Overhead Linesman CV Examples & Writing Guide

This sample is for a qualified overhead linesman with nine years who came up as a labourer and through a three-year apprenticeship. The name, the network operator and the contractor are invented. Apprentices and labourers should use the same layout but lead with apprenticeship year and plant tickets. In the US the same job is called a lineman, and in the UK cable jointing is a separate underground trade.

Whether you apply to a network operator, an independent connections provider or a utility contractor, the person reading your CV is a supervisor or a team manager. They are checking whether they can put you on a team next week.

• Grade and stage. Apprentices should give the year of the apprenticeship and the competences signed off. Qualified linesmen should give the year they qualified and the scheme.
• Voltage and network. LV, 11 kV, 33 kV, 66 kV or 132 kV distribution, or 275 kV and 400 kV transmission towers. Underground counts too.
• Licence and plant. A full driving licence is the minimum and Category C is often wanted. Say whether you operate a pole erection vehicle, insulated MEWP, tracked plant or winches.
• Live working. LV live work, and HV live-line work with hot sticks if you have really done it. Teams are built around who is authorised for what, at which voltage.
• Safety record and travel. Reportable injuries, storm deployments, willingness to work away and to do 16-hour restoration shifts. Contractors hire heavily on the last two.

“Give me your grade, your voltage, your licence and whether you will turn out for storms. Four lines. We have hired qualified linesmen off a half-page CV and passed on two-pagers that never said what voltage the man works live at.”

This trade counts in competences and sign-offs, and your CV should too. Overhead line apprenticeships usually run around three years, mixing site work with blocks at a training centre, and are run by network operators, contractors or their training partners.

• Apprentice: write the year and the sign-offs, for example "Apprentice Overhead Linesperson, year 2 of 3, LV and 11 kV construction signed off as of August 2026". A supervisor needs that to know what work you can be given.
• Qualifying: name the scheme and the year. "Qualified July 2021, Power Network Craftsperson apprenticeship (overhead lines)" is the line that matters.
• Moving between employers: say which authorisations you held and at what voltage. Authorisation under one company's safety rules does not carry over automatically, because the new employer assesses you against its own rules, so do not claim it as current there.
• Labourer time counts and should be listed. It shows rigging, materials handling and site awareness, and it is what most teams want to see before they take on an apprentice.

Three or four lines: grade, years, voltage, live working, driving licence, safety record, willingness to travel. That covers everything a supervisor screens on.

The most common mistake on linesman CVs is describing the trade instead of your own work. Add the voltage, the count, the method and the outcome.

Group by construction, live and dead working, and plant. Twelve to fifteen items. Do not pad with generic words like teamwork; a supervisor assumes that or does not hire you.

• Construction and maintenance: pole erection and dressing, terminal and angle poles, stays, crossarms, insulator changes, conductor stringing, sagging and tensioning, service connections, transfers of third-party equipment
• Equipment: pole-mounted transformers, auto-reclosers, voltage regulators, sectionalisers, fuses and links, service cut-outs, ground-mounted substations, 11 kV and 33 kV cable terminations
• Live and dead working: LV live working with insulated tools, HV hot-stick work, safety distances, earthing and bonding, switching schedules, safety documents and permits to work

Then the plant and driving side, which decides whether you can be put on a job without supervision:

• Pole erection vehicle, insulated MEWP, tracked plant, skid steer, winches and pullers, pole and drum trailers
• Pole climbing, 100% tie-off at height, pole-top and MEWP rescue
• Category C or C+E licence, clean driving record, daily vehicle checks
• Storm response and mutual aid, working away, 16-hour restoration shifts
• Job briefings, risk assessment, insulating equipment care and test intervals, Chapter 8 traffic management

There is no single national linesman licence in the UK. What employers check is your apprenticeship completion, your authorisations under their safety rules, your driving licence and your safety training. List those with dates and leave the rest off.

• Apprenticeship completion, for example Power Network Craftsperson (overhead lines) or an NVQ Level 3 in overhead line work, with the year. This is the credential that sets your grade and pay.
• Driving licence with categories: Category C or C1, plus C+E if you tow, and say your licence is clean if it is.
• EUSR SHEA Power or an equivalent utility safety passport. Overhead line work also falls under the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 and the Electricity Safety, Quality and Continuity Regulations 2002, so knowing them by name is worth mentioning in an interview.
• First Aid at Work and pole-top and MEWP rescue, renewed annually. Most employers will not let you climb without current rescue training.
• NRSWA street works card and Chapter 8 traffic management training, useful on roadside distribution work.
• NEBOSH General Certificate if you are moving toward safety or supervisor work. It is a real qualification with an exam and a practical assessment, so only list it if you passed.

Almost nobody starts as a qualified linesman. You start as a labourer or linesman's mate, or you apply for an apprenticeship with a network operator or contractor. Your CV for that first job is about physical readiness, a driving licence and a willingness to travel.

• Get a full driving licence before you apply, and Category C if you can. It is one of the strongest lines on a labourer's CV and many contractors ask for it.
• List any pre-employment overhead lines course with the length and what it covered: climbing, pole dressing, rigging, knots, pole-top rescue, street works.
• Count outdoor physical work: construction, roofing, tree work, agriculture, the forces. Say the loads you handled, the hours and the conditions.
• Line clearance tree work for a network operator's contractor is the closest adjacent job there is. If you have done it, name the network and the voltage you worked near.
• State clearly that you will travel, relocate, work nights and turn out for storms. Contractors read that line first.
• Add a physical readiness line, since training centres and network operators test it: comfortable climbing wood poles, working at height and lifting heavy materials repeatedly.

• One page for apprentices and labourers, one to two for qualified linesmen with several employers and voltages.
• Plain reverse-chronological layout, no columns, no photo, no date of birth. Many network operators use online application systems, and most of them mangle a two-column CV.
• Put grade, voltage and driving licence in the top four lines. If a screener has to hunt, you are out.
• Mirror the advert: "overhead linesperson", "linesman", "apprentice", "craftsperson", "distribution", "11 kV", "33 kV", "LV live working", "hot stick", "pole erection", "MEWP", "safety rules", "storm response", "Category C licence".
• Include your travel radius and whether you are willing to relocate. Contractors sort applications by this before anything else.
• Expect pre-employment checks: references, a medical, and drug and alcohol screening. If you have a gap, keep the dates honest and be ready to explain it in the phone call.

One practical note: keep a copy of your apprenticeship certificate, your driving licence and your current rescue training card as photos on your phone. Supervisors ask for them during the first call more often than they ask for references.