Welder Resume Example & Guide
A real example, 8 bullet points you can copy, salary ranges, and the specific things that get welder resumes rejected.
Welding resumes are certification documents first. Process, position, material, thickness, and the code you are qualified under — AWS D1.1, ASME Section IX, API 1104 — determine exactly what work you can legally perform, and a welding resume without them cannot be evaluated.
Weld quality is the second layer and it is measurable. X-ray and ultrasonic pass rates, repair rates, and inspection results are tracked on every code job, and a welder with a 98% radiographic pass rate has something concrete that most applicants do not state.
What hiring managers look for in a welder resume
- Certifications by process, position, material, and code
- X-ray, UT, or visual inspection pass rates
- Material and thickness range worked
- Blueprint and weld symbol reading
- Safety record and site certifications
Certifications and licences for welder roles
List these near the top of your resume. In this field they are eligibility requirements, not accomplishments — a recruiter cannot advance you without them.
- AWS D1.1 Structural Welding
- ASME Section IX (pressure piping/vessels)
- API 1104 (pipeline)
- OSHA 10 / 30
- Confined Space Entry
Welder salary range
Approximate US ranges for guidance when you are setting expectations or preparing to negotiate. Actual pay varies considerably by city, employer size, and industry.
Entry
$38K – $52K
0–2 years
Mid
$52K – $72K
3–7 years
Senior
$72K – $105K
8+ years
Welder resume example
A Plain Text layout filled with sample content. Every template on NavPeer is built to parse cleanly through applicant tracking systems — no text boxes, no sidebars that scramble your work history.
Welder resume summary example
Three to four sentences at the top of the page, written in the first person without saying “I”. Rewrite it for every application — the summary is the cheapest place to show you read the job description.
8 welder resume bullet points you can adapt
Copy any of these and replace the specifics with your own. The numbers here are realistic examples, not claims to borrow — swap in what actually happened, because you will be asked about every figure on your resume.
- Hold current qualifications in GTAW and SMAW, 6G position, carbon and stainless steel from schedule 10 through schedule 80, to ASME Section IX.
- Maintain a 98.4% radiographic pass rate across approximately 1,400 tested welds over 4 years, against a project acceptance threshold of 95%.
- Welded pressure piping for a refinery turnaround including 4-inch through 12-inch carbon steel headers, completed on schedule during a 21-day outage window.
- Fabricate and fit structural assemblies from isometric and shop drawings, including layout, cutting, bevelling, and fit-up before welding.
- Perform stainless steel GTAW with back purging on sanitary and high-purity piping to food-grade finish requirements.
- Reduced weld repair rate on a fabrication cell from 7% to 1.8% by identifying an inconsistent joint preparation practice and standardising bevel angle and land.
- Maintain a zero lost-time-incident record across 10 years including confined space and elevated work under permit.
- Trained 4 apprentice welders on technique, joint preparation, and code requirements, all of whom passed their certification tests.
ATS keywords for this role
Applicant tracking systems match literal strings. Work the ones that genuinely apply to you into your summary, skills section, and bullets — and never into white text or a hidden block, which every modern system detects and most employers treat as disqualifying.
Section-by-section breakdown
List certifications as a table
Process, position, material, thickness, code, and date. This is the most important section on the resume and a clear tabular layout lets a hiring foreman read it in seconds.
Give your inspection pass rate
Radiographic or ultrasonic pass rate and repair rate. On code work these are tracked, and a strong number is directly persuasive in a way nothing else on the page is.
State materials and thickness range
Carbon, stainless, aluminium, alloy, and the thickness range. Welding aluminium and welding heavy carbon plate are different skills that a generic 'welding' claim conflates.
Core skills for this role
A human reviewer scans this section to decide whether to read the rest. Keep it to the skills you would be comfortable being interviewed on in depth.
Mistakes that sink welder resumes
These are the failure modes specific to this role — not general resume advice you have already read a dozen times.
- Listing 'welding' without processes, positions, and codes — the resume cannot be evaluated at all.
- Expired certifications presented as current. They are verifiable and this is a serious credibility failure.
- No quality data, when it is tracked on every code project.
- Omitting blueprint and weld symbol reading, which separates a welder from a welder-fitter.
- Ignoring safety certifications, which are frequently required for site access.
Frequently asked questions
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