Sheet Metal Worker Resume Examples & Writing Guide

This is a resume for a journeyman sheet metal worker with fourteen years, split between shop fabrication and HVAC duct installation. The name and companies are made up. Every job entry names the machines and the material, because that is what a shop foreman reads for.

This trade splits into several jobs that share one title. The person reading your resume already knows which one they are filling, and they are checking whether you match it.

• Which side of the trade. Shop fabrication, field installation, architectural sheet metal (roofing, flashing, wall panels), service and duct cleaning, or industrial and food equipment. Say it plainly.
• Machines you have actually run, with sizes: a 10 ft shear, a 12 ft press brake, a CNC plasma table, a Pittsburgh lock former, a turret punch. "Operated shop equipment" tells a foreman nothing.
• Materials and gauges. 26 gauge galvanized duct work and 10 gauge stainless food equipment need different hands. Give the range you have worked.
• Whether you weld, and on what. GMAW, GTAW, spot welding, brazing, on steel, stainless or aluminum. A certified welder on stainless is worth noticeably more in this trade.
• Layout ability. Anyone can bend a part off a printed pattern. Developing a transition by triangulation from a mechanical drawing is what separates a journeyman from a helper.
• Apprenticeship status and card. Whether you completed a registered apprenticeship, which year you turned out, and whether you carry a journeyman card.

“I get resumes that say fabricated and installed sheet metal products. That could be a duct shop or a roofing crew. Tell me the machines, the gauges, whether you weld stainless and whether you can lay out a transition, and I know within ten seconds if you fit my opening.”

Add a short block near the top called Equipment and Materials. It is unusual on a resume and it works, because it lets a foreman match you to the opening without reading the whole page.

Three or four lines. Side of the trade, years, machines, materials, welding and apprenticeship status. Use an objective only if you are applying to an apprenticeship or coming in from another trade.

The weakest sheet metal bullets read like a dictionary entry: cut, formed and installed sheet metal products. Put the machine, the material, the volume and the result into every line.

Group them into machines, materials, layout, joining and field work. A grouped list lets a foreman match you to a specific opening in a couple of seconds.

• Machines: shear, press brake, box and pan brake, slip and initial pinch rolls, turret punch, CNC plasma or laser table, Pittsburgh lock former, roll former, notcher, beader, hydraulic press, English wheel if you have done custom body or architectural work.
• Joining: GMAW (MIG), GTAW (TIG), spot welding, soft soldering for architectural copper and gutters, brazing, riveting, self-drilling fasteners, sealants and mastic, drive cleats and S-slips.
• Layout and drawing: parallel line, radial line and triangulation pattern development, bend and hem allowances, blueprint and mechanical drawing reading, field measuring, isometric sketching, AutoCAD and Autodesk Fabrication.
• Materials: galvanized steel from 26 to 10 gauge, stainless 304 and 316, aluminum, copper, zinc, cold rolled steel, Kynar-finished panel stock, insulation and duct liner.
• Field skills: hangers and trapeze supports, fire and smoke dampers, VAV boxes, grilles and diffusers, duct leakage and pressure testing, air balance basics, working from lifts, coordination with pipefitters and electricians on tight ceilings.
• Safety and equipment: OSHA training, fall protection, respirator fit and silica awareness, hearing and eye protection, forklift and scissor lift, rigging and material handling, lockout and tagout.
• Soft skills worth stating specifically: showing up for a 6 a.m. shop call, keeping a punch list clean, and telling the foreman that a fitting will not fit before you install it.

Most people enter this trade through a registered apprenticeship, either a union joint program or a contractor program. Those applications look at math, mechanical aptitude, attendance and whether you can pass a physical and a drug screen more than at a polished resume.

1. 1Get OSHA 10-Hour Construction before you apply. It is cheap, takes two days online and removes the easiest reason to pass you over.
2. 2Lead with anything that shows hand skills, measurement and machines: high school shop or drafting, welding electives, auto body, farm work, small engine repair, a job shop, military maintenance work.
3. 3Say your math level plainly. Apprenticeship entrance tests cover fractions, decimals, area and basic geometry, so a line such as "completed algebra and geometry, comfortable with fractions to 1/16" helps.
4. 4Add a driver's license, reliable transport and the ability to lift 50 to 75 lb repeatedly. All three get asked about.
5. 5If you have shop time already, name the machines and the gauges even if the volume was small. Two years on a press brake in 22 gauge is real experience.
6. 6One page. No photo, no date of birth. Apply to the local joint apprenticeship program and to non-union contractors at the same time; both take helpers.

One page. Two pages only if you have run crews on large mechanical projects and need a project list. One column, standard headings, no photo, no graphics. Save as PDF unless the contractor's portal asks for Word.

• Order: contact, summary, equipment and materials block, experience, skills, certifications, apprenticeship and education.
• Mirror the posting: sheet metal worker, fabricator, duct, SMACNA, press brake, shear, plasma, Pittsburgh, gauge, galvanized, stainless, TIG, MIG, spot weld, layout, triangulation, blueprint, hanger, damper, VAV, journeyman, apprentice, OSHA 30.
• Add a short project list if you do commercial work: building type, tonnage or pounds of duct, crew size, year. Superintendents read it as a track record.
• Cover layoffs between projects with a line such as "project completion layoff, recalled" rather than leaving a gap.
• US conventions: no photo, no date of birth, no marital status. If you carry a union card, name the local and the year you turned out.
• File name: ray-sandoval-sheet-metal-worker-resume.pdf.

The older term for this trade is tinsmith or tinner, and in the UK and Ireland the job is often advertised as a sheet metal worker or sheet metal fabricator with a CV rather than a resume. For US contractors, keep the resume conventions on this page and put the word tinsmith in only if the posting uses it.