Resume Examples: Finish Carpenter

You’ve probably heard that hiring managers only spend a few seconds on each application that crosses their desks. If you want yours to be one that holds this professional’s attention for more than six seconds, start with a great header and follow this up with a concise summary statement. Your header should contain your name (in a larger font than the rest of the page) and contact information, and include your phone number, email address, and professional website, if you have one.

Your top priority in writing your first resume is to focus on your audience. The better you understand what each potential employer wants, the better you’ll be able to tailor your resume. Start by carefully reading through job descriptions. Next, identify your best skills and qualifications that meet those requirements. While the standard format focuses on previous work experience, your document should draw attention to the abilities you’ve developed at school or during community involvement. If you’ve created and finished some carpentry pieces on your own time, you might consider building a professional website to showcase your work. Our resume builder and tools provide the guidance you need to create a winning personalized document.

It’s easy to write that you are a great team player, but you must also convince each potential employer with actual facts. Show off your ability to work well with a team with a good “story.” In our finish carpenter resume sample, the jobseeker gave examples of work with apprentices and customer support.

Make sure each bullet, for both technical and soft skills, correlates to an ability the hiring manager wants. Use facts and figures to show how effective you are. By combining metrics to skills potential employers want, you provide proof of your capabilities.

You’ll naturally want to include examples of your ability to work with a variety of carpentry and woodworking skills, describe the finishing methods you’ve mastered, and share some of your knowledge about varieties of woods. If you’re well-versed in rules regarding worksite safety, list that qualification as well. The best way to determine which technical skills to include is to read through the job description. Be sure to use keywords and phrases exactly as they appear in that job posting. Refer to our finish carpenter resume sample for more examples of the best skills for your document.

Many applications today have to pass through applicant tracking systems before a hiring manager will even see them. This means that from the very start, you must structure your page to make it past software filters. ATS programs search for job description keywords in resumes, but this isn’t the only thing to concern you. Grammar and spelling mistakes can sideline your document and so can too much creativity in formatting, fonts, and images. A great document has a good balance between bullets and paragraphs, is easy to scan, and has been thoroughly proofread. Take a look at our finish carpenter resume sample for a good example of this.