Welder resume skills. The words recruiters search for.
The 18 skills, tools and credentials that come up in welder 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 · 16
- AWS D1.1 (used in Cody's sample resume)
- SMAW (used in Cody's sample resume)
- GMAW (used in Cody's sample resume)
- FCAW (used in Cody's sample resume)
- GTAW (used in Cody's sample resume)
- Stick welding (used in Cody's sample resume)
- MIG welding (used in Cody's sample resume)
- TIG welding (used in Cody's sample resume)
- Structural steel (used in Cody's sample resume)
- Stainless steel (used in Cody's sample resume)
- Aluminum (used in Cody's sample resume)
- Blueprint reading (used in Cody's sample resume)
- Weld symbols (used in Cody's sample resume)
- WPS (used in Cody's sample resume)
- Fit-up (used in Cody's sample resume)
- Plasma cutting (used in Cody's sample resume)
Licenses & certifications · 2
- AWS Certified Welder (used in Cody's sample resume)
- OSHA 10 (used in Cody's sample resume)
18 of 18 appear in Cody'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.
AWS D1.1, SMAW, FCAW, Structural steel, WPS
Weak: Skills: AWS D1.1, SMAW, FCAW, Structural steel, WPS
Strong: Weld structural steel beams, columns and stair assemblies with FCAW and SMAW to AWS D1.1, following each welding procedure specification (WPS)
Fit-up
Weak: Skills: Fit-up
Strong: Lay out, fit-up and tack assemblies from shop drawings with grinders, plasma cutters and magnetic drills, holding tolerances to 1/16 inch
Weld symbols, Fit-up
Weak: Skills: Weld symbols, Fit-up
Strong: Train 3 new welders a year on shop safety, fit-up and reading weld symbols
GMAW
Weak: Skills: GMAW
Strong: Welded frames and brackets with GMAW on a production line building 40+ farm equipment units a week
Strong bullets come from Cody's sample resume and our welder 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 welder post asks for AWS Certified Welder and you've used it, say AWS Certified Welder, in the post's spelling, and show where.
Mirror the job post's wording
If a welder post says "AWS D1.1", write "AWS D1.1", 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 SMAW — what you did and what changed — leave it out.
Show it in a bullet
A skills list says you know AWS D1.1. A bullet like the one under Structural Welder 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
Welder keywords, answered.
Something else? support@launch-cv.com
How many keywords should a welder resume have?
There's no magic number. Cody'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 welder post says "AWS Certified Welder", write "AWS Certified Welder" 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 Cody's sample, AWS Certified Welder, SMAW and FCAW are in the summary and AWS D1.1 shows up in a bullet under Structural Welder. Plain text in the body of the page is easiest for applicant tracking systems to read.
How should I list AWS Certified Welder 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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