Construction Worker Resume

Construction is hard labor, and companies need the best workers to ensure that projects are completed efficiently, safely, and meet agreed-upon standards.

The best way to come across as a competent construction worker (besides being great at your job) is with a well-written construction worker resume. You’ll need to display your on-site construction work experience, as well as relevant skills and education.

To help you, here are five tips for writing a great construction worker resume.

1. Start your resume with a resume objective

The best way to make a good first impression on any construction manager is by starting your resume off with a convincing resume objective. Focus on your educational background, followed by professional experience (including part-time work), your personality traits, abilities, and any skills relevant to the construction business.

Additionally, if you have any experience in the following construction-related fields, highlight it in your resume objective:

• Electrical
• Mechanical
• Structural
• Interior
• Exterior
• Plumbing
• Roofing
• Landscaping

Here’s an example of a convincing resume objective for a construction worker resume:

Recent high school graduate with 2+ years experience part-time work as a landscaper. Dependable, diligent, and creative team worker, skilled in design and maintenance. Eager learner seeking to apply and expand my skills set as a construction laborer at Grams Labor Union.

2. Highlight your skills as a construction worker

Whether you’re a construction manager, superintendent, laborer, foreman, masonry, carpenter, or any other construction site worker, it’s critical for you to show off job-related skills on your resume.

Due to the sometimes dangerous nature of their work, construction workers need to have strong soft skills such as teamwork and communication and a well-developed set of construction-related hard skills.

Here’s a list of 27 hard and soft skills that would be great to list on your construction worker resume:

Hard Skills

• Knowledge of OSHA safety standards
• Estimating; forecasting
• Building code knowledge 
• Environmental awareness
• Supervising; managing worksites
• MS Office suite
• CPR
• First Aid
• Flooring installation
• Documenting
• Framing
• Drywall
• Cabinetry
• Carpentry
• Concrete pouring
• Documenting
• Painting
• Heavy-machinery operation
• Forklift operation

Soft Skills

• Physically Fit
• Dexterity and hand-eye coordination 
• Oral and written communication
• Time management
• Organizational skills
• Attention to Detail
• Problem-solving skills
• Interpersonal skills 

3. Quantify your professional experience

Your professional experience section is the ‘bread and butter of your construction work resume. You’ll want to provide evidence in your resume’s experience section that you have the skills and experience necessary to excel in the position you’re applying for.

The best way to do this is by quantifying your work experience with hard numbers. Hard numbers give the hiring manager a better idea of how you performed at your previous position and what impact you made.

To give you a better idea of how to quantify your work experience, here are four examples from our resume sample’s work experience section:

1. Candidate quantifies how they decreased customer complaints:

• Supervised on-site work to ensure efficiency, quality and safety standards are met. Decreased customer complaints by 27%

2. Candidate quantifies how they increased project completion time:

• Design and implement new labor and inventory systems, leading to optimization in distribution and utilization of building materials, machinery, and tools. Increase project completion time by an average of 45%

3. Candidate details work area size they helped maintain:

• Maintained a clean and safe work area averaging 50,000 square feet

4. Candidate quantifies number of visitors served daily:

• Performed maintenance and construction work for a large grocery wholesaler serving more than 3,000 visitors per day

4. Include action verbs throughout your resume

Whether you’re mapping out blueprints or laying a foundation, no building gets made without the individual actions of each construction worker.

When you’re writing your resume, make sure to start each bullet point with a strong action verb to show employers what you’re capable of and what you’ve gotten done for your past employers.

The verbs you use should also be tailored to the position you want. For example, if you’re applying for a foreman position, you will want to include more managerial/director verbiage such as “planned”, “directed”, or “ordered”.

Here’s a list of action verbs fit for a construction worker resume:

5. Highlight your licenses, education, and certificates

Finally, education and certificates can be a great addition to your construction worker resume. The construction industry is very broad, and as such many certificates are available at community colleges, vocational schools, and universities that are particularly useful for entry-level candidates looking for a leg-up on their construction worker resume.

Here’s a list of common entry-level construction worker certificates:

Entry-Level Construction Worker Certifications

Additionally, due to the dangerous conditions of a construction site, workers with training in first aid or CPR are also sought-after. If you have prior first aid or CPR training, include your certificate name, issuing institution, and date received on your construction worker resume.