Plastering ranges from three-coat stucco on a new build to lime repair on a listed facade, and contractors hire for the specific system. Name the systems, the substrates and the finishes you have run, and say whether the work was new or restoration.
Plasterer with 14 years in traditional three-coat stucco, lime plaster restoration and EIFS. Runs scratch, brown and finish coats on lath and works on historic adobe and lime buildings under conservation guidance.
Here is how to write your own, and what actually gets you the call in this trade.
The first pass answers two practical questions: can you legally do this work, and are you free to start. A foreman with a job beginning next week reads for the licence, the current tickets and the availability, and everything else on the page waits behind those.
Plastering is usually unlicensed at the worker level, with contractor licensing set by state. Apprenticeship through the plasterers and cement masons trade route gives documented hours and is the recognised training. Site requirements include OSHA 10 or 30-Hour Construction, scaffold user training under OSHA 1926.451, and silica awareness. EIFS work often needs manufacturer system training for warranty.
Plastering contractors hire for the system in front of them. Three-coat stucco over lath, EIFS and interior veneer plaster are each asked about by name, and restoration work is a separate conversation involving lime mixes and conservation requirements. A foreman will ask how you handle cure times, control joints and weather, since those cause the cracking that brings you back. Trial work on a sample panel is common.
Describe the work in the units the trade uses: square footage, linear feet, tonnage, service calls per day, machines run, crew size. Add safety record and callback rate if you have them, because on a job site those are worth as much as speed. If you have run a crew or trained apprentices, say so plainly — that is the difference between a hand and a lead.
A foreman reading this has a job starting Monday. Put your licence class, your certifications with their dates, and the equipment you can operate at the very top — above the work history — because that is the information that decides whether you get the call. Save the paragraph-style summary for one or two lines at most.
Apprentice to journeyman plasterer to foreman, then superintendent or contractor. Restoration and decorative plaster is a specialism that commands its own rate and brings work from architects rather than builders.
Check every certification date is current and every licence number is right, since these are verified and an expired ticket ends an application. Keep the file simple: one column, no graphics, no tables. Our free ATS checker will confirm it parses, which matters because large contractors and staffing agencies screen automatically.
Licence class, current tickets with their dates, and the equipment you can operate — all of it above the work history — then jobs described in the units the trade uses, your safety record, and any crew or apprentice responsibility. One page, one column, no graphics.
Which tickets are required depends on the trade, the jurisdiction and the site, and the posting sets it out. Whatever you hold matters more than anything else on the page, so list every one with its issue and expiry date — these are verified, and an expired certification ends an application regardless of the work history behind it.
Hiring in the trades is fast and often informal — a call, a short conversation, sometimes a day on site to see how you work. Referral and reputation count for more than in most fields, so how you leave one job affects the next one.
Your licence class, your current tickets, and when you can start. A foreman with a job beginning next week reads for whether you are legally able to do the work and free to do it, and the rest of the page waits behind those two answers.
The usual route runs from apprentice to journey level to lead hand or foreman, and from there into supervision, estimating or running your own work. Crew leadership and apprentice training are the lines that show you are ready for that step.
One page. Employers in this field read quickly and often on a phone, and a second page rarely gets opened. Cut old short-term roles before you cut certifications or equipment experience.
Use the structure and the way each achievement is phrased, but write your own content. The names and employers here are fictional, and a resume describing work you did not do will not survive an interview.
Start from this layout, edit in a live preview with an ATS score as you type, and download as PDF, Word or image — free.
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