Home Upholsterer Resume template
Upholsterer resume template
A clean starting structure with example content grounded in what upholsterers 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 upholsterers should default to, since most Australian recruiters and ATS software expect it.
Professional summary
Upholsterer with a trade background in furniture and vehicle trimming, comfortable moving between restoration work and production runs. Skilled at cutting and sewing covers, installing padding and springs, and fitting finished upholstery to frames and seats. Known for neat seams, durable finishes and clear communication with clients.
Key skills
- Hand and power tool work
- Fabrication and finishing
- Craft and handmade production
- Quoting and estimating
- Inventory management
- Industrial sewing machine
- Pneumatic staple gun
- Foam cutter
- Hot knife
- CAD pattern software
- Attention to detail
- Customer service
Experience: example bullet points
- Stripped and reupholstered a full lounge suite, replacing webbing and padding and cutting new covers to match the original piping.
- Sewed and fitted seat covers for a batch of 20 vehicle seats, meeting the workshop's finish check on the first pass.
- Measured and cut fabric and foam for custom orders, using nested patterns to get the most from each roll.
- Installed springs and padding on dining chairs and armchairs, adjusting tension so each piece sat level and comfortable.
- Repaired worn upholstery on a set of club chairs, matching the existing stitch line and returning them to daily use.
- Quoted restoration jobs by breaking down labour, materials and drying time, then tracked the estimate against the final job.
- Managed foam, fabric and consumable stock, flagging reorders before a job was held up.
Education
Certificate III in Upholstery or an upholstery traineeship is the common pathway, with some entering after Year 12 and learning the trade on the job.
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.
- Certificate III in Upholstery
- MSF30713
- furniture restoration
- automotive upholstery
- marine trimming
- industrial sewing machine
- pneumatic staple gun
- foam cutting
- pattern making
- WHS
- Australian Standards
- leatherwork
- fabric cutting
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.