Joiner resume template
A clean starting structure with example content grounded in what joiners 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 joiners should default to, since most Australian recruiters and ATS software expect it.
Professional summary
Trade-qualified joiner who works confidently across both the workshop bench and the site fix-out, producing doors, windows, staircases and cabinetry to drawing. Comfortable reading architectural plans, setting out accurate components and installing them so they line up and close properly first time. Looking to bring that precision to a joinery team that takes finish quality seriously.
Key skills
- Craft and handmade joinery production
- Hand and power tool work, including router, plane and chisel work
- Reading and interpreting technical drawings and specifications
- Fabrication, sanding and surface finishing
- Installation, adjustment and maintenance of fitted joinery
- Set-out and measuring to millimetre tolerances
- Fixed machinery operation and daily pre-start checks
- Cabinet Vision
- Microvellum
- AutoCAD
- SketchUp
- Attention to detail
Experience: example bullet points
- Set out, machined and assembled door frames, window reveals and kitchen carcasses from architectural drawings, holding components within a millimetre so they closed and hung correctly on first install
- Ran the joinery package across a multi-unit residential development, installing doors and hardware to each dwelling and completing the fix-out without defect call-backs
- Built cutting schedules in Cabinet Vision before each production batch, which kept the panel saw to a single setup per run and reduced offcut waste
- Installed staircases and fitted cabinetry on site, checking level, square and alignment against the drawings before handover
- Maintained fixed machinery and hand tools, completing daily pre-start checks and keeping the workshop compliant with site safety requirements
Education
Certificate III in Joinery (CPC31920), completed through an apprenticeship with off-the-job training at TAFE or an equivalent RTO, plus a current White Card (CPCCWHS1001).
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.
- CPC31920 Certificate III in Joinery
- White Card (CPCCWHS1001)
- National Construction Code
- AS 1684 residential timber framing
- Work Health and Safety Act
- SafeWork or WorkSafe state regulator
- Apprenticeship
- TAFE
- Shopfitting
- Fix-out
- Set-out
- CNC machining
- Cabinet Vision
- Microvellum
- CAD/CAM
- Site installation
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.