Home Metal Trades Assistant Resume template
Metal Trades Assistant resume template
A clean starting structure with example content grounded in what metal trades assistants actually do day to day, not generic filler. Download and replace the bracketed placeholders with your own details.
Which resume format should you use?
Reverse chronological
You have a steady work history. This is the format almost every recruiter and ATS expects by default.
Functional
You're changing fields or have gaps in your employment. Leads with skills rather than a job-by-job timeline.
Combination
You're early career or have worked consistently but for only a few employers. Blends a skills summary with a shorter chronological history.
This template uses the reverse chronological format: the one most metal trades assistants should default to, since most Australian recruiters and ATS software expect it.
Professional summary
Metal trades assistant with hands-on experience supporting welders, boilermakers and fitters across workshop and site-based fabrication work. Comfortable cutting and grinding stock to size, positioning workpieces, and keeping tools, machines and work areas safe and ready. Looking to build on fabrication and fitting skills in a team that runs jobs to schedule and takes safety seriously.
Key skills
- Cutting and grinding metal stock to size
- Hand and power tool work
- Positioning and holding workpieces for welders, boilermakers and fitters
- Fabrication and finishing
- Reading job drawings and specifications
- Tool and machine cleaning and maintenance
- Overhead gantry crane and lifting gear operation
- Forklift operation (LF licence)
- Angle grinder and oxy-acetylene cutting
- Precision measurement with vernier calipers
- Worksite safety management, SWMS and PPE compliance
- Physical stamina and dexterity
Experience: example bullet points
- Supported welders and boilermakers on fabrication jobs by cutting, grinding and positioning steel stock to marked dimensions, keeping each bay supplied so weld runs continued without stopping.
- Moved raw material and finished components around the workshop using the overhead gantry crane and forklift, cutting double handling between the cutting bay and the assembly area.
- Set up and packed down work areas each shift, checking tools and equipment before use and tagging out anything faulty, which reduced unplanned downtime on the shared grinders and drills.
- Read job drawings and specifications to confirm cut lengths and hole positions before starting, which lowered rework on fabricated frames and brackets.
- Kept housekeeping up across the workshop, clearing walkways, leads and gas bottles so daily safety inspections could be signed off without follow-up actions.
- Assisted with basic maintenance on workshop plant under supervision, including checking fluid levels, replacing discs and reporting faults to the leading hand.
Education
Certificate II in Engineering (MEM20422) or a related VET pre-employment pathway, with most skills learned on the job; a current White Card and a forklift licence (LF) are commonly required, and tickets such as dogging, working at heights or confined space help in site-based roles.
Keywords an ATS is likely to scan for
Applicant tracking systems match your resume against terms in the job ad before a person ever sees it. Only include the ones that actually apply to your experience, but if a term below matches something you've done, use the same wording the job ad uses.
- White Card
- forklift licence (LF)
- Certificate II in Engineering MEM20422
- WHS
- SWMS
- PPE
- hand and power tools
- angle grinder
- oxy-acetylene cutting
- overhead gantry crane
- dogging
- rigging
- working at heights
- confined space
- metal fabrication
- boilermaker
- fitter
- vernier calipers
- job drawings and specifications
- housekeeping
- Australian Standards
- trades assistant
Getting past ATS screening
- Match the specific skills, certifications and terms used in the job ad, not just your own wording for the same thing.
- Keep formatting simple: no tables, text boxes, columns, headers/footers or graphics. Parsers frequently drop content placed in these.
- Submit as .docx or PDF unless the job ad specifies otherwise.
- Use standard section headings (Experience, Education, Skills) rather than creative alternatives.
- List your core skills and technical competencies in their own section so a keyword scan can find them instantly.
This is a starting point, not a guarantee of interviews. Tailor every bullet point to your own real experience and the specific job ad.