Firefighter resume skills. The words recruiters search for.
The 16 skills, tools and credentials that come up in firefighter job posts, sorted by type, and how to put them in bullets a recruiter believes.
By Nazir Elmurodov, Founder, LaunchCV · Updated
/ The list
Keywords by type. Use only the ones that are true for you.
Hard skills · 9
- Fire suppression (used in Ryan's sample resume)
- Search and rescue (used in Ryan's sample resume)
- Forcible entry (used in Ryan's sample resume)
- Ventilation (used in Ryan's sample resume)
- Vehicle extrication (used in Ryan's sample resume)
- BLS patient care (used in Ryan's sample resume)
- Hazmat operations (used in Ryan's sample resume)
- Incident Command System (used in Ryan's sample resume)
- Apparatus checks (used in Ryan's sample resume)
Tools & software · 3
- SCBA (used in Ryan's sample resume)
- Hydraulic rescue tools (used in Ryan's sample resume)
- ePCR (used in Ryan's sample resume)
Licenses & certifications · 3
- Firefighter I and II (used in Ryan's sample resume)
- EMT (NREMT) (used in Ryan's sample resume)
- CPAT (used in Ryan's sample resume)
Soft skills · 1
- Public education (used in Ryan's sample resume)
16 of 16 appear in Ryan's sample resume. See where
/ How to use them
Put keywords in bullets, not just in a skills list.
A skills list tells the software you have a skill. A bullet shows a recruiter what you did with it.
Fire suppression, Search and rescue, Forcible entry, Ventilation, SCBA
Weak: Skills: Fire suppression, Search and rescue, Forcible entry, Ventilation, SCBA
Strong: Perform fire suppression, search and rescue, forcible entry and ventilation on interior attack crews wearing SCBA
Vehicle extrication, Hydraulic rescue tools, BLS patient care
Weak: Skills: Vehicle extrication, Hydraulic rescue tools, BLS patient care
Strong: Operate hydraulic rescue tools for vehicle extrication and provide BLS patient care until transport
ePCR
Weak: Skills: ePCR
Strong: Completed ePCR documentation for every call before going back in service
Strong bullets come from Ryan's sample resume and our firefighter bullet examples. Names and figures are illustrative.
/ Use them honestly
Keywords get you found. Proof gets you hired.
Mirror the job post's wording for skills you really have. If a firefighter post asks for Fire suppression and you've used it, say Fire suppression, in the post's spelling, and show where.
Mirror the job post's wording
If a firefighter post says "Search and rescue", write "Search and rescue", not a near-synonym — as long as it's accurate. Recruiters search for the post's exact term.
Only claim what you can back up
Expect to be asked about every term you list. If you couldn't spend two minutes on Fire suppression — what you did and what changed — leave it out.
Show it in a bullet
A skills list says you know Fire suppression. A bullet like the one under Firefighter/EMT in the example above shows what you did with it.
No stuffing, no hidden text
Repeating a word or hiding keywords in white text doesn't make you a better match. A person reads the resume in the end.
Which of these does your resume say?
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Applying to one post? Scan its keywords against your resume.
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/ Questions
Firefighter keywords, answered.
Something else? support@launch-cv.com
How many keywords should a firefighter resume have?
There's no magic number. Ryan's sample resume uses all 16 terms on this page, because each one fit that job. Cover what your post asks for that you can back up, each where it fits; repeating a keyword doesn't help.
Should I copy keywords exactly from the job post?
Use the post's wording for skills you really have. If a firefighter post says "Fire suppression", write "Fire suppression" rather than a synonym, so a recruiter searching for that term finds you. Don't add skills you don't have just because the post lists them.
Where should keywords go on my resume?
In your summary, a short skills section and, above all, the bullets under each job, where you show what you did with the skill. In Ryan's sample, Fire suppression shows up in a bullet under Firefighter/EMT. Plain text in the body of the page is easiest for applicant tracking systems to read.
Which tools should I list on a firefighter resume?
The ones you've used and the post mentions. Common ones in firefighter posts include SCBA, Hydraulic rescue tools and ePCR. Name the tool in the bullet where you used it, not only in the skills list.
How should I list Firefighter I and II and EMT (NREMT) on my resume?
Spell them the way the job post does, and include both the abbreviation and the full name if you have room. Put licenses and certifications in their own section or next to your education, and only list ones that are current.
Keywords for related roles
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