‘Skills of an engineer and the artistic mind of an interior designer’, if you feel that’s the good way to describe your job then you surely are on a fulfilling route to become a lead carpenter. For you and every other skilled carpenter out there, opportunities are endless but it takes the right action to unlock each one of them.
Brian Rushin Lead Carpenter BRushin5@gmail.com +1 234 56 78 99
Professional Summary
Competent and conscientious lead carpenter with 9 years of experience in operating a wide range of heavy-duty construction equipment and understanding of the importance of staying up-to-date with public safety and security standards.
Experience
Solid Carpentry Ltd, Wisconsin 2012-2021
Worked safely and efficiently on 80+ projects laying concrete, building batter boards, placing reinforced steel in foundations, and operating excavators.
Improved quality of products by removing tool marks and evidence of adhesive. Completed repairs, renovations, and general maintenance of the building including flooring, walls, ceilings, installing fixtures, and renovating kitchens.
Education
Bachelor’s Degree in Woodworking UNIVERSITY Of CINCINNATI 2008 – 2012
Getting a project for a small house or a luxury villa, you generally need to be working for someone top shot in this industry, and to land the opportunity of working for a big contractor and showing off your carpentry skills, you need a carpenter’s resume.
Carpentry is a form of engineering and a skill that is grossly underestimated. Using heavy and complicated hand and power tools to do mathematically precise woodwork, from installing all the hardware in a building to studying complicated carpenter’s blueprints to make sure every foundation is strong, a carpenter does it all.
According to Payscale.com, the average salary of a carpenter in the United States is around $49,000, with the scale being from $31,000 - $75,000.
Note: The average pay depends upon a lot of factors like soft skills and technical skills, education, experience, etc.
A carpenter’s work is not restricted as they can work under a contractor or even independently, working on both residential and commercial projects.
To give you a quick gist, here are the 7 types of broadly categorized carpenter jobs :
Rough carpenter: Typically performs framing, roofing, and other structural work.
Joister: Someone who installs floor joists.
Trim carpenter: A carpenter who specialises in trims, like skirting boards, mantles, plus any other ornamental work.
Cabinet maker: Design and build cabinets and other furniture items such as dressers, wardrobes, and so on.
Ship’s carpenter: Specialist in boat and ship building.
Framer: Expert in the construction of building frameworks.
Roofer: Constructs roofs from rafters, beams, and trusses.
Learn how a resume should look with our carpenter resume example
How to make a Carpenter Resume
Imagine a carpenter resume as a project of yours that requires delicate calculations and precise measurements so that the final result turns out to be perfect. There’s a reason it’s called crafting a resume as it takes skills and knowledge and for a budding carpenter who wants to make it big in this profession, consider this to be your first opportunity.
Before crafting the perfect carpenter resume, you must first understand the type of resume format you want to follow.
There are generally 3 types of resume formats:-
Reverse Chronological - In the RC format, you write your latest work experience on the top and follow that order till your first experience, putting it in the last.
Functional - Functional CV format is usually used by people with relatively less work experience with a heavy focus on their education and skills.
Combination - Combination CV is the most commonly used format. Here you mix both, chronological and functional formats.
Now that you have decided to use one of the above formats, you need to organize the order of your resume sections. If you’re a carpenter with existing work experience in the domain, follow the below order provided by our experts at resume examples: -
Summary
Experience
Skills
Education
Projects
Achievements
Hobbies/Leisure
If you feel your skills and education outweigh your current experience, you should always reorder the sections accordingly.
The layout of a Carpenter Resume
Being a carpenter, a badly built frame of a window or a door, is a poor representation of your skills. No matter how spacious you make a cabinet, if the design is a little crooked, your work will be “Shelved”.
Choosing the right template gives you the first start while crafting a carpenter’s resume. The template is the foundation of your carpenter’s resume that decides how the final result will look like. Thus, always make sure to get the foundation right before starting with your resume.
A lot of people make this mistake of getting too creative while crafting their perfect carpenter resume but the case with resumes is that hiring managers are always interested in both the decent-looking impressive resume layout and the content inside the resume.
Always keep the template simple but elegant so that it should attract the right eyes but not for the wrong reasons.
Professional Summary of A Carpenter Resume
A professional summary in a carpenter’s resume is, as the name suggests, a summary of every most important detail of your resume. Consider the summary as a movie trailer. It highlights the most actionable details in your resume like some major skills and/or work experience that will entice the recruiter to read more about you, and summarises it within 4-5 lines.
Note: To all the job seekers out there reading this, never exceed the summary limit to more than 5 lines if you want to build a strong resume.
The professional summary is the first heading in your resume and should be written with the utmost attention. The summary is basically for people with a decent amount of work experience and skills. If you’re an entry-level carpenter with not much professional experience, try writing a resume “objective” instead of a summary.
The professional/resume “Objective” is written to inform the recruiter why you are interested in the job offer and what unique traits you will bring to the table if selected.
To help you understand how to perfectly craft a professional summary and the objective, our team at resume example has sampled out some writing tips for you to get started: -
Examples of a professional summary: -
CORRECT
Competent and conscientious lead carpenter with 9 years of experience in operating a wide range of heavy-duty construction equipment and understanding of the importance of staying up-to-date with public safety and security standards.
INCORRECT
Skilled, solutions-focused construction carpenter with 2 years of experience creating and implementing maintenance programs.
CORRECT
Goal-driven lead carpenter, with 10 years of experience in the commercial construction projects industry, highly skilled at delivering first-rate construction services to respected clients. Successful at working effectively with architects, inspectors, designers, and subcontractors and providing top-quality project management and field supervision.
INCORRECT
Reliable carpenter with 15 complete projects. Safety-focused with a strong understanding of woodworking skills.
Professional Objective Examples
(For Residential and Commercial Projects)
CORRECT
Seeking the job of a lead Carpenter at (Company Name) where the skills of using and power tools (like circular saws, etc.), trade hand tools, locks & keys, and door hardware, will be applied to perform the required duties to maintain all carpentry work within a health care and research facility carpenter’s
INCORRECT
Seeking a lead carpenter/master carpenter’s position with (company name) as an individual with exceptional strength, attention to detail, and mathematical and mechanical skills.
CORRECT
An experienced candidate seeking a Carpenter position with (company name) with the ability to assist in layout work, examine field conditions and identify problems, inaccuracies, and cost-saving measures that arise or that may be encountered, and work up to 12 hours on a shift handling tough physical labor in varying temperature extremes and other outer conditions.
INCORRECT
A motivated, strong future master carpenter seeking a Construction Carpenter position with (company name) that can utilize the building, mathematical, and critical thinking skills.
Work Experience in a Carpenter's Resume
Defining the right type of carpentry experience is complicated in a carpenter’s resume or a construction carpenter’s resume as there can be a ton of things to include that might feel a burden suddenly. You might have done some construction work on a building construction site with a construction team on some 1-week construction projects and until and unless you learned something concrete, you should not add this experience.
Hence adding work experience to your carpenter resume is a tricky part as it should always reflect what knowledge and skill do you still pertain to, on this day from that experience. Avoid adding pointers that you won’t be able to justify during the interview.
To land the best chances, always read what the job ad is about and the job description before applying.
Here are some carpenter/construction carpenter resume examples from our resume builder of how to present your experience: -
CORRECT
As a construction carpenter, I constructed and stained oak casings and laid hardwood flooring for more than 50 customers on construction sites.
Improved quality of products by removing tool marks and evidence of adhesive.
Achieved 97% accuracy in estimating costs of materials for clients.
Completed repairs, renovations, and general maintenance for 7 properties including flooring, walls, ceilings, installing other fixtures, and renovating bathrooms and kitchens.
Determined measurements and dimensions of buildings by thoroughly examining specifications detailed on blueprints.
Used CAD software to create project plans.
Third-party affiliates
Handled residential projects
INCORRECT
Installed cabinets
Built window frames
Managed the necessary repairs
Followed safety protocol
Managed an attendance record today
Made building codes
Cut materials for interior walls
Skills to put in a Carpenter Resume
A carpenter’s job relies heavily on his/her skills. It’s the skills of a carpenter that produces the building construction result and impresses the hiring manager. From the use of hand power tools to making precise measurements using a ruler, everything depends upon the finesse and extensive knowledge used for multiple completed projects.
The role of a carpenter is very technical and hard and requires someone with hard skills. A carpenter’s mind takes only a few seconds to mathematically understand the layout.
Let us at resume example show you the important aspects of technical skills and soft skills in our carpenter resume examples: -
What are the main skills sought for a Carpenter?
Hard Skills
Ability to handle hand & power tools
Installing doors/windows, framing squares, etc.
Project layout designer
Mathematics
Technical sketch analysis
CAD software
Woodworking
Safety Protocols
Soft Skills
Manual dexterity
Physical stamina
Detail orientation
Workplace adaptability
Critical thinking
Sales/Personal Relations
Carpenter’s Education
Generally speaking, a carpenter requires a high school degree to commence his journey in top short companies but that’s not all. Although there is no specific qualification required to work as a carpenter, prospects ideally must learn on the job training through the form of an apprenticeship program of 3-4 years to step into the carpentry industry.
After your graduation date, you can immediately roll into certificate courses and apprenticeship programs like lead carpenter certification, etc.
For a carpenter, a high school diploma in mathematics, mechanical drawing, and vocational training are generally considered useful as these are considered necessities for a perfect resume carpenter job.
Key Takeaways (By a Hiring Manager)
A carpenter resume should always emphasize your skills.
Carefully read the job description before applying and keep updating your carpenter resume according to the job.
Gain more and more certifications like lead carpenter certification, master carpenter crash course, etc to enhance your skills and write a perfect resume.
Write your work experience like your project specifications, brief, and to the point.
Your photograph might not be needed in your carpenter resume but never forget to mention your personal data like address, phone number, and email.
Try adding more skills about technical machinery used while writing a construction carpenter resume.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you describe a carpenter on a resume?
Even though the answer varies from person to person, but to describe a carpenter on a resume, try to emphasize the skills as much as you can as a carpenter’s job is valued based on the skills and successful completion of projects he/she has done.
How do you write a carpentry CV?
Just like any other resume, you first choose the type of format you want to follow and then arrange the sections based on your qualifications.
Even though the answer varies from person to person, but to describe a carpenter on a resume, try to emphasize the skills as much as you can as a carpenter’s job is valued based on the skills and successful completion of projects he/she has done.
How do you write a carpentry CV?
Just like any other resume, you first choose the type of format you want to follow and then arrange the sections based on your qualifications.
What skills are required to be a carpenter?
Commonly required skills for a carpenter are:-
Basic Level Mathematics
Blueprint interpretation
Welding and electrical knowledge
Ability to handle hand & power tools
Installing doors/windows, framing squares, etc.
Project layout designer
Technical sketch analysis
CAD software
Woodworking
Safety Protocols
Physical stamina
Detail orientation
Workplace adaptability
Critical thinking
Sales/Personal Relations
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