Shoemaker / Cobbler CV Examples & Writing Guide

This sample works in a shop that repairs footwear and also makes a small number of bespoke pairs. The businesses are invented. Notice that the construction methods and the machines are named individually, because that is what a shop owner needs to know before hiring.

Almost every shoe repair shop in the country is short of trained bench hands. The owner is trying to work out how much they will have to teach you before you are earning your bench.

• Constructions you can handle alone: Goodyear welt, Blake, Blake rapid, cemented, vulcanised, stitchdown, hand welted. Say which you have actually done and roughly how many.
• Machines you can run and maintain. The sole stitcher and the finisher are the two that separate an experienced hand from a helper. Say whether you change your own blades, belts and needles.
• Volume and turnaround. Pairs a week and the promised turnaround you kept. A shop lives on ticket flow and knows exactly what that number means.
• Counter ability. Many shops need someone who can assess a repair, quote it accurately and tell a customer honestly when a shoe is not worth saving. That is worth saying on the page.

“Tell me the constructions and the machines. If someone writes that they rewelt a dozen boots a month and change their own stitcher needles, they can start on Monday. Most CVs I see just say shoe repair, and then it turns out they have only ever glued half soles.”

Two or three lines naming the work type, the volume and the machines. Pick the version closest to your bench.

Give every line a count and a construction. That is the difference between a CV that reads like a hobby and one that reads like a trade.

This is the section a shop owner actually reads. Be specific to the point of being technical.

• Constructions: Goodyear welt and rewelting, Blake and Blake rapid, cemented, vulcanised, stitchdown, moccasin, hand welted, Norwegian and storm welt.
• Repair work: full and half soles, heel blocks and top pieces, shank replacement, midsole rebuilds, toe taps, stretching, patching, zip replacement on boots, waterproofing.
• Making: measuring and last fitting, last modification, pattern cutting, clicking, skiving, closing on a post bed or patcher, lasting, sole attachment, edge trimming and burnishing.
• Machines: sole stitcher, McKay, finisher with grinder and brushes, patcher, post bed, skiver, heel nailer, heat activator, press. Say which ones you set up and maintain.
• Materials: calf, kip, shell cordovan, suede and nubuck, veg-tan, Vibram and leather soling, cork, celastic and thermoplastic stiffeners, adhesive types and thread weights.
• Finishing: dyeing and patina, edge dressing, colour matching, cleaning and conditioning, resealing stitched seams.

Shoemaking is not a licensed occupation in the UK. Most people learn on the bench or through a short trade course, so what you list is training and time rather than credentials.

• Apprenticeship. Name the shop, the master you trained under and the length. "Three-year bench apprenticeship" carries real weight in this trade.
• Trade courses. Short courses in footwear construction, pattern cutting or leatherwork are worth listing with the college or workshop and year.
• Orthopaedic footwear. If you want to work on prescription footwear modification, employers look for experience of working to an orthotist's or podiatrist's written prescription. Orthotists are a separate, HCPC-registered profession, so do not describe yourself as one; describe the modifications you make instead.
• Safety training. IOSH Working Safely, plus machine guarding and dust extraction training if you run a finisher. Small but it shows you understand the risk of the bench.
• Trade association membership. Membership of a shoe repair trade body is worth a line if you have it, especially for a shop-manager path.
• Portfolio. This trade hires on work, not paper. Bring photographs of before-and-after repairs and any bespoke pairs, and mention on the CV that a portfolio is available.

Shops hire bench helpers with no experience because there are very few trained shoemakers left. What they cannot teach is patience and hand steadiness, so show those.

1. 1Apply for the helper or trainee job rather than the shoemaker job. Say in your first line that you want to learn the bench and stay.
2. 2Use any handwork you have done: leathercraft, sewing, upholstery, woodwork, jewellery, model making, tailoring, saddlery. Name what you made and how long it took.
3. 3Show machine comfort from any trade: sewing machines, grinders, presses, bench tools. Shops care that you will not be frightened of a stitcher.
4. 4Include customer-facing work if you have it, because most shops need the bench hand to cover the counter sometimes.
5. 5Bring physical work to the interview. A repaired pair of your own boots or a hand-stitched leather item says more than a page of text.
6. 6Say your availability plainly, including Saturdays, which are the busiest counter day in most shops.

One page. Shoe repair shops are almost always small businesses, and the owner will read every word if the page is short enough to bother with.

• Use the advert's word: cobbler, shoe repairer, shoe repair technician, shoemaker, bench hand, footwear technician, leathergoods repair.
• Put constructions and machines in their own block so they are easy to scan.
• Mention that a portfolio of photographs is available, and bring it.
• No photo, no date of birth. PDF, single column, plain headings.
• If you also repair handbags, belts and luggage, say so. That work is often a large share of a shop's takings.