Quick painter resume guide to help jumpstart your career

A 5-step resume guide for professional painters covering how to properly craft and write a resume tailored for the job. Topics covered include formatting, how to write a summary, important skills to include, optimizing work experience sections, and properly listing education. 

Pursuing a career as a professional painter is a respectable and essential occupation. When it comes to labor-intensive jobs such as painting, it is crucial to highlight both your experience and skillset to employers to help you stand out from the competition. To do so, you must focus on creating the optimal resume that showcases your best qualities and strengths. 

In this guide, we will take you through 5 necessary steps for crafting the ideal resume as a professional painter. From formatting to writing tips, we cover it all.

Keep reading to learn how to: 

• Choose a resume format that fits your experience as a painter
• Write a compelling resume summary that captures your strengths as a painter
• Select skills that reflect your greatest and most relevant abilities 
• Optimize your work experience section and job descriptions 
• Properly list your education and certifications as a professional painter

Spray Painter Resume Sample

Painter Resume Example

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1. Choose a resume format that fits your experience as a painter

When choosing a resume format, there are 3 main options for you to choose between: reverse-chronological, functional, or hybrid. 

The format that is best suited for you is highly dependent on your experience level. In most cases, you want to opt for the reverse-chronological format whenever possible, as this is the format employers are most familiar with. However, if you lack relevant experience, you may need to choose one of the alternatives.

Here is a quick breakdown of each format and when to use them: 

• Reverse-chronological: This resume format focuses mainly on your work experience, listing your most recent job first and working backward from there. The RC format is best suited for applicants who have enough work experience to fill more than half a page of a resume, generally between 3 to 5 jobs.
• Functional: The functional resume takes the focus away from work experience, instead emphasizing sections such as education, skills, or other elements of the resume. This format is well-suited to applicants who are recent graduates of either high school or college and do not yet have a long list of relevant work history. 
• Hybrid: The hybrid resume combines elements of both functional and reverse-chronological resumes. This format is helpful for applicants who have some relevant work experience, but not enough to fill an entire RC resume. The hybrid format is often used by those who are either switching career paths or have large gaps in their resume. 

2. Write a compelling summary that captures your strengths as a painter

Your resume summary comes at the top of the document and is a short statement that helps introduce you as an applicant to a potential employer.

As a professional painter, your summary is an excellent opportunity to highlight your best strengths that qualify you for the position and set you apart from other applicants. As you write your summary, consider how the details you include might compel or dissuade an employer from reading further. 

Check out the below example of an incorrect resume summary and how to correct it: 

What's wrong with this example? In this example, the applicant makes a critical mistake by saying they are “fairly new to the industry.” You should always strive to emphasize the experience and skills you possess rather than highlighting the fact that you lack relevant experience. Additionally, the applicant mentions they have a background in construction. This detail should be expanded upon further. 

Why is this better? In this example, the applicant provides a much higher level of specificity in regards to the types of skills they possess and how many years of experience they have. Though they only have one year’s experience as a painter, they have relevant prior experience in construction which helps to show they are familiar with the industry. 

3. Use your skills sections to show off a wide range of talents

As a painter, you must possess both strong physical capabilities and communication abilities. When listing skills on your resume, it is key to showcase both types of skills, also known as technical (hard) skills and interpersonal (soft) skills. 

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4. Optimize your work experience section and job descriptions

In your work experience section is where you will include details regarding your relevant experience and past jobs. As you write these entries, be sure to include specific examples and quantifiable details that help showcase any of your best strengths or accomplishments

5. Properly list your education as a professional painter

You should always include your highest level of education on your resume when possible.

Even if this is a high school graduation or GED, be sure to include the right relevant details such as which school you attended and when you graduated.

As a professional painter, you may be required to have specific certifications or licenses depending on the state you reside in and the specialization you are pursuing (industrial, residential, etc.). If you have such requirements in your state, make sure your education section lists all the proper credentials needed.