Domestic Worker CV Examples & Writing Guide

This CV is for a domestic worker with 8 years in private homes, currently full-time with one family. The name and families are made up (on a real CV you name the family only as "private family, Wimbledon" unless they have agreed to be listed). Notice that each job states the home size, the number of people in the household and how long she stayed. Families and agencies read those three things before anything else.

A family is letting you into their home, around their children or parents. They are not hiring for skills alone; they are hiring for trust. A domestic staffing agency screens the same way, then adds a DBS check and reference checks. Four things decide whether you get a call.

• How long you stayed. Three years with one family says more than any skills list. If you had short jobs, give the reason in a few words ("family relocated", "child started school", "summer holiday position").
• The size of what you handled. Bedrooms, bathrooms, number of adults and children, pets. A worker who kept a 6-bedroom house with three children is a different hire from one who cleaned a one-bedroom flat twice a week.
• Exact duties, not "general housework". Families search for the specific mix they need: cooking, laundry and ironing, childcare, elder care, driving, pets. Name each one you did and how often.
• References, DBS check and right to work. Say that references are ready, that you have or can get a DBS check, that you have the right to work in the UK and whether you hold a driving licence. Agencies filter on these before reading further.

“The best domestic worker CVs read like a short history of homes: how big, who lived there, what she did every week, how long she stayed and why she left. Any CV that says 'hard-working and trustworthy' but gives no home sizes or dates goes to the bottom of the pile, because every candidate says that.”

Put three or four lines at the top that tell the family who you are: years in private homes, the biggest household you looked after, your main duties, your certificates and whether you want live-in or live-out work. Use a career objective instead of a personal statement only when you have no household experience yet.

Most domestic worker CVs list duties in two words ("cleaning, cooking"). Families want to know how much, how often and for whom. Turn every duty into a line with a number: rooms, loads, meals, children, years.

List 10 to 14 skills that match the job advert. A family looking for a cook-housekeeper wants to see meal planning and special diets; a family with a newborn wants baby care and bottle sterilising. Read the advert and lead with what they asked for.

• Cleaning: deep cleaning rotas, wood and stone floor care, stainless steel and glass, bathroom cleaning and disinfecting, bed making and linen rotation, safe use of cleaning chemicals, using steam cleaners and robot vacuums.
• Laundry and wardrobe: sorting and stain removal, ironing and steaming, delicate and hand-wash fabrics, folding and wardrobe organisation, dry-cleaning drop-off and collection.
• Kitchen: menu planning, family cooking, special diets (nut-free, gluten-free, low-salt, diabetic), baby food, packed lunches, cupboard and fridge stock, food safety (Level 2 Food Hygiene certificate).
• Care duties if you did them: childcare and school runs, homework supervision, elderly companion care, medication reminders, help with mobility, pet feeding and walking.
• Running the household: food shopping and budgets, taking in deliveries, letting in and supervising tradespeople, watering plants, simple home checks (smoke alarm batteries, boiler pressure, filters).
• Personal qualities families ask about, shown with proof: discretion (held keys and alarm codes), reliability (attendance record), flexibility (overnights when parents travel), languages spoken.

No licence or qualification is required to work as a domestic worker in the UK. A few certificates and documents make a family choose you over someone with the same experience, and agencies often ask for them before they will put you forward.

• First aid: a 12-hour Paediatric First Aid course (needed if you register with Ofsted as a nanny) or Emergency First Aid at Work. Expected by almost every family with children or an elderly parent. Usually costs about £60 to £150 and takes one or two days. Write the provider and the year.
• Food hygiene certificate: useful if you cook regularly. The Level 2 Food Hygiene and Safety certificate is designed for catering kitchens and is voluntary in private homes, but families hiring a cook-housekeeper like to see it. It can be done online in a few hours.
• Driving licence and a clean record: state it in the header if the job involves school runs or errands. Some families ask for a DVLA check code so they can view your licence record.
• DBS check: agencies and families with children or elderly relatives usually ask for one. Agencies can arrange an Enhanced DBS for care and childcare roles; you can apply for a Basic DBS yourself online. If you are on the DBS Update Service, say so.
• Right to work: British or Irish citizenship, settled or pre-settled status, or a visa that allows this work. Families and agencies should check it before you start, so say you have it. If you are in the UK on an Overseas Domestic Worker visa, it is short and comes with strict conditions; check the current Home Office rules before you apply to a new household.
• References: two or three previous employers with phone numbers, ready to share at the interview. A written reference letter from a family you stayed with for years is worth more than any certificate.
• Optional training: a household management or professional housekeeping course, a baby care or maternity nurse course, or the Care Certificate or a Level 2 Diploma in Care if you do elder care. Only list ones you finished.

"No experience" usually means no paid experience in someone else's home. Almost everyone applying has run a household, cleaned in a hotel or office, cared for a relative or babysat. Put that on the page with the same numbers a paid job would have.

1. 1Header: name, mobile, email, town, then one line with what you can offer: driving licence, right to work, live-in or live-out, days available.
2. 2Career objective (3 lines): what you have done in a home setting, the certificate you just earned, the kind of position you want.
3. 3Experience section titled "Household and Care Experience": running your own home (people, years, special diets), caring for a relative, babysitting for neighbours, cleaning jobs in hotels, offices or schools. Give numbers for each.
4. 4Certificates: a first aid course and a Level 2 Food Hygiene certificate can both be done in a week and show you are serious.
5. 5References: a neighbour, a family you babysat for, a faith or community leader, a former supervisor from any job. Two names with phone numbers.
6. 6Keep it to one page. Offer a paid trial day in your covering note; most families and agencies say yes.

A domestic worker CV is one page. It is read by a parent on a phone or by an agency consultant working through a pile. Make it plain and easy to find things in.

• Order: header (with driving licence, right to work, live-in or live-out), personal statement, household experience, skills, certificates, references line, education last.
• No photo, no date of birth, no marital status on a UK CV. UK agencies do not want them either.
• Name families as "private family, town" and describe the home (bedrooms, bathrooms, people, pets). Never print a family's full name or address without permission.
• Dates in month and year. If you worked for several families at once (a few days each), list them as one entry: "Part-time housekeeper for 3 families, Richmond, 2019 to 2022".
• Words to mirror from the advert: housekeeper, house manager, nanny-housekeeper, domestic assistant, live-in, live-out, light cooking, full cooking, laundry and ironing, elderly companion, driving. Use the advert's exact title in your own title line.
• The word "housemaid" is old-fashioned in the UK; families and agencies write "housekeeper", "domestic assistant" or "domestic worker". Use theirs.
• Outside the UK: in the US the document is a resume and the job is usually "housekeeper" or "household worker". Agencies in Hong Kong, Singapore and the Gulf that hire overseas domestic helpers (DH) use their own bio-data forms, which often ask for a photo and age; follow the agency's form there, but keep this UK-style CV for direct applications to families.

Run your file through the cvplex ATS checker if you are applying through an agency website or a large care or childcare platform. It catches a missing duty word the advert uses ("laundry", "driving") and confirms the text is readable by their system.