Shop foremen and welding contractors look for your process list, code qualifications, and pipe diameter range on the first page, because it shows whether you can pass their weld test and bill out by Friday.
The apprentice tier covers welders with two years or less of shop time, often coming out of a trade school or union apprenticeship. Your resume needs to prove process exposure, AWS Entry Welder status, and any weld test passes on coupons.
The journeyman tier covers welders running production solo on structural or pipe work, with three to eight years in the trade. Your resume needs to prove code qualifications, position range (1G through 6G), and consistent radiographic pass rates.
The master tier covers certified welding inspectors, welding supervisors, and pipe foremen with a decade or more on tools. Your resume needs to prove CWI status, crew leadership, code-section knowledge, and project scope in dollar or weld-count terms.
Hollis Bergeron
Duluth, MN | (218) 555-0119 | [email protected] | linkedin.com/in/hollisbergeron-weld
Combination welder with 11 years on heavy structural, mining, and stainless food-grade work across the Upper Midwest. Hold 6G stick and TIG certifications and run lead on small fab crews. Comfortable switching from a sanitary 3A weld in the morning to a 1-inch FCAW fillet on a haul truck frame in the afternoon.
Lead Combination Welder
Northshore Custom Fabrication | Duluth, MN | 2021-Present
Mine Maintenance Welder
Iron Range Equipment Repair | Hibbing, MN | 2018-2021
Pipe Welder
Voyageur Mechanical | Superior, WI | 2016-2018
Structural Welder
Granite Falls Steel | Saint Cloud, MN | 2014-2016
Welder Helper
Lakehead Trailer and Truck | Two Harbors, MN | 2013-2014
Your profile should state your years on the torch, the processes you run daily (SMAW, GMAW, GTAW, FCAW), and the materials you weld (carbon steel, stainless, aluminum, Inconel).
Name the codes you qualify under, such as AWS D1.1, ASME Section IX, or API 1104. Include your position range, from 1G flat through 6G pipe, so foremen can match you to the work order on their desk.
Bullets without a number tend to read as job duties. Strong welder bullets cite radiographic pass rates, linear feet of weld per shift, or pipe joints completed on a spool.
Name the inspection method: RT, UT, MT, or PT. A line like “Held a 98% RT pass rate across 240 6-inch carbon steel pipe joints on a refinery turnaround” gives a foreman three data points in one sentence.
Cluster bullets under each role by what you actually welded: structural steel erection, pressure pipe, sanitary tube, sheet metal fabrication, or repair and maintenance.
Inside each cluster, name the project type (refinery shutdown, bridge deck, food-grade tank, pressure vessel), the material thickness range, and the joint configurations. This shows scope without forcing the reader to guess.
Welder qualifications belong in a credentials block on page one, directly under your profile. List each AWS or ASME qualification by process, position, material, and thickness range, plus the date last welded.
Add your OSHA 10 or 30 card, confined space training, rigging certification, and forklift license. Shop foremen and welding contractors need to confirm you can step onto the job site without a hold.
Education sits at the bottom. List your apprenticeship local (UA Local 290, Ironworkers Local 7), the completion year, and the hour count if you finished.
Add trade school programs, manufacturer training on welding power sources (Miller, Lincoln, ESAB), and any CWI or CWE coursework. This signals you keep your tickets current and invest in the trade.
The welder resumes that get callbacks share a specific skill mix. The lists below come from our user-built welder resumes. Shop foremen and welding contractors scan for these patterns first, not generic “hard worker” framing.
Hard skills are non-negotiable: a foreman either trusts you on 6G pipe or moves on. Soft skills back the bullets, showing you read prints, work safe, and hand off cleanly between shifts. Match the hard-skill list against the job posting, then use the soft skills as evidence threaded through your bullet points.
| Soft Skills | % of resumes with this skill |
|---|---|
| Attention to detail | 69% |
| Teamwork and collaboration | 68% |
| Problem-solving skills | 42% |
| Communication abilities | 38% |
| Safety compliance | 31% |
And here are the top hard skills showing up most often.
| Hard Skills | % of resumes with this skill |
|---|---|
| MIG welding | 80% |
| TIG welding | 67% |
| Blueprint reading | 45% |
| Stick welding | 39% |
| Metal fabrication | 25% |
Based on data from thousands of welders’ resumes built on ResumeTemplates.com, May 2026.
Before a welder resume gets a closer read, hiring teams check for a short list of essentials.
Union and non-union apprenticeships carry weight with foremen because they signal logged hours, supervised tickets, and a known training standard. List your local, completion status, and hour count.
Most welders break in through a UA, Ironworkers, Boilermakers, or Sheet Metal local, or through a non-union program at a trade school or community college. Each route produces a different signal on the resume.
Put apprenticeship details in a dedicated block under education. Name the local number, the program length, your completion year, and any specialty endorsements you earned during the program.
OSHA cards and site-safety credentials confirm you can step onto a job site without a hold. List them in your credentials block with the issue date.
Naming the specific power sources, consumables, and fit-up tools you have run gives foremen a quick read on shop fit. List brands and model families, not every serial number.
On union jobs, your local and book status decide whether you get the call. Non-union shops read union experience as a signal of structured training and travel readiness.
Add a one-line “Union Affiliation” entry near your credentials block. Name the international, local number, member status (journeyman, apprentice), and travel-card history if you have worked out of other locals.
A current AWS qualification record and OSHA 10 card keep you eligible. The certifications below are what move a welder resume from the qualified-but-typical stack into the shortlist for high-bid pipe and code work. List each one with the issuing body, level, and date last welded or expiration.
For welders, the 10th-percentile floor sits at the entry shop-hand tier and the top-decile ceiling sits with code-qualified pipe welders, CWIs, and underwater or aerospace specialists. That spread tells you process specialty, code qualification, and willingness to travel for shutdowns and pipeline work move a candidate from floor to ceiling more than tenure alone.
Lead your resume with the processes, codes, and position range that map to the higher band, not generic “welder with X years of experience” framing.
| # | State | Avg. Annual |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hawaii | $76,970 |
| 2 | Alaska | $75,140 |
| 3 | Wyoming | $66,070 |
| 4 | Connecticut | $64,520 |
| 5 | Washington | $61,730 |
| 6 | Massachusetts | $61,710 |
| 7 | North Dakota | $60,270 |
| 8 | Louisiana | $59,860 |
| 9 | New Jersey | $59,630 |
| 10 | Nevada | $59,370 |
| # | State | Workers | Median |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Texas | 56,650 | $49,830 |
| 2 | California | 26,100 | $57,940 |
| 3 | Ohio | 20,110 | $49,410 |
| 4 | Illinois | 17,340 | $49,730 |
| 5 | Wisconsin | 16,820 | $55,630 |
Resume Templates offers HR approved resume templates to help you create a professional resume in minutes. Choose from several template options and even pre-populate a resume from your profile.
Welding holds steady demand across infrastructure, energy, and shipbuilding. Code-qualified pipe welders and CWIs see the strongest call-back rates.
Frame your resume around the niche with the most hiring pressure in your region. Refinery turnarounds, LNG buildouts, and structural steel on data center projects all read well to recruiters right now.
Skip the objective statement. It wastes prime real estate at the top of page one.
Use a three-line profile instead. Name your years in the trade, your top two processes (GTAW and SMAW), your material range, and the codes you qualify under.
List the certifying body, process, position, material, and date last welded. For example: "AWS D1.1, GMAW, 3G, carbon steel, last welded March 2026."
Hold the actual qualification record numbers for the application form. Most shops will pull your CR through the AWS database or run their own weld test anyway.
Use a reverse-chronological format on one page. Put your profile, credentials block, and process list above the fold.
Save as a PDF unless the posting asks for a Word document. Keep the layout single-column so ATS parsers and shop office managers can both read it cleanly.
For a welder, an ATS-friendly template is the safest pick, because it puts your certifications and experience where a hiring manager scans first. A basic template is a solid alternative. Whichever you choose, keep the formatting clean and easy to parse: clear section headings, a standard font, and no graphics a parser can choke on.
Executive Resume Writer and Career Coach
Andrew Stoner is an executive career coach and resume writer with 17 years of experience as a hiring manager and operations leader at two Fortune 500 Financial Services companies, and as the career services director at two major university business schools.
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