Writing a clear and persuasive job description is one of the most important aspects of the hiring process, especially if you are hiring for a small business like a children’s activity or education company. To help you find and hire the best team for your business, here are our top tips on how to write a job description.

How to write a job description

In this article, we’ll cover:

• Qualifications for child care: What to require in applications
• Tips for writing a job description
• Job description format
• Job description sample

Qualifications for child care: What to require in applications

When you are writing your job description, you need to be clear about the qualifications that your applicants need to have. Some of these requirements should be based around the actual job they will be doing, of course, but others are mandated by the state, city, or federal governments. This is especially the case for children’s activity and education businesses.

According to the NYC Health Department, the following qualifications for child care are needed.

1. Educational director: BA in Early Childhood Education or a related field + state certification + 2 or more years as a group teacher of children under 6.
2. Preschool or group teacher: Some combination of BA in Early Childhood Education or a related field + state certification or equivalent state certification or BA in Early Childhood Education or a related field + 2 years of supervised experience or an approved study plan to achieve within 7 years.
3. Assistant teacher: At least 18 years old with a high school diploma or equivalent + various combinations of experience and an approved study plan.
4. All staff: Emergency preparedness training.
5. Employees, volunteers, and any staff members who will have unsupervised contact with children: Child abuse & maltreatment + emergency procedures.
6. All teachers: Allergic reaction training with at least 1 person trained for Epinephrine injections + infection control + mental health first aid + family engagement.
7. At least one staff member on site certified at all times: CPR & first aid.
   

See even more recommended and required qualifications for child care issued by the NYC Health Department in their group child care compliance guide.

Tips for writing a job description

When you are ready to write your job description, we recommend dedicating time to it. Job-seekers read through so many postings, what will make yours stand out? To help you write a strong job description, we are going to outline our best tips for writing and then show you a job description format and job description sample that you can adapt for your own use.

Outline the daily responsibilities

The best way for a candidate to understand if they are the right fit for your job is by knowing what they will be doing everyday. We know that might feel difficult with a small business where there are a lot of moving pieces, but try to imagine a typical day for this role. Include as much detail as possible. Quantify if you can. For example, how many lesson plans will they be responsible for writing each week? How many students will they teach? 

Explain how success will be measured

You might not know exactly how you will measure success for this position, but it is important to discuss some of the key metrics for the role. Candidates want to know how they will be evaluated if they join your company. Some examples of  measurement are: return students or families, student or parent survey responses, and student assessments.

Practice your marketing

What makes your children’s activity or education business unique? Talk about the benefits of working at your company. Will the new hire get a lot of autonomy, room for growth, and learning opportunities? Great! Will they have the opportunity to make kids happy and help them advance their skills? Sure hope so! Make your company the candidate’s first choice.  

Highlight the requirements

Depending on the role, there are a lot of requirements and qualifications needed. Be upfront about what skills the candidate needs when they apply and what you will help them achieve and learn on the job. Some children’s activity and education businesses train staff members on first aid and CPR and some of the other necessary skills like mental health aid and allergic reaction knowledge. 

Add salary and benefits

It’s not taboo to talk about money when it comes to salary and benefits. Including this information in the job description helps you save time and effort when it comes to interviewing because you will only spend time talking to people who are the right fit for what you can offer. If the salary is negotiable based on experience, write that in the job description, too!

Job description format

Good formatting is beneficial to the reader because they can easily parse the information and find what is most important to them. Use this job description format when you are working on your job description so that candidates can read through it more efficiently.

Job title: 1-5 words

Reports to: 1-5 words

Job overview: 1-3 paragraphs

Responsibilities: Bulleted list of 5-10 points (include goals here)

Qualifications: Bulleted list of all requirements needed

Salary + benefits: Include salary as it will be paid (hourly, daily, bi-weekly, monthly, etc) and benefits like insurance, time off, learning opportunities, etc

Role type: Include if this role is part-time, full-time, contract-to-hire, seasonal, etc.

Job description template

Let’s put it all together in a job description template for an art teacher at “Creative Kids,” a preschool-aged extracurricular program.

Job title: 

Art Teacher

Reports to: 

Educational Director

Job overview:

Creative Kids is expanding our class offerings and looking for a creative and dynamic Art Teacher who’s looking to join a hardworking and fun team. The Art Teacher will be responsible for creating lesson plans and teaching art classes to children aged 2-5 years old. This role will start as an independent teacher but has the opportunity to hire an assistant teacher if classes are successful. The goal for this position is to establish interactive and fun art classes that keep all of the children engaged and excited to return. Our students are a diverse group of adorable kiddos who love painting, drawing, and anything with googly eyes!

Responsibilities:

• Write 4 lesson plans per week that focus on different art styles and media so students remain interested and excited to return.
• Teach 5 classes per week: 2 with 2 year olds, 1 with 3 year olds, and 1 with 4-5 year olds. Classes are capped at 10 students per session.
• Learn names and interests of students to develop strong bonds and encourage returning. 
• ~Our goal is a 20% return rate after each semester session ends.
• Collaborate with other teachers within the program to create cross-functional art projects. For example, work with our movement teacher to create art that utilizes movement. 
• ~Our goal is 1 cross-functional project per semester.
• Maintain relationships with student parents, interacting with them during pickup and dropoff as well as speaking with them over the phone once per week to go over their child’s progress.
• Manage art supplies, placing orders as needed for lesson plans.
• Set up and clean up art room before and after each class.
  

Qualifications:

• BA in Early Childhood Education or Art Education
• New York State certification in art education
• 2 years of experience as an art educator to preschool aged children
• Child CPR & first aid training
  

Salary + benefits:

• $30 per hour. Guaranteed 30 hours of work per week
• Health insurance covered up to 80% for yourself and dependents
• 15 days of sick time
• Training in child abuse & maltreatment, mental health first aid, infection control, allergies, and emergency procedures.

With these tips and templates, you should now know how to write a job description so that you can find the right talent for your children’s activity and education business. If you are looking for additional support as you start or scale, the team and tools at Sawyer are here to help.