Is having a good, solid, great-looking resume when applying for a professional technician job important? 

No.

It’s  extremely important!

Think of your resume as the ideal way to make a good first impression with a potential employer. It’s also your best shot at getting an all-important interview, which moves you up the line of candidates hoping to land the job you seek.

A rock-solid resume ought to:

• Be concise but thorough
• Deliver a total picture of you and your qualifications
• Outline your skills as a technician but also your attributes as an employee
• Not oversell
• Be clean and error free

A well-constructed resume winds up being more than the sum of its various parts.

And, those parts include:

Contact Information

• Include your full name, of course, where you live; city and state are fine. Include your phone number and email address.

Summary and Objective

• This ought to be a brief summary of the skills you have, how long you have worked as a technician and in what kind of settings. Briefly mention what you hope to achieve in the field.

Education

• Simply list the school/college you attended and the diploma/certificate/degree you earned.

Work History

• This ought to be in reverse chronological order beginning with your current or most recent position. Include the name of the company or dealership, where it’s located and the dates of your employment.
• Then add a bullet list of what you did there. Include the sorts of repairs you did, the types and brands of equipment you worked on, and any specialized tools you may have used.
• If you’re a veteran technician with a long work history, there is no need to list every job you have ever held going back to your first. Include the most recent three or four positions.
• Contrarily, if you are a beginner fresh out of a high school program or are a new college graduate, this may be a much shorter portion of your resume. But, be sure to include any internships, part-time jobs you have held, or even if you have worked as a volunteer.

Certifications

• This is an especially important part of the resume of a professional technician. Be sure to include if you’re ASE certified, have OEM certificates, any specialized training you have attended, and the in-house training provided by employers.

Skills

• There are two parts to this portion of the resume: hard skills (the actual work you do, i.e. engine rebuilds, electrical systems, using diagnostic tools, etc.) and soft skills (working with customers, mentoring other technicians, being a team player, attention to detail). Both are important, and show you are a good technician and a good employee.
• If you have been in the business for any amount of time, your resume most likely could be pretty detailed. However, do your best to keep it to just one page; two pages at the most. That may be difficult, but keep in mind the person reading it – your potential future employer – is busy and appreciates brevity. This is a good chance for you to show you can meet their expectations.

Final Tips

• Use a professional-looking template; easily found online
• Print it on good quality, plain, white paper
• Be sure it is error free. Running spellcheck is not enough; have someone else give it a read to spot anything you might have missed
• Do your best to tailor it to the specific job and potential employer; look at their website and social media pages to get a sense of their culture and style
• Lastly, always keep your resume up to date; you never know when you may need it