Creating the Perfect Electrician Resume

As an electrician, you’ve got a great career path ahead of you. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that electricians will see 10% growth in jobs from 2018 to 2028. With hourly pay averaging $27, most electricians earn a good, comfortable, honest living. One problem? You can be the perfect, qualified candidate for an electrician job and still not secure an interview. Why? One piece of paper holds the key to your future: your resume. You’ve completed thousands of hours of training and have valuable on-the-job experience. But if you can’t show off your accomplishments in one page, you won’t get the interview. Follow these 5 tips to write a succinct, clear resume that lands you the job.

Remove irrelevant information

There’s a lot of bad resume advice out there. If you want an interview, leave extraneous information off your resume. That includes things like:

• Objective: A resume objective should summarize your qualifications and the type of position you want. But most hiring managers find objectives outdated and not very useful. By applying, it’s obvious you want a job in the electrical industry. This makes objectives unnecessary. Instead of an objective, you should write a personalized cover letter.
• Hobbies: Unless your hobbies relate to electrical work, leave them off your resume. You can regale coworkers with your stamp collecting obsession later.
• All of your work history: Your resume must fit on one page. You shouldn’t include all of your work history here. Instead, focus on the 3-5 jobs most relevant to the position.

You want to show an employer your skills and value. Leaving off irrelevant information gives you room to do just that.

Contact Information

Put your name and contact information at the top of your resume. Include your full name, email address, and phone number. Some electricians include their full address, but that’s overkill. You can give the employer your address during a background check. By your name, note if you’re an apprentice, journeyman, or master electrician. This gives employers quick information about your qualifications and experience. If you’ve specialized in a certain area, include that, too. State whether you have skills in residential, commercial, or industrial electrical work. The more specific you can make your resume, the easier time employers have matching your talents to their needs.Put together, the contact information section should look something like this:John Johnson | Apprentice | Residential Electrical Workjohn@example.com | (000)-000-0000

Skills

Employers will quickly scan your resume to see if you have the necessary skills to do the job right. Include a skills section below your contact information that highlights your hard skills. Some people include soft skills like “communication” or “management” here, but you'll want to stick with tangible things like:

• Diagnostics
• Shipboard electrical systems
• National Electric Code (NEC)
• PC boards

Soft skills are important, but interviewers evaluate those during your interview. You can claim to be “hardworking” until the cows come home, but it’s not helpful from a pre-interview standpoint. Instead, focus on your experience with certain tools, processes, and systems.

Work experience

Next is your work experience. Remember, you don’t need to list every job you’ve ever had. Focus on your last 10 years of experience, listing no more than 5 jobs on your resume. Everything needs to fit in one page, so choose the positions that most accurately fit the job you’re applying for. Include your job title, the name of the company, and dates you held the position. Include 3-5 bullets per position detailing what you did as part of that job. Focus on how you delivered value during that job. For example, if you won an award like employee of the month, or suggested a new process that saved your employer money. mention that. Emphasize how you get results; this gives you an automatic edge over other applicants.

Education and Certifications

Last but not least is your education and certifications. This is where you list licenses, training, and education. Include things like:

• High school diploma
• Technical school
• College
• Certifications
• Licenses

If you’re a journeyman or master electrician, include the details of your apprenticeship here, if you completed one. Include the name of the school, location, and the certification or diploma you earned. You should only list your GPA if you’re 5 years or less out of school.As long as people use electricity, the world will need hard-working folks like you to manage electrical systems. You have a lot of experience and skills; make sure they shine with an electrician resume that gets you the job.