Dry Liner CV Examples & Writing Guide

Dry lining splits into two trades that often get one job title. Fixers build the metal-stud framing and screw the board up; tapers and jointers tape, fill and sand the joints to the finish the specification asks for. Say which one you are, or say you do both, in the first line. This sample is a commercial fixer who also tapes and joints to a paint-ready finish. The name and companies are made up.

The person hiring you is trying to work out how many boards you will put up on your first Monday and how much of it will come back on the snagging list. Four things answer that.

• Fixer, taper or both. These are different skills and different rates. If you can do both, say so; if you are strictly a fixer, say that too rather than getting taken on for a taping gang and struggling.
• Production rate. Boards per day, flats per day, m² per week. A number tells a foreman where to put you in the gang. Say the board size you are counting, because 2400 x 1200 and 3000 x 1200 are not the same day's work.
• Commercial or residential. Metal stud, MF ceilings, fire-rated partitions and shaft walls are commercial work. Timber stud, dot-and-dab and small patches are residential. Say which you have done and how recently.
• Cards and access. CSCS card, IPAF for scissor and boom lifts, PASMA, silica awareness. On a commercial site these decide whether you get through induction on day one.

“Tell me your board count and whether you fix, finish or both. Then tell me you have run a lift and read a fire-rated detail. Everything else is a bonus. What I never learn from most CVs is whether the guy can board a ceiling, and that is half the job on commercial work.”

Three or four lines. Years, commercial or residential, fixing or finishing, a production number and your cards. Career objectives only for labourers and apprentices.

The left column is what almost every dry liner CV says. The right column is what makes a foreman pick up the phone.

Useful numbers: boards per day and board size, m² per week, flats per day on housing, finish standard, snagging items, waste percentage, gang size, days without an incident. If you never counted, count next week and use that.

Name materials, systems and tools. "Hard worker" costs you a line and buys nothing.

• Board types: 12.5 mm and 15 mm standard, fire-rated, moisture-resistant, mould-resistant, impact-resistant, cement board, acoustic boards
• Framing and setting out: metal stud and track, timber stud, deflection heads, furring, MF ceilings, pattresses for grab rails and units, chalk line and laser setting out
• Systems: shaft wall, separating wall, fire-rated and acoustic partitions, bulkheads, dot-and-dab wall lining
• Finishing: taping and jointing, second and third coat, sanding, paint-ready and skimmed finishes, angle and stop beads, shadow gap trims, patch repairs and making good
• Tools: screw gun, router, board lifter, bazooka and automatic taping tools, flat boxes, angle head, board saw, rasp, extracted sander
• Access: scissor lift, boom lift, podium steps and mobile towers, stilts where permitted
• Paperwork: drawing and system detail reading, material take-offs, day sheets, snagging lists

Worth listing separately if true: dust control in occupied buildings, work in hospitals and clean areas, insurance repair work, and Polish, Romanian or another language alongside English, which matters on mixed gangs.

Dry lining gangs take on labourers constantly. A labourer loads out board, cuts, screws, mixes compound and cleans up, and learns to fix inside a year if they stay. What a foreman wants to see is that you will turn up and that you can carry a full board.

1. 1Get a CSCS Green Labourer card. It needs the CITB Health, Safety and Environment test and a Level 1 health and safety award, and most contractors will not put you on site without it.
2. 2Say plainly that you can lift and carry: a 2400 x 1200 mm sheet of 15 mm board weighs roughly 30 kg, fire and acoustic boards more, and two-person carries are the whole first month.
3. 3List any hand-tool or trade work you have done, even unpaid: building a shed, patching walls, painting, tiling, working on a farm or in a warehouse.
4. 4Give your transport and your start time. Dry lining gangs start early and move between sites; "own van, can be on any West Midlands site by 7am" is a real advantage.
5. 5If an apprenticeship interests you, look for dry lining or interior systems apprenticeships with local contractors, colleges and training providers, and say you have applied.

• CSCS card. Green Labourer card for labourers, Blue Skilled Worker card once you hold an NVQ Level 2, Gold for supervisors. Most main contractors will not let you through induction without one.
• IPAF for scissor (3a) and boom (3b) MEWPs, plus familiarisation on the specific machine on site.
• Silica dust awareness, because cutting and sanding create fine dust that must be controlled under COSHH, with a face-fit test for any tight-fitting mask.
• PASMA for mobile towers and working at height training. Say if you have SSSTS for supervising a gang.
• A telehandler or forklift card (CPCS, NPORS or an accredited forklift certificate) if you move board around a site.
• Emergency First Aid at Work (1 day).
• Qualifications and apprenticeships: an NVQ Level 2 in interior systems or dry lining, gained through an apprenticeship or an on-site assessment route, and manufacturer training from British Gypsum, Siniat or Knauf. If you completed or started one, name the provider and the years.

• One page. Dry lining work is judged on the last three or four jobs.
• Header: trade (fixer, taper or both), CSCS card, whether you have tools and a van, and how far you will travel.
• Reverse-chronological with month and year. Contract work comes and goes, so a one-line reason for a gap ("contract finished, gang moved on") beats silence.
• If you have worked for many contractors, group the short ones under one heading and list the projects underneath by name, size and your role.
• No photo, no date of birth, no full address (town is enough). Use the advert's words: dry liner, drylining fixer, partition fixer, plasterboard fixer or taper and jointer. In Scotland the SVQ takes the place of the NVQ.
• PDF unless the contractor asks for something else. Many subcontractors read CVs sent by WhatsApp or text, so keep the type large enough to read on a phone.