Plumber resume skills. The words recruiters search for.
The 18 skills, tools and credentials that come up in plumber 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 · 15
- Plumbing codes (used in Luis's sample resume)
- Residential plumbing (used in Luis's sample resume)
- Commercial plumbing (used in Luis's sample resume)
- Rough-in (used in Luis's sample resume)
- Drain, waste and vent (used in Luis's sample resume)
- Water heaters (used in Luis's sample resume)
- Tankless water heaters (used in Luis's sample resume)
- Leak detection (used in Luis's sample resume)
- Drain cleaning (used in Luis's sample resume)
- Hydro jetting (used in Luis's sample resume)
- Camera inspection (used in Luis's sample resume)
- PEX (used in Luis's sample resume)
- Copper piping (used in Luis's sample resume)
- Soldering (used in Luis's sample resume)
- Blueprint reading (used in Luis's sample resume)
Licenses & certifications · 2
- Journeyman Plumber License (used in Luis's sample resume)
- OSHA 10 (used in Luis's sample resume)
Soft skills · 1
- Customer service (used in Luis's sample resume)
18 of 18 appear in Luis'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.
Drain, waste and vent
Weak: Skills: Drain, waste and vent
Strong: Install and repair water supply and drain, waste and vent systems in new homes and light commercial buildings
Rough-in, PEX
Weak: Skills: Rough-in, PEX
Strong: Rough-in and top-out an average of 4 new homes a week with PEX, copper and PVC, passing 95% of inspections on the first visit
Hydro jetting, Camera inspection
Weak: Skills: Hydro jetting, Camera inspection
Strong: Diagnose leaks, clogs and water heater failures on 6–8 service calls a day, using camera inspection and hydro jetting on main lines
Water heaters, Tankless water heaters
Weak: Skills: Water heaters, Tankless water heaters
Strong: Install tank and tankless water heaters, including gas connections and venting, and walk homeowners through repair and replacement options
Strong bullets come from Luis's sample resume and our plumber 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 plumber post asks for Journeyman Plumber License and you've used it, say Journeyman Plumber License, in the post's spelling, and show where.
Mirror the job post's wording
If a plumber post says "Plumbing codes", write "Plumbing codes", 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 Residential plumbing — what you did and what changed — leave it out.
Show it in a bullet
A skills list says you know Drain, waste and vent. A bullet like the one under Journeyman Plumber 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.
Keep going
/ Questions
Plumber keywords, answered.
Something else? support@launch-cv.com
How many keywords should a plumber resume have?
There's no magic number. Luis's sample resume uses all 18 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 plumber post says "Journeyman Plumber License", write "Journeyman Plumber License" 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 Luis's sample, Plumbing codes and Commercial plumbing are in the summary and Drain, waste and vent shows up in a bullet under Journeyman Plumber. Plain text in the body of the page is easiest for applicant tracking systems to read.
How should I list Journeyman Plumber License and OSHA 10 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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