The career of an electrician is in high demands. Scoring an ideal electrician job however, can be quite a challenge. The job market is highly competitive and even if you have ample experience, you might not be able to get a good job if you do not have a proper resume. A resume allows an employer to understand your experience and skills before even trying to meet you. If you have an average resume, you might have to face a lot of problems in the market. When creating a resume, a lot of factors have to be taken into consideration. Your references, verbiage and layout of the resume, things that an employer is looking for and your own experiences are a few of the factors that cannot be disregarded at any costs. Similarly, you need to avoid mentioning a few things which might make your resume feel derogatory instead of well, exemplary!
What Role Does A Resume Play In The Career Of An Electrician?
A resume acts like a brief biography for an electrician displaying his information and experience. A resume is your own autobiography that you tell to others. It is one of the most powerful assets when it comes to finding a job. Employers decide on your fate of a career depending on your resume. If you have any mistakes in it like grammatical issues, you will instantly reduce your chances of getting a potential job. Similarly, if you have been working at a reputable place for a long time, it will strengthen your chances of scoring that specific job. Consider your resume like a canvas. If you paint beautiful scenery, you impress everyone. If you have a dark spot somewhere on the painting, you turn some people away. Whatever the case may be, it is your resume that decides your electrician career.
What Do Electrical Contractors Look For In An Electrician Resume?
Employers or Electrical contractors have a completely different mindset when it comes to seeking out potential electricians for their business. Here are a few things that electrical contractors are looking for and how you can improve in each sector:
· Your work history
You need to be completely consistent in your jobs. If you have had more than ten jobs in a period of three years, a contractor will not be interested at all.
· Your School and Training
You might be a very good electrician but if you do not have appropriate education or training related to your field, you might not get the job. Contractors have an ability to easily determine the kind of employee you will be by just looking at your education and training certifications.
· Your Resume Presentation
Spelling errors, capital letters and improper format and layout within a resume can instantly turn a contractor away. The way you present your resume displays the pride you own in your work and a resume that is not proofread instantly ends up in the trash.
· Your Background
Contractors are smart and you can expect them to run a background check on you by observing what you do online. Often contractors visit your Facebook or LinkedIn profile to verify you as a person. It might be possible that they discover something about you that instantly makes them cringe. Therefore, make sure you keep a proper conduct of yourself on the social media as well.
Effective Steps on Designing an Electrician Resume
Now that we have made it clear that only an effective and flawless resume can help you score an electrical job, here are some steps that you can follow in order to assure that you have the highest chances of scoring the job you desire.
1. Include the Appropriate Personal Information
One of the necessary information that any potential contractor will require is your own introduction and contact address. Do not forget to include your email address, phone number and your proper name at the top of the resume so that your employer knows how to contact you.
2. Start Off Your Resume with an Objective Summary
Your objective summary is a small profile that highlights your strengths, breadths of experience, qualifications and your career goals. It is the first impression that you make on the employer and if you fail to deliver the sumptuous appetizer to your employer, he might not go further. Although it sounds like an extensive task, but your objective summary should not exceed more than a paragraph.
3. Add Your Qualifications and Experiences
Your objective summary should be followed by a qualification and experiences section. You will need to include all the certificates and related education that you have acquired in the resume. In addition, you will need to enlist all the professional experience in a chronological order. Your professional experience should include the name of the company, the time interval, your title and tasks. A bullet pointed list can make a strong impression.
4. Add Relevant Skills and Talents
Practical and technical skills are very important in this line of work and you must not exclude this section out of your resume. Your employees are very interested in looking if you possess the skills they need and your resume will let them know if you have the skills and training they need. If you do not inform them of the skills that you possess, they might not even interview you regardless of how flawless your resume may be. Enlist your skills in form of a table. A few skills that you can include in your resume are:
| Electronic Controls | Electrical Installations | Maintenance Schedules | Switching Systems |
| Repairs and Inspections | Switch Gears | Machinery Controls | Standards for Quality |
| Fire Alarm Systems | System Upgrades | CPR and First Aid | Repairs and Servicing |
5. Add Relevant Achievements
It is highly possible that your work was highly notable due to one reason or another. Your relevant achievements can help you to stand out from the crowd. An achievement can be anything that you did in your field of work to make a difference and it can be quantified or measured in a numerological manner. Commonly achievements are displayed in four to five sentences. They can be easily recognized if you have worked in jobs or projects where you had to implement and design different solutions such as supervision of a team or training staff.
6. Include Interests (Optional)
Try to include your interests and not just hobbies in your resume for an additional impression. You could briefly describe the areas where you took a position of supervision or made an initiative. Your interests can include software or hardware skills, which demonstrate to your employer that you have been on a wheel of constant learning and have gathered information from different sectors to make your career flawless as an electrician. In addition, also include any voluntary work that you might have performed and you deem relevant.
7. References
While some resumes might have the room for references and some may not, it is still preferred that you add a relevant reference. Electrical skills and trainings are quite important and including people who can vouch for your performance and skills can add that extra ‘oomph’ to your resume. If you have listed the references, your employer can contact them immediately and get you started on the job. The general term “Available upon Request” is becoming quite unfavorable by electrical contractors now.
Conclusion
To sum it all up, your resume should have a competitive edge and must be able to impress your employer in the first go. Follow the aforementioned tips and take extra care of what your contractors are looking for, and you will be able to score the job immediately. For further clarification, refer to a sample resume below in order to get a head start on how your resume is supposed to be.
