Road Worker CV Examples & Writing Guide
A road worker CV gets a call when it shows the gang can use you tomorrow: the cards you hold (CSCS, NRSWA, Chapter 8 traffic management, HGV licence), the plant you run, the tonnage or lane miles you have worked, your safety record and whether you will do nights. Below is a full sample plus personal statements, bullets and plant lists.
Road worker CV example (surfacing gang and highway maintenance)
The person below is invented and the contractors are not real, but the numbers are the ones a highways contracts manager recognises. Notice that the cards come first, then the plant, then the tonnage.
Travis D. Kowalczyk
Highways Surfacing Operative / Paver Screwman
Preston, Lancashire · 07700 900164 | t.kowalczyk@email.com | Cat C licence, NRSWA, Chapter 8 trained, nights OK
Summary
Road worker with 9 seasons on county council and trunk road schemes, from drainage and trenching to mainline surfacing. Runs the screw on a 6-person surfacing gang laying 800 to 1,250 tonnes a day, sets out lane closures to Chapter 8, and holds a Category C licence with a clean record. NRSWA operative units, CSCS card, no lost-time injuries in nine years.
Experience
Surfacing Operative and Paver Screwman · Highways surfacing contractor (council and National Highways resurfacing schemes)
Mar 2022–Present (seasonal, March to December)
- Work in a 6-person surfacing gang laying 800 to 1,250 tonnes of hot asphalt a day on resurfacing contracts.
- Run the screw on mainline mats and held thickness within the ±6 mm specification across 38 lane miles last season, with no rejected areas.
- Set out and take down lane closures to Chapter 8: cones, cylinders, lamps, arrow boards and temporary signs on closures up to two miles.
- Control traffic with stop/go boards on single-lane closures; no work zone incursions on the gang in four seasons.
- Work night surfacing three to four nights a week from June to September, including 10-hour shifts and 2 a.m. mat laying.
- Trained 5 new operatives on raking and luting, longitudinal joint construction and avoiding hot-asphalt burns.
Highway Maintenance Operative · County council highways maintenance depot
Apr 2019–Mar 2022
- Repaired 1,800 to 2,200 potholes a season with cold-lay and hot asphalt across 340 lane miles of county roads.
- Drove a 6-wheel tipper on a Category C licence hauling 11 to 13 tonnes a load, and ran a skid steer and pedestrian roller.
- Gritted and ploughed a 42-mile winter route on 12-hour call-outs, averaging 20 call-outs a winter.
- Laid 180 metres of kerb and channel and reset 90 gully gratings over three seasons.
- Completed NRSWA operative units and confined space awareness training; no lost-time injuries in three years.
Groundworks Labourer · Civils and groundworks contractor, Lancashire
Jul 2017–Apr 2019
- Dug and backfilled 365 metres of surface water drainage trench with a 3-person gang, working inside trench boxes inspected by a competent person.
- Ran a breaker, plate compactor and cut-off saw on footway and dropped kerb replacements.
- Loaded 15 to 20 lorries of spoil a week and kept the gang's daily delivery tickets in order for the monthly valuation.
Education
BTEC Level 3 National Diploma in Construction
Further education college, Preston, 2017
NVQ Level 2 in Highways Maintenance (on-site assessment)
Training provider, Lancashire, 2021
Certifications
- Category C driving licence with Driver CPC and digital tachograph card, clean
- Traffic management operative training (Chapter 8), renewed 2024
- NRSWA street works operative units: signing, lighting and guarding; excavation; reinstatement, renewed 2025
- CSCS Blue Skilled Worker card, valid to 2028 (CITB HS&E test passed 2023)
- Asphalt plant and quarry site induction for loading access, 2023
- Emergency First Aid at Work, renewed 2025
Skills
What a highways supervisor or contracts manager checks first
Highway work is planned around a contract, a season and road space booked with the highway authority. The person hiring is filling a gang place for a job that starts soon, so they read for readiness, not for polish.
- Cards. CSCS, NRSWA operative or supervisor units, traffic management training, licence category, and anything else the client asks for on its contracts. These decide whether you can be on site at all.
- Plant you can run alone. Paver screw, roller, skid steer, tipper, planer, chipper. There is a difference between having been near a machine and having run it, so say which.
- Work type. Mainline surfacing, patching, planing, kerbing, drainage, safety barrier, white lining, structures. They are different gangs.
- Scale. Tonnes per day, lane miles, metres of drainage or kerb, gang size. That is how a contracts manager judges whether you have worked on their kind of job.
- Safety record. Time with no lost-time injuries, no incursions, no plant damage. Safety on live roads carries real weight because of what happens when it fails.
- Availability. Nights, weekends, working away with subsistence, and whether you can start now. The surfacing season is short and gangs fill fast.
“First thing I look for is a current traffic management ticket and a CSCS card, because without them the guy cannot step on my job. Second is whether he has run a screed or a roller or just carried a rake. Third is nights. That is the whole read, and it takes twenty seconds.”
Road worker personal statement and career objective examples
Three lines. Seasons worked, work type and cards in the first two, availability in the third. Use a career objective only if you have never worked on a road gang.
Road worker with 9 seasons on council and trunk road schemes, from drainage and trenching to mainline surfacing. Runs the screw on a 6-person gang laying 800 to 1,250 tonnes a day. Category C licence, NRSWA, Chapter 8 trained, CSCS card, available for nights and working away.
Highway maintenance operative with 6 years in a county council highways team covering 340 lane miles. Repairs 2,000 potholes a season, lays kerb and channel, and grits a 42-mile winter route on 12-hour call-outs. Category C licence, clean, and no lost-time injuries in six years.
Groundworks labourer with 2 years on housing sites, breaker, plate compactor and concrete work. CSCS Green card and NRSWA operative units, with a clean driving record and HGV training under way. Looking for an operative's job with a surfacing or highway maintenance gang.
Road worker bullets you can copy
The give-away on a weak road worker CV is bullets that could describe a labourer on any site in the country. Put the material, the machine and the quantity in every line.
| Weak (any labourer) | Strong (a road hand) |
|---|---|
| Assisted with surfacing operations. | Worked in a 6-person surfacing gang laying 800 to 1,250 tonnes of hot asphalt a day on resurfacing contracts. |
| Operated plant. | Ran the screw on mainline mats, holding thickness within the ±6 mm specification across 38 lane miles with no rejected areas. |
| Set up traffic management. | Set out and removed Chapter 8 lane closures up to two miles long, including cylinders, arrow boards and temporary signs. |
| Repaired roads and potholes. | Repaired 1,800 to 2,200 potholes a season with cold-lay and hot asphalt across 340 lane miles of county roads. |
Gritted and ploughed a 42-mile winter route on 12-hour call-outs, averaging 20 call-outs a winter with no vehicle damage.
Laid 180 metres of kerb and channel and reset 90 gully gratings over three seasons.
Worked night surfacing three to four nights a week from June to September, including 2 a.m. mat laying and rolling patterns under lights.
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Skills and plant for a road worker CV
Split this into work you can do and machines you can run. Be honest about the second list, because you will be asked to prove it on day one.
- Asphalt: mainline surfacing, regulating and binder courses, hand patching, joint construction, bond coat, compaction and rolling patterns
- Concrete: kerb and channel, footways and dropped kerbs, saw cutting, patching
- Earthworks and drainage: sub-base preparation, surface water drainage, gullies, trench and backfill, compaction
- Traffic management: Chapter 8 lane closures, stop/go boards, convoy working, arrow boards, temporary signs
- Maintenance: pothole repair, crack sealing, verge repair, grass cutting and siding out, gritting and snow clearance
- Setting out basics: level pegs, string line, laser level, reading a drawing and a cross section
Plant, named by type. Say "operated" only for machines you have run on a live job.
- Asphalt paver and screw
- Tandem and pneumatic tyre rollers
- Planer (as ground crew or operator, say which)
- Skid steer and mini excavator
- 6-wheel and 8-wheel tippers
- Plate compactor, trench rammer, pedestrian roller
- Gritter and snow plough
Two or three things about how you work, written the way a supervisor would say them.
- Turns up at 5 a.m. for a 6 a.m. start without being chased
- Works 10 and 12 hour shifts through summer heat next to a mat at 150°C
- Keeps the load count and delivery tickets straight for the valuation
Traffic management, NRSWA and licences: what to list and how
Cards are the fastest part of a road worker CV to get right, and the easiest to get wrong. Write the scheme or awarding body, the type and the date.
Traffic management operative training (Chapter 8), renewed 2024. Which course counts depends on the client: many council and utility jobs accept Chapter 8 courses from recognised providers such as Lantra, while some trunk road and motorway work needs Highway Sector Scheme (NHSS 12) training and registration, so check the advert before you write a course name.
Street works operative units under the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991, listing the units you hold (signing, lighting and guarding; excavation; reinstatement), renewed 2025. Supervisors need the supervisor units. Put the renewal year, because the cards have a fixed validity.
Category C licence, Driver CPC, digital tachograph card and a current D4 medical. If you hold C+E, say so; it changes which jobs you can do.
NVQ Level 2 in Highways Maintenance, 2021, and the CSCS card it supports. Apprenticeship details, if you have them, with the level and completion year.
Asphalt plant and quarry site induction for loading access, 2023. Excavation safety and CAT and Genny cable avoidance, employer-delivered.
- Usually required: a full driving licence, a CSCS card on most contractor sites, and traffic management training if you will work on the live side of the closure.
- Often required: NRSWA units for any work that digs up the road, and a Category C licence for tipper work, with the D4 medical that goes with it.
- Nice to have: an NVQ Level 2, roller or paver training on a CPCS or NPORS card, confined spaces, first aid.
- Do not list an expired card as current. Contractors check cards before you start, and one bad card costs you the shift and the reference.
Seasonal lay-offs, winter gaps and how to write them
Surfacing slows right down over the winter, and many gangs lay people off or let agency workers go until spring. Every contracts manager knows this, so a seasonal gap costs you nothing as long as you label it. What hurts is an unexplained hole that looks like a sacking.
- Write the season in the dates: "Mar 2022 to Present (seasonal, March to December)". Four words and the gap disappears.
- If you were laid off and taken back by the same contractor for several seasons, say so. Being taken back is a reference in itself.
- List your winter work as its own entry: gritting, plant yard maintenance, warehouse work, snow clearance contracts, indoor construction.
- If you took a winter with no work, one line is enough: "Seasonal lay-off, returned to the gang in March."
- Agency workers should group placements under the agency, with the contractors and dates underneath.
- Do not stretch dates to cover a winter. Contractors check with the last employer and dates are the first thing they compare.
Road worker CV with no experience
Getting onto a road gang is about turning up, staying safe and being able to work outdoors all day. You can prove most of that without a single day on a highway.
- 1Get a CSCS Green Labourer card and, if you can, NRSWA signing, lighting and guarding before you apply. Both are short courses, and together they move you ahead of most applicants.
- 2Say your driving licence status and whether your record is clean. Add HGV training if you have started it.
- 3List any outdoor, physical work: landscaping, roofing, removals, farm work, warehouse, tree surgery. Use hours, weights and weather.
- 4Name any machine you have run, even a small one: skid steer, ride-on mower, plate compactor, chainsaw, forklift.
- 5State your availability without hedging: early starts, nights, weekends, working away with subsistence.
- 6Apply to council highways teams as well as contractors. They take on staff for the winter gritting season and train.
Landscape Gardener, grounds maintenance contractor, 2024 to 2026. Worked 10-hour outdoor days all year, ran a skid steer and plate compactor, laid 75 m² of block paving a week, and gritted car parks on winter call-outs.
Physical worker with 2 years of outdoor experience, CSCS Green card and NRSWA signing, lighting and guarding, clean driving record and HGV training under way. Available for 5 a.m. starts, nights and working away. Looking for an operative's job with a surfacing or highway maintenance gang.
Format, length and the words in the job advert
- One page, always. Supervisors read on a phone in the van.
- Cards and licence in the header: phone number, town, licence category, CSCS, NRSWA, traffic management.
- Reverse chronological with months and years, and season notes on seasonal jobs.
- Name the contract type next to the employer: trunk road scheme, county council highways, utility reinstatement, private site work. It tells the reader which specifications you have worked to.
- No photo, no date of birth.
- Plain one-column PDF. Large contractors and most councils run applicant tracking systems, and council job portals are the strictest you will meet.
- Council applications often need every field filled in even if you attach a CV. Fill them anyway; incomplete applications are dropped without a call.
Mirror the advert's words. UK adverts use "highways operative", "road worker", "surfacing operative", "raker", "paver screwman", "roller driver", "traffic management operative", "Chapter 8", "NRSWA", "lane closure", "hot asphalt", "Cat C", "CSCS" and "NVQ Level 2". Use the advert's job title as your headline. If you worked on US road crews, the job was probably called road construction laborer; translate the titles, list your US cards (flagger, OSHA) once with the country, and say which UK cards you hold or are booked on.
Frequently asked questions
How do I write a CV for road work?
Put your cards in the header: CSCS, NRSWA units, traffic management, licence category. Then three to six bullets per job, each with a quantity: tonnes per day, lane miles, metres of drainage or kerb, potholes repaired, gang size. Add the plant you have actually run and your safety record. One page.
What skills should a highway maintenance operative put on a CV?
Pothole and crack repair, verge work, kerbs and drainage, Chapter 8 traffic management and stop/go boards, gritting and snow clearance, and the plant list: tipper, skid steer, plate compactor, pedestrian roller, saw. Add your licence category, NRSWA units and CSCS card, since those appear in almost every advert.
Do I need traffic management training to get hired on a road gang?
For most work next to live traffic, yes, and having it before you apply puts you ahead. Chapter 8 courses come from several recognised providers, and some trunk road and motorway work needs Highway Sector Scheme training instead, so check what the employer's contracts require rather than assuming one card works everywhere.
Do I need an HGV licence for road work?
Not for an operative's job, but a Category C licence opens tipper and gritter work and makes you more useful to keep on all year. If you are in training, say so on the CV. Include your Driver CPC and D4 medical status if you hold the licence.
How do I explain seasonal lay-offs on my CV?
Label them in the dates: "Mar 2022 to Present (seasonal, March to December)". If the same contractor took you back each spring, say that, because being taken back is a reference. List winter work such as gritting or plant yard maintenance as its own entry, and if you had a winter off, one honest line covers it.
How do I get a road worker job with no experience?
Get a CSCS Green card and NRSWA signing, lighting and guarding first, both of which are short courses. Then show outdoor physical work of any kind with hours and weights, name any machine you have run, and state that you can do 5 a.m. starts and nights. Apply to council highways teams as well as contractors, since they train.
How long should a road worker CV be?
One page. If you have ten or more seasons, keep the last three employers in full and compress older ones to a line each with contractor, dates and work type. Cards, plant and availability matter far more than length here.
Ready to write yours?
The builder suggests a summary from your own experience, then checks it against the job posting.
How this page was made: a first draft was written with AI assistance from cvplex's example library, then edited and fact-checked by the cvplex Careers Team. Examples are fictional composites; numbers are illustrative. Report an error via the editorial policy page.