Your resume is an important part of your manufacturing job search. The document provides the first impression of your education, skills, experience, accomplishments, and qualifications for a role. It shows a hiring manager why you are suited for a position and should be contacted for an interview.
Your manufacturing experience should take up the majority of your resume. This section shows employers what you have done until now and why you are qualified for the role. This is why the information included and how it is formatted are important.
Implement these tips to create a resume that shows your manufacturing experience and can help land an interview.
Experience Section Information
The work you include in your experience section depends on where you are in your manufacturing career.
- List your full-time jobs from the past 10 years.
- Use the job posting to determine which information should be included in your resume.
- Describe your main duties and accomplishments for each position as they relate to the role you desire.
- Incorporate throughout your resume the keywords from the job posting.
- The keywords help get your resume past an applicant tracking system (ATS) and into the hands of a hiring manager.
- The hiring manager can see why you are qualified for a role and should be contacted for an interview.
Experience Section Format
Begin your experience section with a clear heading, such as “Experience” or “Work Experience.”
- Make it easy to find your experience section while scanning your resume.
- If you use a chronological format, list your past jobs beginning with your most recent role.
- State your job title, the company name, the location, and your employment dates with month and year for each position.
- Share three to seven bullet points for each job to describe your duties and achievements.
- Begin your list with a high-level overview of your role and responsibilities, then get more specific.
- Highlight your experience that applies to the position you want.
- Quantify your achievements to provide context for your work experience.
- Begin with a compelling verb, mention your job duty, and conclude with a tangible number and result.
- For example, “Reconfigured 30,000-square-foot plant layout, which improved worker efficiency, reduced material waste by 15% monthly, and reclaimed 3,000 square feet of space.”
- Mention any promotions you received.
Employment Gap
You may need to address any time you spent away from the workforce.
- Perhaps you raised children, cared for an ill parent, lost a job, or went back to school.
- If your gap is less than 6 months, you likely do not need to discuss it in your resume.
- If your gap is 6 months or more, you may want to add an additional line in your experience section to share what happened.
- Mention your reason for being out of the workforce, the dates by month and year, and what your main duty was during this time.
- Use your cover letter to explain any special circumstances in more detail.
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