Plasterer Resume Examples & Writing Guide

A one-page resume for a journeyman plasterer with nine years in the trade, four of them as a union apprentice. Name and companies are made up. Every job gives square footage, the systems installed (three-coat stucco, EIFS, veneer plaster), crew size and a callback or inspection record, which is exactly what a plastering or stucco contractor reads for.

Your resume is read by the owner or the field superintendent of a plastering shop, often on a phone between jobs. They want four things answered in a glance.

• What you can do in a day. Square feet of brown coat, finish coat, EIFS or veneer plaster; homes per week for tract work. Production is how they bid, so a plasterer who knows his own numbers is worth an interview.
• Which systems and finishes. Three-coat stucco, one-coat, EIFS, veneer plaster, ornamental and lime work, drywall Level 5. Name them. A tract stucco crew and a historic restoration shop hire completely different people.
• Callbacks and inspections. Cracking, delamination and failed lath inspections cost the contractor money and reputation. A stated callback rate and a first-time inspection record answer the question before it is asked.
• Apprenticeship, safety and logistics. OPCMIA or non-union apprenticeship hours, OSHA 10 or 30, scaffold and silica training, a driver's license, own hand tools, and whether you can run a pump or a crew.

“I want to know how many square feet of brown coat you can put up with a pump crew and whether your finish work comes back. If someone writes 'under 1% callbacks on 140 houses', I know they lay it right and they cure it right.”

The typical plasterer job description reads: apply coats of plaster or stucco to interior and exterior surfaces, install lath and accessories, mix materials, set up scaffolding, follow safety rules. Those are the duties. On your resume, each one needs a size, a system and a result.

List 10 to 14 skills a superintendent could put you on a wall to demonstrate. Group them by system so the reader can match you to their work.

• Exterior stucco: paper and lath, weep screed and accessories, scratch and brown coats, moist curing, cement and acrylic finish coats, one-coat systems, control-joint layout.
• EIFS: substrate prep, adhesive and mechanical attachment of insulation board, base coat and mesh embedment, drainage plane details, sealant joints, manufacturer specifications.
• Interior plaster: veneer plaster over blueboard, two-coat gypsum plaster, Level 5 smooth, textured finishes (skip trowel, knockdown, orange peel), Venetian and lime plaster.
• Ornamental and restoration: running moldings in place, casting and installing medallions and cornices, patching historic lime plaster, matching old textures.
• Drywall finishing where the shop does both: taping, bedding, coating, sanding, Level 4 and 5 finishes, corner bead, automatic taping tools.
• Equipment: plaster pumps and mixers, hopper guns and spray rigs, scaffold and scissor lifts, hawk and trowel, darby, floats, feather edges.
• Reading plans: elevations, wall sections, joint and reveal layout, flashing and window details; talking with framers, window installers and inspectors about sequence.
• Safety and site habits: OSHA 10 or 30, silica wet methods and respirators, fall protection and scaffold rules, heat illness prevention on exterior work, clean-up and protection of finished surfaces.

Plastering has no state license in the US (contractors hold a contractor license; the plasterer does not). What proves your training is a completed apprenticeship, hours in the trade and safety cards. Write them plainly and give the years.

• Required by most commercial general contractors: OSHA 10 at minimum, OSHA 30 for crew leads; scaffold training for anyone working from frame scaffold; silica awareness since the OSHA respirable crystalline silica rule applies to mixing and cutting.
• Strong plus: manufacturer training for the EIFS system the contractor installs, aerial lift and forklift cards, a driver's license clean enough to drive the company truck and pump trailer, bilingual English and Spanish on many crews.
• Do not write "OSHA certified". There is no such certification; it is a 10-hour or 30-hour Outreach Training card. Give the hours and the year.

Many people searching for a plasterer resume actually work as drywall finishers (tapers) and many shops do both. The resume follows the same rules with different numbers: boards hung or square feet taped per day, finish levels, tools and the punch-list record.

Stucco and plastering crews hire helpers (hod carriers, tenders, laborers) constantly, and apprenticeship programs take people with no trade background. They hire for four things: you show up at 5 a.m. in the summer, you can carry 80-pound bags all day, you follow instructions on a scaffold, and you want to learn the trade. Prove those with specifics.

1. 1Header: name, phone, email, city, then a line of practical facts: driver's license and reliable transportation, OSHA 10 if you have it, available for early starts and Saturdays, bilingual if true.
2. 2Objective: two lines naming the role (plasterer helper, apprentice, tender) and what you bring (labor experience, a pre-apprenticeship course, military service, any masonry or concrete work).
3. 3Work history: every job that proves physical work and reliability, with numbers. Landscaping, concrete, roofing, warehouse, farm work, moving. Give months without a missed shift, weights lifted, crew size, hours per week.
4. 4Skills: mixing mortar or concrete, using a wheelbarrow and mixer, setting up ladders or scaffold, reading a tape measure, cleaning tools, basic Spanish or English for the crew. One page, no photo; many shops still hire in person, so bring printed copies.

• One page. Even a 20-year plasterer fits: header, summary, experience with square footage, skills by system, apprenticeship and safety lines. Two pages only for a superintendent or estimator with a long project list.
• Plain layout, single column, standard font, no photo, no date of birth. Small plastering shops print it or read it on a phone; large drywall and EIFS subcontractors and general contractors use applicant tracking systems that read plain text best.
• Save as a text-based PDF named Firstname-Lastname-Plasterer.pdf, or Word if the posting asks.
• Keywords to mirror from the posting: "stucco", "three-coat", "EIFS", "lath", "veneer plaster", "drywall finishing", "Level 5", "scaffold", "OSHA 30", "plaster pump", "residential", "commercial", "crew lead", "bilingual".
• In the UK, Ireland and Australia the job is far more common as a distinct trade, the document is a plasterer CV, and employers look for an NVQ Level 2 or 3 in Plastering, a CSCS card, and skimming, rendering, dry lining and floor screeding experience with square meterage rather than square footage. The production and callback numbers matter just the same.

Run the finished page through the cvplex ATS checker with the posting pasted in. It flags bullets with no square footage or result, a system the posting names that you left out, and a missing safety-card line.