Skilled Trades Resume: Electrician, Plumber & HVAC Tech

Most trades resumes are read by a shop owner, a service manager, or a project manager. They are often reading between calls or on a phone. They look for three things: your license or apprenticeship level, the type of work you have done, and signs that you are reliable. A long personal statement does not help with any of those. The type of work matters because trades are not interchangeable. A service plumber who fixes water heaters and clogged drains in occupied homes does a different job from a plumber who roughs in a 40-unit apartment building. An HVAC installer and an HVAC service tech are also different hires. If your resume does not say which one you are, the reader has to guess, and they may guess wrong. Before you write, decide what job you want next and pick the work that fits it. If you are applying for commercial service, lead with your commercial service experience even if most of your past work was residential.

Licenses and certifications are the first thing a trades employer checks, so put them right under your name and contact information, or directly under a two-line summary. Include the license level, the issuing state, and the license number if you are comfortable sharing it. Many employers will look it up anyway. Licensing rules differ by state and sometimes by city, so use the exact name your state uses, such as Journeyman Electrician, Master Plumber, or Residential HVAC Contractor. A simple block might look like this: Licenses and Certifications - Journeyman Electrician, State of Ohio, License #12345 - EPA Section 608 Universal Certification - OSHA 30-Hour Construction Card - NFPA 70E Electrical Safety Training, 2023 - Valid driver's license, clean record Only list what is current. If something is in progress, say so honestly: "Journeyman exam scheduled for June 2025." If you are an apprentice, give your year and your hours, for example: "Third-year apprentice, 5,200 of 8,000 required hours completed." Check your own program for the exact numbers rather than estimating. Other items worth listing when they apply to you include NATE certification, backflow tester certification, medical gas certification, a CDL, and first aid/CPR. See our guide on listing certifications for formatting details.

"Electrician, ABC Electric, 2019 to 2024" tells the reader very little. Under each job, write 3 to 5 bullets that name the type of building, the systems you worked on, and what you were responsible for. Start each bullet with a verb and keep it to one or two lines. Electrician examples: - Wired new single-family homes from rough-in through trim-out, including 200-amp panels, GFCI/AFCI circuits, and low-voltage lines. - Installed and terminated conduit, feeders, and branch circuits in a 60,000 sq ft commercial build-out. - Troubleshot service calls on lighting, motor, and control circuits using a multimeter and clamp meter. Plumber examples: - Roughed in and finished supply, drain, and vent lines for new residential construction using PEX, copper, and PVC. - Diagnosed and repaired leaks, failed fixtures, and water heater problems on 6 to 8 service calls a day. - Replaced tank and tankless water heaters and explained options and costs to homeowners. HVAC examples: - Installed split systems and gas furnaces in occupied homes, including line sets, ductwork, and startup checks. - Performed seasonal maintenance on rooftop units for a portfolio of retail and office customers. - Recovered, evacuated, and charged systems in line with EPA Section 608 requirements. Use these as patterns, not scripts. Swap in your own materials, building types, and tools, and only claim what you actually did.

You do not need sales figures. Trades numbers are usually about size, speed, and safety. Good ones include the square footage or number of units on a project, how many service calls you handle in a day, crew size you worked with or led, the voltage or tonnage of the equipment, and how long you have gone without a recordable safety incident. For example: - Led a 3-person crew on tenant improvements in office suites ranging from 2,000 to 8,000 sq ft. - Completed 25 to 30 residential furnace and AC tune-ups per week during peak season. - Worked 4 years on active job sites with no lost-time incidents. If you do not have exact figures, use an honest range or an approximate number, and be ready to explain it in an interview. Do not round up. Another tradesperson on the other side of the table will notice quickly if the numbers do not add up. Our guide on quantifying achievements has more ideas for finding numbers in everyday work. Also mention things that show trust: being given a company truck and a key to customer homes, training newer apprentices, handling permits and inspections, or getting repeat requests from the same customers or general contractors.

Trades work often looks messy on paper. You may have gone through several contractors, been laid off between projects, or worked seasonally. That is normal in the field, and a reasonable employer knows it. Do not hide it, but make it easy to follow. If you worked through a union hall and had many short dispatches, group them under one heading, such as "IBEW Local 123, Journeyman Wireman, 2018 to present," and list two or three of the biggest projects with the contractor, building type, and your role. If you did a lot of side jobs, you can group them as "Self-employed, residential repair and remodel work" with the types of jobs you handled. Only include licensed work if you were licensed to do it. If you are new to the trade, list your apprenticeship, trade school program, or any helper or laborer job on a job site. Include the hands-on skills you learned: reading blueprints, bending conduit, soldering copper, brazing, or using manifold gauges. If you are switching from another field, keep your old jobs short and highlight things that carry over, such as driving a work vehicle, customer service, or working at heights. For a gap, a single honest line is enough: "Laid off when contractor closed, March 2023. Completed OSHA 30 and EPA 608 while searching."

One page is enough for most tradespeople. Go to two only if you have many licenses and long project history. Use a plain layout with clear headings: Summary, Licenses and Certifications, Experience, Skills, and Education or Training. Skip photos, graphics, and tables, because many employers use software that has trouble reading them. Our ATS resume format guide explains this in more detail. A short skills section helps, especially for keywords that appear in job postings. Group them so they are easy to scan, for example: "Systems: residential and light commercial wiring, panel upgrades, service calls. Tools and codes: multimeter, conduit bender, NEC." Use the terms from the posting only where they honestly apply to you. Make your phone number easy to find and use a professional email address. In the trades, many hiring managers will call before they email. Save the file as a PDF unless the posting asks for something else, and name it with your name and trade, such as "Maria-Lopez-Electrician.pdf." If you already have old resumes, pay stubs, license cards, or training certificates, aNewJob can build the resume from those documents through a short interview, so you do not have to start from a blank page.