Shops hire welders on what they can show. Supervisors check which processes you run, which positions and metals you have welded, whether you read blueprints and how often your welds pass inspection. Process names alone tell them little, because nearly every application lists the same ones. The details behind them matter more: the weld tests you hold, your inspection results and the output you deliver on a shift.
How to Write a Welder Resume - Key Takeaways
- Fit a reverse-chronological layout onto 1 page, naming the shop or project type in each job.
- Write every process both ways, such as GMAW (MIG) and GTAW (TIG), so a search for either name finds you.
- Give bullets numbers a shop tracks: repair or reject rates, X-ray or ultrasonic pass rates, parts a shift and fit-up tolerance.
- List each weld test under Certificates with its process, position, code and date.
- Name the metals and thicknesses you weld, from carbon steel plate to stainless or aluminum pipe.
- Test your file in an ATS resume checker, since large manufacturers screen for process and code keywords.
What hiring managers look for in a welder resume
A welding supervisor reads your resume with 3 questions in mind: can you run the processes this shop uses, have you welded in the positions the work needs, and will your welds pass their inspection. The Bureau of Labor Statistics lists reading blueprints, inspecting materials, welding to blueprint specifications and adjusting heat as core duties. O*NET adds welding in flat, vertical or overhead positions and checking workpieces for defects against specifications.
BLS data puts 63% of welders, cutters, solderers and brazers in manufacturing, so most readers run a production or fabrication floor. Build the resume around these sections:
- Name, headline (for example, Structural Welder, AWS Certified Welder) and contact details
- A 2 to 3 line summary or objective at the top; it prints without a heading
- Work Experience, newest job first, with the shop type or project in each entry
- Skills, with processes, metals and the tools you set up
- Certificates: any state or city license first, then weld tests and safety cards
- Education, including welding school or apprenticeship training
- Optional: Languages, and Key Achievements or a section for volunteer work
Best format for a welder resume
Go with the reverse-chronological resume format: your latest job on top, each with the job title, the employer and its city, dated MM/YYYY. Welders usually move from production work to fabrication, pipe or structural jobs and then to lead roles, and putting the newest job first makes each step easy to follow. Career changers coming from auto repair, maintenance or the military can use a combination format, with a short skills block above their history.
- Best for most weldersReverse-chronologicalYour jobs, newest first, with your results under each one.Best for: A steady work history in your field
- FunctionalSkills grouped up top, with a short work history below.Best for: Gaps or very little experience
- CombinationA skills section first, then your full work history.Best for: A career change with strong skills
One page covers most welders, apprentices and new graduates. Take a second page only with 10+ years across several trades or industries, or a long list of code tests, and keep your current job and your strongest tests on page 1. If you work through a staffing agency or the union hall, group short jobs under 1 entry and list the sites in bullets.
| Setting | What to use |
|---|---|
| Length | 1 page; 2 only with 10+ years or many code tests |
| Dates | MM/YYYY for every job and test, with Present for your current role |
| Job title line | Title plus specialty: Pipe Welder, Combination; Production Welder, GMAW |
| Process names | Abbreviation first, shop name in parentheses: GTAW (TIG) |
| Photo and private details | Usually left off in the US and Canada, as are your date of birth, family status and SSN |
| File type | PDF, unless the application portal asks for .docx |
Most US and Canadian resumes carry no photo. A welding resume is judged on processes, tests and results, so spend the space on those and keep the layout plain enough for a hiring portal to read.
Welder resume summary vs. objective
Use one test: if you have been paid to weld, write a resume summary with your years, your processes and positions, and 1 result. If you are still in welding school, starting an apprenticeship or switching trades, write a resume objective with the role you want, your booth hours and the tests you have passed. Write it last, and take its number from your bullets.
Welder resume summary formula
Title with X years in shop, field or industry, qualified in processes and positions. 1 measured quality or output result. Certification or code you test to.
Example
Structural welder with 7 years in steel fabrication, qualified in SMAW and FCAW in all plate positions. Welded connections on 9 commercial steel buildings in 2025 with no rejected welds at final inspection. AWS Certified Welder to AWS D1.1.
Don't
Hardworking welder with experience in MIG, TIG and stick welding looking for a challenging position.
Do
Pipe welder with 5 years on carbon steel process piping, qualified 6G in SMAW and GTAW. Held a 98% radiographic pass rate through a 2025 refinery turnaround.
The second version gives the material, the hardest position and a pass rate an inspector would check.
How to write welder work experience bullets with numbers
Write 3 to 4 bullets for your present job and up to 4 for older ones. Open with the work itself: what you welded, which process and positions, and for which kind of project. Then add achievements on your resume that your shop already measures, such as repair rates, inspection results, output and rework. The table shows what to count.
| Area | What to count | Example bullet |
|---|---|---|
| Weld quality | Repair or reject rate, visual inspection results | Lowered the repair rate on structural fillet welds from 4.1% to 1.8% in a year by switching to a stringer pass on vertical joints. |
| Testing and NDT | X-ray, ultrasonic or bend test pass rates, joints tested | Passed radiographic testing on 97% of 220 carbon steel pipe joints on a pump station job. |
| Output | Parts or assemblies a shift or hour, lines run | Ran a robotic MIG cell producing 18 brackets an hour and hand-finished every reject. |
| Fit-up and accuracy | Tolerance held, fixtures built, rework hours | Built 150 welding fixtures held to 1/32 inch, cutting rework from 35 to 12 hours a month. |
| Training and leadership | Apprentices or welders trained, crew size | Coached 2 welders through their 6G pipe tests on the first attempt. |
In this entry, the type of work comes first, the quality and fit-up results follow, and the older job keeps a single line.
Work Experience
- Weld beam-to-column connections and moment frames for 8 to 10 commercial steel projects a year with SMAW and FCAW in flat, vertical and overhead positions.
- Hold a 1.5% repair rate on welds checked by ultrasonic testing over 2 years of AWS D1.1 work.
- Read shop drawings and lay out 40 to 60 pieces a week, keeping fit-up within 1/16 inch before tacking.
- Trained 3 apprentices in vertical-up FCAW; all 3 passed their 3G plate tests.
- MIG welded 14 trailer frames a shift on a 6-person line with a reject rate under 2%.
Don't
Welded parts according to blueprints.
Do
Welded 30 hydraulic cylinder mounts a shift from shop drawings, holding dimensions to ±1/32 inch with no rework in 6 months.
The rewrite shows volume, accuracy and a result a supervisor can check.
Don't
Responsible for following safety rules in the shop.
Do
Ran the weekly hot-work permit check for a 12-welder bay that reached 400 days without a recordable injury.
Welding skills, processes and software for your resume
Pick 6 to 8 hard skills for your resume from the job ad, and keep only those a bullet proves. The processes you run come first; pipe, aluminum or stainless work only if you have done it on the job or passed a test in it.
Hard skills for welders
- SMAW (stick)
- GMAW (MIG)
- FCAW (flux-core)
- GTAW (TIG)
- Blueprint and weld symbol reading
- Layout and fit-up
- Oxy-fuel and plasma cutting
- Visual weld inspection
- Pipe welding
- Stainless and aluminum welding
- Grinding and joint preparation
Soft skills welding supervisors value
- Attention to detail
- Steady hands and patience
- Safety discipline
- Working to production targets
- Communication with fitters and inspectors
- Reliability
Welding is mostly hand work, but some software belongs on the page. O*NET lists Microsoft Office and Microsoft Excel as hot technologies for this occupation, which on a shop floor usually means weld logs, travelers and inspection records. O*NET also has welders checking grooves, angles and gap allowances with micrometers and calipers, so name the measuring tools you use. If you program or run a robotic welding cell, write the robot and controller exactly as the posting does, and back it with a bullet.
Welding certifications and weld tests on a resume
Per the BLS, some states and localities license welders, and the requirements vary, so a license you hold goes first. Under it, list certifications on your resume with their issuer and date. The AWS Certified Welder program needs no prior course or certification: you take a performance test at an AWS Accredited Test Facility. Weld tests you passed for an employer, to a code such as AWS D1.1 for structural steel, ASME Section IX or API 1104, belong in the same section.
| Credential | Issued by | What it takes |
|---|---|---|
| AWS Certified Welder | American Welding Society | A performance test at an AWS Accredited Test Facility, with no prerequisite course; maintenance paperwork keeps it active. |
| AWS Certified Welding Inspector (CWI) | American Welding Society | For candidates whose top schooling is high school, at least 5 years of welding-based work, a vision test and a 3-part exam; valid 9 years, with renewals at years 3 and 6. |
| OSHA 10-hour or 30-hour card | OSHA-authorized trainers (OSHA Outreach Training Program) | A 10-hour hazard awareness class, or a 30-hour class for supervisors and workers with safety duties; OSHA calls it a course completion card, not a certification. |
| Code weld test (AWS D1.1, ASME Section IX, API 1104) | The employer or test lab that ran the test | A test coupon welded to the code's procedure and passed by bend test, X-ray or the code's other method. |
How to write a weld test on your resume
Write the credential, then the process, the position, the code and the month you passed. Add the material or thickness when the job calls for it, such as carbon steel plate or stainless pipe. If you have several tests, group them by code so a supervisor sees your range in 3 or 4 lines.
Certificates
- AWS Certified Welder: SMAW, 3G and 4G plate, AWS D1.1, American Welding Society, 04/2022
- AWS Certified Welder: FCAW, 3G and 4G plate, AWS D1.1, American Welding Society, 09/2023
- OSHA 30-Hour Construction, OSHA Outreach Training Program, 02/2025
- OSHA 10-Hour General Industry, OSHA Outreach Training Program, 05/2019
How to list welding school, technical training and apprenticeships
The BLS says welders typically need to finish high school, or earn an equivalent, and add technical and on-the-job training, and that the training comes from vocational-technical institutes, community colleges and private welding schools. Workers can also enter the trade through an employer-based apprenticeship. Put your highest welding credential first: a certificate or associate degree, then high school if you finished in the last few years.
Format the entry as you would when listing education on a resume: program, school, city and completion date. New graduates can add 1 line on the processes they trained in and their booth hours; experienced welders keep the entry to the program, school and date. An apprenticeship you finished goes under Education with its sponsor and hours, and the work itself goes under Work Experience.
Education
Trained in SMAW, GMAW and GTAW, with a blueprint reading elective.
Apprentice, entry-level and career-change welder resumes
Without paid welding experience, your training and test plates carry the resume. Start with an objective that names the role and shift you want and the tests you have passed, then put your booth hours where a shop can count them. The entry-level resume layout works if welding is your first full-time job. Evidence that counts:
- Welding school or high school shop: booth hours, processes and the positions you can run, as 1 line under Education.
- Weld tests: every plate or pipe test you passed, under Certificates with its position and date.
- Apprenticeship or helper work: its own Work Experience entry with what you prepped, tacked or welded.
- Farm, auto or maintenance repair: the equipment you fixed and how often, as a job entry or under Volunteer Experience.
- Skills competitions: a SkillsUSA or local welding contest placing, under Key Achievements.
Don't
Recent welding school graduate seeking an entry-level position to gain experience.
Do
Welding certificate graduate with 600 booth hours in SMAW, GMAW and GTAW; passed an AWS 3G plate test in 04/2026. Seeking a production or fabrication role on second shift.
A new welder's objective still needs proof: hours, processes and a test date.
If you move into welding from auto repair, maintenance or a military trade, list your newest job first as usual and put your new training and tests at the top. From earlier jobs, hold on to the lines that transfer to a welding shop: fabrication, equipment repair, reading drawings or working to tolerances. The career-change resume examples show the layout. A cover letter can explain the switch in a few lines, and these construction cover letter examples show how to keep it short and specific.
Welder resume FAQ
Should I write MIG and TIG or GMAW and GTAW on my resume?
Both. Write the AWS abbreviation with the shop name in parentheses, such as GMAW (MIG) and GTAW (TIG), in your skills and inside one bullet. Job ads use either form, and so do the keyword filters behind them.
How do I show welding positions like 3G, 4G and 6G on a resume?
Put them on the test line under Certificates and in your summary. Write the process, the position, plate or pipe, and the code, for example SMAW, 6G pipe, ASME Section IX. Your hardest position is the one a supervisor scans for first.
Can I get a welding job without a certification?
Yes. Many entry roles hire from welding school or an apprenticeship, and some shops give their own weld test. The AWS Certified Welder program has no prerequisite courses, so passing its performance test at an Accredited Test Facility is a quick way to add a credential.
Do I need to be a CWI to get a welding job?
No. The Certified Welding Inspector credential is for inspectors and leads, and AWS asks for at least 5 years of welding-based work from candidates whose top schooling is high school before they can sit for it. List it only once you hold it, or as in progress with its exam date.
How do I list an AWS certification that needs maintenance?
List it with the process, position, code and the date you first passed. AWS asks for maintenance paperwork to keep a Certified Welder credential active, and a lapsed one can mean testing again, so list only the credentials that are current.
Should I put OSHA 10 or OSHA 30 on a welder resume?
Yes, if you hold the card. Write it under Certificates as OSHA 10-Hour or OSHA 30-Hour with Construction or General Industry and the date. OSHA calls it a course completion card rather than a certification.
How long should a welder resume be?
1 page for apprentices, new graduates and most working welders. Use 2 pages only with 10+ years across several industries or a long list of code tests, and keep your current job and strongest tests on page 1.
Should I add photos of my welds or a portfolio link?
Only as a link. Put a short portfolio or photo album link in your contact details if the work is your own and the posting is for custom or artistic fabrication. Keep images off the resume itself, since many application portals read only the text.
What is the median salary for welders?
BLS figures put the median yearly pay for welders, cutters, solderers and brazers at $53,750 in May 2025. Pay moves with your processes, code tests, industry and shift, so leave it off your resume and raise it when an offer is on the table.
Next steps
Start from the example nearest your trade and years, follow its layout, and replace its details with your processes, positions, tests and pass rates. Build it in our resume builder or begin with one of our templates, then send it with a short cover letter naming the shop's work and your strongest weld test.