are top four signs that it is time to leave your childcare career:
#1. Burnout
If you wake up dreading the day ahead, even though you once loved working with kids, you are not alone. A recent survey of over 10,000 early childhood educators found that nearly half felt their burnout had worsened over the past year.
If you constantly feel drained, overwhelmed, or like you are running on empty, it is a clear sign that this career may no longer be sustainable for you and that it might be time to explore a new path.
#2. Low Pay
Childcare is demanding, both physically and emotionally, yet the pay often does not reflect this effort. The median total pay for a childcare worker is around $42,000 per year, which can leave you feeling undervalued and financially strained.
So, if you are always worrying about making ends meet or feel frustrated that your hard work is not rewarded, you should consider a career that values what you do more fairly.
#3. Stalled Career
Although ongoing training is part of the job, many childcare roles offer little real advancement. You may find yourself completing courses and workshops just to meet licensing rules, with few opportunities to move up, earn more, or take on new challenges.
When your skills feel underused and your career feels stuck despite your efforts, looking into alternative careers for childcare professionals might be the best step forward.
#4. Poor Work-Life Balance
Childcare can demand early mornings, late afternoons, and sometimes weekend commitments, making it hard to find time for yourself or your family. If the job runs your schedule, and you are missing out on personal activities, your work-life balance is off.
Over time, this imbalance can lead to increased stress that worsens your physical and mental well-being. A career switch from childcare can open the door to new opportunities, where your experience is valued and your well-being is supported.
12 Transferable Skills From Childcare That Work in Any Career
These 12 transferable skills can help you stand out when changing careers from childcare, so you should highlight them in your resume along with quantified achievements to improve your chances of success:
Hard Skills That Transfer Well
Here are a few hard that transfer well from childcare to other careers:
Transferable Childcare Hard Skills
Writing reports, updating parents, or coordinating with agencies
Managing classroom materials or program budgets
Assessing what works in learning programs
Understanding and meeting licensing, state, or local regulations
Designing and organizing age-appropriate programs for children
Using digital tools for lesson planning
Soft Skills Developed in Childcare
Some of the key soft gained in childcare that can easily transfer to other careers include:
Transferable Childcare Soft Skills
Explaining concepts clearly to children, parents, and colleagues
Managing challenging behaviors and stressful situations
Understanding children’s needs and responding sensitively
Quickly responding to issues and creating solutions
Balancing multiple tasks and schedules
Carefully tracking children’s growth and behaviors
Quantifying Your Achievements
By quantifying your achievements, you make your impact clear when writing a career change resume. Even though your experience was in childcare, reframing it with universal metrics that refer to time, money, quality, and volume helps potential employers understand your value and how you fit into the position you are applying for.
Follow these steps to translate your accomplishments:
List out your main tasks.
Identify the outcome of each task.
Assign universal metrics to each outcome and include numbers where possible; for example, “Managed 20 children,” “Improved lesson completion rate by 20%,” or “Organized monthly activities for 50+ children.”
Craft complete achievement statements with resume action verbs, such as managed, improved, organized, streamlined, or increased.
Choose the most impactful achievement statements for your resume.
The table below outlines some examples that you can consider for inspiration:
Original | Reframed |
Planned and delivered daily lesson activities. | Designed and implemented structured lesson programs that improved participation and outcomes by 25%. |
Communicated regularly with parents about children’s needs. | Built and maintained 20 strong relationships with parents through consistent, clear communication. |
Implemented behavior management strategies. | Applied problem-solving techniques to address challenges and maintain a productive environment for over 50 children. |
Conducted assessments of children’s development. | Evaluated performance metrics to guide 20 individualized development plans and improve outcomes. |
Best 10 Alternative Careers for Childcare Professionals
Now, let’s discover some of the best alternative careers for childcare professionals.
Career Paths with the Easiest Transition
Below are career paths with the easiest transition from childcare:
Customer service. Your strong communication skills and experience managing fast-paced environments translate directly into providing customer support. Unlike in childcare, customer service roles often offer more predictable hours, so you have better control over your personal time. Plus, many positions provide opportunities for performance bonuses, raises, and clear paths for advancement.
Human resources. A career change from childcare to HR is also worth considering, as your interpersonal and organizational skills are assets. In HR, you would handle tasks such as recruiting and onboarding employees, managing employee relations, and ensuring workplace policies are followed, which, in nature, are all similar to tasks you would do as a childcare professional.
Learning and development. Transitioning from childcare to L&D can be a natural fit, as your experience in designing lessons gives you a head start. You could work in corporate companies, non-profits, colleges, universities, and training centers. In roles like corporate trainer, instructional designer, and learning coordinator, you can still do meaningful work, but in a less physically and emotionally exhausting environment.
Administration. A career change from childcare to administration is another option, where your existing organization, communication, and time management skills can give you an edge. They help you adapt quickly to office systems, coordinate multiple tasks, and support teams effectively. In administration, you can expect clearer hours, which means better work-life balance.
Complete Career Pivots
Complete career pivots can provide you with a fresh start; here are several that still leverage your unique skills:
Accounting. Although it may not seem like it, accounting can be a surprisingly good fit for former childcare professionals. Your attention to detail, patience, persistence, and ability to multitask translate well into managing financial records, reconciling accounts, and keeping budgets organized. As an accountant, you can expect a median total pay of around $93,000 per year, much higher than in childcare.
UX/UI design. Your experience in childcare helps you understand people’s needs and behaviors, which is essential in user experience design. With some technical training, you can pivot into creating digital products that are enjoyable to use. The work environment in UX/UI design is generally calmer than in childcare, and many roles offer the flexibility to work remotely, supporting a better work-life balance.
Healthcare. If you enjoy caring for others but want a change from childcare, a career in healthcare could be a great fit. Your communication, patience, and problem-solving skills from childcare translate well into supporting patients and teams. With the appropriate certification, you can work in hospitals, clinics, or community health settings, often with less physical strain than in childcare.
Entrepreneurial Paths for Ex-Childcare Specialists
If you are ready to be your own boss, these entrepreneurial paths for ex-childcare specialists offer the chance to use your expertise in new ways:
Consulting for schools or childcare centers. If you are considering a career change from childcare to education, consulting allows you to leverage your expertise without being on the floor every day. Helping schools and childcare centers improve their programs and outcomes gives you flexibility, the chance to work with multiple clients, and the satisfaction of shaping educational experiences on a broader scale.
Products or services for parents. Creating products or services for parents allows you to apply your insight into children’s needs in a business context. You could develop educational toys, books, or apps, or offer workshops for parents. With this, it is possible to genuinely help families while setting your own schedule and growing your business at your own pace.
Writing and content creation. If you enjoy sharing knowledge and telling stories, writing can be a great way to pivot from childcare. Leveraging your writing skills, you could create parenting blogs, children’s books, educational materials, or content for websites and publications. This option can be especially rewarding if your career goals involve pursuing something more creative.
Upskilling and Further Education: What You Need to Know?
Upskilling and further education are essential steps when considering a career change from childcare. Building new skills not only makes you more competitive in your chosen field but also helps you feel confident enough to make the transition.
Do You Need Additional Degrees or Certifications?
You may need additional degrees and certifications if your chosen career requires formal qualifications. For example, accounting typically requires a degree in finance or a certification like CPA (Certified Public Accountant), while healthcare roles often require specific certifications or licenses.
Some fields may not require formal degrees or certifications, but completing targeted courses can make your resume stand out. For example, administrative roles can benefit from office software courses, and HR roles from technical skills training.
Self-Directed Learning Approaches
Self-directed learning approaches can be a flexible way to gain new skills. Online courses, tutorials, and workshops allow you to learn at your own pace while continuing to manage other responsibilities.
Platforms like Coursera, LinkedIn Learning, or Udemy offer targeted courses in almost everything. Reading industry books, following thought leaders, and joining professional communities can also enhance your knowledge.
Financial Planning Tips for a Career Change From Childcare
To financially plan for a career change from childcare, you need to manage your salary expectations during and after the transition and create a transition fund.
Salary Expectations During and After Transition
To manage your salary expectations during and after the transition properly, research typical salaries in your target industry. Checking job boards, industry reports, and salary surveys allows you to gather concrete numbers and understand the pay range for the roles you are aiming for.
Usually, entry-level roles in a new field will pay less than your previous childcare position, especially if additional training is required. However, as you gain experience, you will likely earn more.
Creating a Transition Fund
To create a transition fund, start by calculating your essential monthly expenses—rent, bills, groceries, and any certification costs—and multiply by three to six months to determine your savings goal.
Once you know your target, set up a dedicated savings account to keep this money separate and look for ways to boost savings quickly, such as taking on part-time work or cutting back on non-essential expenses. Monitoring your budget regularly also helps you pinpoint areas where you can save more.
With a transition fund, you won’t have to take the next job that comes your way just to make ends meet. Instead, you can focus on learning new skills, searching for jobs, or exploring entrepreneurial opportunities.
Resume Builder and Templates for Career Changers
Now that you are aware of your options, it’s time to write a job-winning resume!
Our resume builder can help you showcase your experience in a way that appeals to employers in new fields. We have a variety of easy-to-use templates for you to choose from; additionally, if you want to create one from scratch, you can browse our resume examples to pick up the best practices.
Final Thoughts
A career change from childcare is worth considering if you feel physically and mentally exhausted, stalled, or undervalued. There are many other fields that you can transition into with your strong set of soft and hard skills.
Just make sure you have a reframed resume that shines a spotlight on you with quantified achievements and supportive degrees, certifications, and courses. With the right preparation, you can make a smooth shift into a new career that values your skills and aligns with your goals.
