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Ready to get the plumbing job of your dreams? Your resume helps you make a great first-impression, so you need to do a thorough job when putting it together. This is not the time to be humble or to rush! Learn how to create a plumbing resume that shines by including the following.
Contact Information
Your name should appear in a large font at the top of the resume so that it's easy for a hiring manager to flip through the paperwork and find you. Below your name, list a phone number and an email address. There's no need to put your home address on a resume. Leave social media handles off of a plumber resume as well, unless you maintain channels that showcase your plumbing experience.
Objective or Professional Summary
Introduce your resume with either an objective statement or a professional summary. An objective is a one-sentence description of your employment goals, whereas a professional summary consists of a short paragraph (2-3 sentences) and briefly describes why you're an amazing candidate.
For a plumber's resume, your objective is pretty straightforward—you want the job you're applying to! But think about other goals you have, such as continuing to learn on the job so you can earn your Master Journeyman license. Mentioning this in your objective shows an employer that you're eager to turn plumbing into a career. In essence, it tells employers that for you, plumbing is not just a job that pays the bills.
If you already have significant experience as a plumber, you might choose to write a professional summary instead. This highlights your education, experience, and skills, which you'll describe in deeper detail in the next few sections.
Experience
How you decide to organize the rest of your resume depends on which areas best showcase your strengths. If you have significant job experience, make sure the experience section appears above education and skills. If you're fresh out of trade school, place education at the top.
Your job history goes in the experience section. Include internships here, and label them as such. If you have a long and varied job history, only display your longest tenures and jobs that gave you experience directly relevant to plumbing.
Each job should include the official title or position you held, the company's name, and the dates in which you were employed (month and year suffice). Then, list out your responsibilities in bullet points. If you need inspiration, check the job description to see what the employer is looking for, but be smart. Don't copy the description verbatim and don't lie about your experience.
Education
List your highest education level in this section, along with any degrees earned and the years you attended. You don't need to list your high school if you graduated from a technical or traditional college. If you're still in school, include the name of the school on your resume and list your estimated graduation date.
Even if you have a degree in something totally unrelated to plumbing, go ahead and list it in this section. If you took any courses that relate to plumbing, even if you didn't graduate, list the school and the courses you took.
Skills and Certifications
Do you have your plumber's license? This is a critical piece of information to include on your plumbing resume because it affects the kind of work you can do and helps you negotiate higher wages. List the date you earned the license, the state you earned it in, and when it's due to for renewal.
Use bullet points to list any other certifications that might be useful for a plumber, such as those pertaining to safety, design, or inspection.
If you're short on certifications, list your skills. Are you bilingual? Even a working proficiency in another language can be helpful. Do you know how to use computer programs like QuickBooks or Smart Service? That shows you could easily be trained to use the company's field service management software. Are you good at welding? List it!
References
End your resume with the references section. It's common practice to simply say "References available upon request." This allows you to notify your references ahead of time as a courtesy. Having a potential employer ask for your references also indicates that your resume was impressive enough to move on to the next step. Great job!
However, if one of your references is a well-known and respected figure in the local plumbing industry, go ahead and list their name on your resume. It can't hurt to be associated with a known quantity from the get-go.
Formatting for Professionalism
Plumbers need to pay attention to details, and you can demonstrate this ability with your resume by making sure it is neatly formatted and free of typos. A local library or college career center can help you find a resume coach to look over your draft. You can also find plenty of tips online.
