As a production worker, you’re the unsung hero of the products we use every day. You work with million dollar machines to help ensure hugely complex production systems work smoothly to provide the world with the things it needs. From cars to chickens, you’ll be expected to adapt to complex production practices.

All of this plays a big role in what recruiters will expect from your resume. You’ll need to demonstrate the qualities you’ll be expected to have in your role: great attention to detail, clear communication, and the dedication to take the time and do a job right. Fortunately for you, this guide breaks down how exactly you can do that. In the end, you’ll have the standout resume you need to succeed.

What you’ll learn in this guide:

• How to use resume examples to get started
• Why you should start by thinking about algorithms
• What recruiters look for in a production worker resume
• The best formatting rules to follow
• What to include about your education
• How you can make your achievements and skills stand out
• How to choose the best skills to include
• The best way to start a resume to make a strong first impression
• What to do if you have little or no experience
• How your resume can stand out

Production worker resume examples to get you started

A production line manager would never just throw a new production worker onto the floor without training and familiarity with the equipment and their role. So why would you start writing your resume without first getting an idea of what it should look like? If you’re relying on the resumes you’ve always created, it’s time to update the dull lists of jobs you’ve come to know.

These examples are here to show you what a modern production worker resume should look like. Pay attention to the design, formatting, and content. You can start your own resume by using them as inspiration and beginning to list the elements you’d like to incorporate. This will help you avoid the challenge of starting with a blank page.

[Examples]

What makes a great production worker resume?

As mentioned in the introduction, a production worker resume should demonstrate all the qualities you’ll be expected to have on the line. But in order to do that, your resume first needs to make it to a recruiter’s desk. Getting there requires overcoming the algorithms that stop many resumes from ever getting seen by a human at all.

Why you need to be thinking about ATS from the start

Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) are becoming ubiquitous. Whether you’re applying at a large or small company, there’s a good chance your resume will need to pass ATS. In short, ATS are computer algorithms which use artificial intelligence to scan your resume and decide whether a human recruiter should review it. The result is that around 70% of resumes never make it, even though many had the qualifications.

So how do you ensure your resume makes it past ATS? We’ve broken down what you need to do into 3 simple steps.

1. Only submit your resume as a .doc, .docx, or preferably a .pdf file. These are the three file types most ATS are designed to read. Submitting anything else will likely lead to automatic rejection.
2. Use a resume builder. Even when you’re submitting the right file type, often the way the data is structured within the file creates problems for ATS trying to read it. The best way to get around this potential problem is to only use a resume builder specifically designed to create ATS-optimized files.
3. Use the job description or ad as a guide. Because ATS work by being given a set of skills, experience, and qualifications to look for in a resume, your chances of getting accepted are better if you have those things. Luckily for you, the job description should list them, so make a list based on what you see there and try to ensure as many of those things are on your resume as possible.

How to write a production worker resume that will get you noticed by recruiters

Once your resume has sailed past ATS because you followed the steps above, you still need to convince a recruiter that you’re the right person for the job. Doing that starts with understanding the recruiter’s perspective.

Think about how frustrating it is to use a badly designed piece of equipment on a production line. Now think about how much more frustrating it is after a long shift. That’s about how recruiter’s feel when they’re reading piles of resumes and come to one which is too long, badly written, etc. Your resume needs to avoid these problems and make the recruiter’s job easy by being concise, well formatted, and written so it can be easily understood. If your resume is easy to read and understand, that recruiter will have a much more positive emotional response to it and will be less likely to want to reject it.

How should you format your resume?

One of the most important ways you can make sure your resume appeals to recruiters is to get the formatting right. The flow of information on your resume should be in a logical order, just like steps on an assembly line. Getting that order wrong creates confusion, questions, and a bad experience for recruiters.

Finding the right formatting comes down to following a few simple rules. The first is to put the more important information towards the top. A recruiter shouldn’t need to search through pages of text to find your standout skills or accomplishments. Importantly, getting your most compelling qualities out first helps recruiters form a positive first impression of you as a candidate and first impressions are incredibly powerful.

One element of determining what’s more important is recency. Your most recent work experience will be the most relevant, so put your work history in reverse chronological order, with your recent jobs at the top.

How long can a production worker resume be?

This is the top question production workers have about their resumes for good reason. You don’t want your resume to be too long and annoy or bore a recruiter, but you also don’t want it to seem short and light. Finding the right balance comes down to following a few simple steps. The first is to aim to have a resume that’s as short as possible. This comes back to recruiters, who have a lot of resumes to review and will appreciate you being brief.

That said, you still need to make sure your best information is on there. You can use this technique: for every section and piece of information on your resume, ask yourself whether it’s making your resume better. If it isn’t, you can safely remove it.

What should a production worker put on their resume?

While you shouldn’t automatically include all of these sections, these are the top ones you will want to consider.

• Resume objective or summary
• Work experience
• Achievements
• Education and certifications
• Hard skills
• Soft Skills

How to list your education, additional training and certifications

The biggest problem candidates make with their resume’s education section is that they create it on autopilot. 

The first thing to know is that you don’t necessarily need to talk about your education. If the job description doesn’t mention any specific requirements and you graduated high school or college more than a decade ago, your education isn’t going to be important enough to include. If the recruiter does want to know whether you’ve graduated, then they can always ask.

Eastside High School

2004-2008

-Varsity basketball

-3.4 GPA

Looking at this example, even if the job requires a high school diploma, it’s not likely to require basketball experience of a specific GPA. That’s why details like that can be left off. Compare that to the improved version below.

Eastside High School

Graduated 2008

Here, you only have the relevant details. All a recruiter needs to know is that you graduated and when. Even if you took classes relevant to your work, if it was more than 10 years ago then they’re aren’t worth bringing up. Instead, focus that valuable resume space on more impactful information.

One thing to consider is including trainings and certifications. These both demonstrate that you possess specific skills to recruiters and show that you’ve gone out of your way to obtain them. They’re one of the most effective ways to ensure your resume stands out.

Certifications and trainings to consider obtaining and including

• The American Welding Society’s (AWS) Certified Welder Certification
• The Associate for Supply Chain Management Certification in Production and Inventory Management (CPIM)
• The Association for Manufacturing Excellence (AME), Shingo Institute, and SME Lean Certification
• The Manufacturing Skill Standards Council (MSSC) Certified Production Technician (CPT) ® 4.0
• MSSC Certified Logistics Technician (CLT)
• MSSC Certified Forklift Technician (CFT)
• The Fabricators & Manufacturers Association (FMA)’s Precision Sheet Metal Operator Certification (PSMO)
• The International Fluid Power Society (IFPS) set of certifications
• The International Society of Automation (ISA) Certified Control Systems Technician (CCST) and Certified Automation Professional (CAP) certifications

How to make your skills more effective

Anyone can simply state that they’re “diligent” or “hard working” on their resume. Getting your skills to make an impression on a recruiter will require more than just listing them. What makes the difference is concrete examples which show that your skills go beyond simply saying what you can do. 

It’s not always possible to include these examples, but they’re powerful enough for the extra effort to be worth it. Let’s compare two examples to see this effect in action.

Attention to detail

Extremely important for anyone working on a production line, but listing the skill this way is hardly going to stand out to a recruiter.

Attention to detail

-Help reduce the error rate on assembly line electric motors by 4% in my sector.

By giving this example, a recruiter has something to attach this skill to in their mind and are far more likely to remember it and connect it with you as a candidate. It also shows that you pay attention to your numbers and strive for improvement, another important quality you want your resume to show.

Which hard skills should be mentioned on a production worker resume?

• Familiarity with OSHA safety standards and protocols
• Ability to lift 50 pounds
• Expertise with specific manufacturing equipment or processes
• Familiarity with factory logistics
• Welding
• Soldering
• Lathe machines
• Preventative maintenance
• Sanitation practices
• PLC programming

Which soft skills should be mentioned on a production worker resume?

• Working well on a team
• Attention to detail
• Physical stamina
• Reliability
• Written and oral communication

How to highlight your most important achievements

The same techniques you just used to highlight your skills are just as important for your achievements. Being specific about what you did and what the result was will sound far more impressive to a recruiter than following the standard route of mentioning your responsibilities. These two examples will help illustrate the difference.

Responsible for final stage assembly at the BMW US Manufacturing Plant in Greer, SC

While this is an important area of responsibility, writing it this way doesn’t tell a recruiter much. After all, this person could have done a terrible job and been fired for incompetence and this statement would be just as true. That’s why phrasing your achievements this way doesn’t work.

Led a team of 18 responsible for quality control at final stage assembly of the Z4 at the BMW plant in Greer, SC resulting in a 9% decrease in defects after 1 year.

By phrasing the achievement this way we now know how many people this person managed and what they were able to achieve in the role. Even mentioning specific details like the car involved will help this example be more memorable for a recruiter. While you don’t always have access to information about the results of your work, it is important to mention it whenever possible.

What are the differences between resume objective and summary? Where do I use which?

Earlier we talked about the importance of putting the most impactful information on your resume at the top. The challenge is how to practically do that. That’s where resume objectives and summaries come in. These sections are ideal for giving you a flexible area to make a strong first impression by drawing a recruiter’s attention to your best attributes.

But which one should you use? The main difference between them is in length. A resume objective is a single sentence while a summary can be several sentences long. Choosing between them comes down to deciding how much you need to explain in this section. For example, if you’re also submitting a cover letter then an objective should be enough as you can explain anything else you need there.

How to write a resume objective

The primary aim of a resume objective is to fit a lot of useful information into a single sentence that’s still easily readable. It should explain who you are and what you aim to achieve with this resume. If a recruiter needs to re-read your objective (or summary for that matter) to understand what you meant, you’ve already made a bad first impression. The following two examples will show what this looks like in action.

Experienced welder hoping to work at your factory.

This resume objective falls flat. There’s no sense of what experience the candidate has and the vague “your factor” language makes it clear that they did not create a custom resume for this position (which is an important way to improve your chance of getting hired). What’s communicated here is that this candidate isn’t going to try very hard. Now let’s see an improved version for contrast.

AWS Certified welder looking to bring 7 years experience on automotive production lines to Toyota Motor Manufacturing Mississippi.

With this example, we learn a lot about the candidate in just a few words. Right away the recruiter knows they’re certified, experienced, that they customized their resume for this position, and that they took the time to do a good job. This candidate will stand out right away.

How to write a resume summary

Just because a resume summary can be a few sentences doesn’t mean it should ramble on. It should aim to be just as information dense as the resume objective example above. 

After 4 years working in the food service industry I’m looking to advance my career by working as a production worker at your facility. My experience working long hours under pressure to produce consistent results for customers will translate well into the factory setting. I’m happy to answer any questions you may have about my application at (xxx) xxx-xxxx.

While explaining a career change is a good use for a resume summary, this one makes a few mistakes. First, it’s written in the first person. This makes it sound unprofessional, as resumes should be written in the third person. Explaining how the past experience will help them as a production worker is great, but it then wastes valuable space writing about availability to answer questions. Now let’s compare an improved version.

Food service worker looking to apply experience working long hours under high pressure to produce consistent results to a position as a production worker at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Mississippi. Currently pursuing a Lean Certification from AME.

Here, the relevance of the candidate’s past experience is still emphasized, but it’s framed more professionally. In addition, the candidate took the time to mention that they were actively pursuing a relevant certification, an indication that they take the career change seriously and are generally proactive.

How to write a production worker resume with little to no experience

If you’re trying to get your first job as a production worker, it may be hard to follow a lot of the advice about giving specific examples. After all, if you’ve never been a production worker before, what examples can you point to? But don’t worry, because you can prove you have critical skills without experience in the industry.

For example, you can demonstrate reliability by mentioning your attendance record at a previous job or your experience working on other types of teams to show you can do that well. Employers know that they can train you in the technical skills needed to be a production worker, but the soft skills required are harder to come by. So, by emphasizing those soft skills, you’re giving yourself a leg up against other candidates with more experience. The previous resume summary example shows one way to do this effectively.

How to make your resume stand out

If you’ve followed all of our guidance up to this point, you’re already set to have a resume recruiters will notice. But there’s one element of a standout resume we haven’t mentioned so far: design. Recruiters see a lot of resumes in a day, so if you can use great design to stand out from the crowd, you’ll really be improving your chances.

Design is also about making your resume easier to read. Huge blocks of text can strain a recruiter’s eyes, but well designed sections which break that text up makes reading your resume much easier (something a recruiter will greatly appreciate). But if you’re not a designer, how can you get access to design like this?

Why you need a resume builder to succeed

With so many elements you need to consider and get right, you need all the help you can get crafting the perfect production worker resume. That’s where a resume builder comes in. These programs have been specifically designed with people like you in mind. They give you access to top quality design templates, ensure your resume is ATS-optimized, and generally make the whole process simpler.

But choosing from all the options out there is hard. Fortunately, Resumebuild.com makes it easy. It’s been built from the ground up to give you access to all the powerful resume building tools you need to create a production worker resume that gets you hired. Check it out for yourself and see why resume builders have become standard tools in the job-seeker’s tool belt.