Skilled Trades & Construction Resume Examples
Build a resume as solid as your work. These skilled-trades examples emphasise certifications, safety, and hands-on results.
10 free skilled trades & construction examples — every one is a complete, ATS-checked resume you can open and edit.
Electrician
Pure ATS template
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Plumber
Cardstock template
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HVAC Technician
Cardstock template
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Carpenter
Professional template
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Welder
Minimal template
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Construction Project Manager
Minimal template
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General Contractor
Professional template
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Heavy Equipment Operator
Minimal template
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Automotive Technician
Metro Band template
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CNC Machinist
Cardstock template
View example →What hiring supervisors and ATS filters look for in a skilled trades resume
Licensure is the first cut. A trades ATS is set to match exact strings: Journeyman Electrician, Master Electrician, EPA 608 Universal, EPA 608 Type II, NATE-certified, AWS D1.1, AWS D1.6, OSHA 10, OSHA 30, NEC 2023. Put the license level and state beside your name and repeat them in a Licenses and Certifications section above experience, one credential per line, worded exactly as the job ad words it.
Then quantify the work in trade units: panel amperage and square footage wired, 480V systems commissioned, service calls per day against a callback rate, first-pass X-ray inspection percentage, weld processes and material thickness, lost-time incidents. Name equipment and software literally, from Carrier, Trane and Lennox to ServiceTitan and FieldEdge, and give apprenticeship, union local and an Equipment Proficiency block their own headings instead of a sidebar the parser drops.
Skilled Trades & Construction resume questions, answered
Where do licenses and certifications go on a trades resume?
Put the level and state beside your name — Ravi Patel, Journeyman Electrician, Arizona — and repeat it in a Licenses and Certifications section directly under the summary, with license number, issuing state, and expiration. Give each certification its own line so OSHA 30, EPA 608 Universal, and AWS D1.1 register separately. Certification logos and badge images carry no text for a parser to read.
How long should a skilled trades resume be?
One page covers most journeyman-level trades work. Go to two when a long certification list, multiple process qualifications, or a decade of named projects will not compress — refinery turnarounds and large commercial build-outs earn the space. Do not shrink the font to force one page. Collapse older roles to one line each and keep the layout single column.
Should a welder list every process and certification separately?
List each process by name — MIG, TIG, stick, flux-core — plus the code and position you are qualified in, such as AWS D1.1, 6G pipe. A filter set for TIG will not credit a line that only says welding. Add materials and thickness ranges, carbon steel, stainless, aluminum to two inches, and keep the certification record as plain text lines, never a table.
Do apprenticeship hours, union local, and a driver's license belong on the resume?
Yes. Give apprenticeship its own Education and Apprenticeship heading with the program, hours completed, and local number — IBEW Local 640, 8,000 hours — because contractors and ATS both search local numbers. Put a CDL class or clean driving record on the contact line when the ad requires driving. Leave off a photo; it adds an image block no parser can read.
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