Construction Foreman (Site Supervisor) CV Examples & Writing Guide

This sample is a concrete and general trades foreman with about 14 years on site, promoted from apprentice carpenter to chargehand to foreman on commercial and light industrial work. The name and companies are invented. Keep the shape and put in your own crew sizes, project values and safety record.

Foreman hiring is usually done by a site manager or a project manager who has a crew waiting. They are scanning for four things.

• Crew size and trade. Ten carpenters is a different job from twenty-five operatives on a highways scheme. Say the number and the trades you led.
• Project type and value. Commercial, residential, industrial, civils, fit-out. Add the contract value and the floor area, because those set the pace and the paperwork.
• Safety record. "Zero lost-time injuries in 5 years" or "no RIDDOR reportables on 4 consecutive projects". This is often the first line read. If you have had an incident, do not invent a clean record; the reference check will find it.
• Programme and paperwork. Did the work finish on time, and can you actually keep a daily diary? A foreman who does not do the daily paperwork creates work for the site manager, and site managers know it.

“Give me crew size, project value and your safety number in the first three lines. If a guy tells me he ran twenty men on a twenty-million-pound job with no lost-time injuries and got his dailies in every night, I will call him before I read the rest of the page.”

Three or four lines. Years in the trade, years leading, crew size, project type and value, safety record, one card or qualification. Career objectives are rare at this level; write a personal statement unless you are stepping up from your trade.

Almost every foreman CV online says "supervised construction crew and ensured work was completed safely and on time". That sentence fits any foreman on earth and tells a site manager nothing. Here is the same claim written eight ways that actually say something.

A foreman is half tradesperson, half front-line manager, and the skills list should show both halves. Keep it to about 12 lines in three groups.

Site and trade:

• Your trade at qualified level (carpentry, concrete, electrical, mechanical, brickwork)
• Drawing, specification and method statement reading
• Setting out: total station, rotary laser, dumpy level, string line
• Formwork, steel fixing, concrete finishing, or your trade's equivalent
• Slinging and signalling for crane lifts
• Plant: dumper, telehandler, scissor and boom lift (with the CPCS, NPORS or IPAF card)

Running the job:

• Three-week look-ahead programmes and daily task planning
• Labour planning and crew allocation
• RAMS briefings, toolbox talks, accident and near-miss reporting
• Subcontractor coordination and sequencing
• Quantity take-offs, material ordering and delivery logistics
• Quality control, inspections and test plans, snagging and handover

Software and paperwork (name what you actually use):

• Procore or Autodesk Build for daily diaries, RFIs and photo records
• Bluebeam Revu for drawing markups and measurement
• Asta Powerproject, Microsoft Project or Primavera P6, at least to read a programme
• Digital timesheets and labour allocation
• Bilingual crew communication (say the language and your level)

Put these in their own block. Never list one you do not hold; on major sites cards get checked at the gate, often with the CSCS Smart Check app.

• SSSTS (Site Supervision Safety Training Scheme). The CITB 2-day course for supervisors, refreshed every 5 years. SMSTS is the 5-day course for site managers; if you hold it, list it instead.
• CSCS Gold Supervisor card. It needs a relevant supervisory NVQ or SVQ at Level 3 or 4 and the CITB Health, Safety and Environment test at the right level. Give the expiry date.
• First aid. Emergency First Aid at Work (1 day) or First Aid at Work (3 days); many sites want the supervisor to be a trained first aider.
• NVQ Level 3 in your trade and NVQ Level 3 or 4 in Occupational Work Supervision, with the year. Experienced foremen can get the supervision NVQ through on-site assessment.
• Plant and access cards: IPAF for MEWPs, PASMA for mobile towers, CPCS or NPORS for telehandlers, slinger/signaller and lift supervisor.
• Temporary works: the CITB Temporary Works Supervisor course, or Temporary Works Coordinator if you take on that role on larger sites.
• Sector cards if you work on rail or roads: a Sentinel card with Personal Track Safety (PTS) for Network Rail work, or an NRSWA supervisor card for street works.
• Regulated trades. Most trades have no legal licence in the UK, but gas work needs Gas Safe registration and refrigeration work needs F-Gas certification, and electricians on major sites are usually asked for an ECS card. Check what your sector needs rather than assuming.

• Two pages is normal for a foreman with 10+ years. One page if you are stepping up from your trade. Do not go to three.
• Consider a short project list instead of listing every job separately: name, type, value, your crew size, your role, one outcome. It keeps a long career readable.
• No photo, no date of birth. Reverse chronological with month and year dates.
• PDF, single column, plain headings. Main contractors and agencies screen through applicant tracking systems, and a two-column layout can lose your cards block.
• Mirror the advert's words: foreman, site supervisor, gang, site manager, subcontractor, look-ahead programme, daily diary, RAMS, toolbox talk, snagging, RFI, SSSTS, CSCS, CDM 2015, temporary works, Procore.
• If the advert says "site supervisor", "general foreman" or "working foreman", put that phrase in your personal statement so the screener sees the match.

In the US the same role is called a construction foreman, on a resume rather than a CV, with OSHA 30 and competent person training instead of SSSTS and CSCS cards. If you are applying in the US, keep the US format (no photo, no personal details) and translate your cards once: "SSSTS (UK site supervision safety training), similar scope to OSHA 30". Then get the OSHA 30, because it is what US contractors actually ask for.