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- 01
OSHA 30-Hour Construction, Outreach Training Program completion card, 2023
Postings that want safety training name OSHA 10 or 30; this line uses the card's real name and does not call it a license.
- 02
Place and vibrate concrete on elevated decks for a 6-story mixed-use building, 40 to 120 yards a pour on a 9-person crew
Yards per pour, building type and crew size tell a concrete super the scale you have worked at.
- 03
Hired for an 8-month elementary school addition; laid off at turnover with the rest of the laborer crew
A short job that ended with the project reads as normal once the reason is on the page.
- 04
Requested back by 4 of the 6 contractors; Marlowe Yard Builders hired direct from an assignment
Being asked back is the proof of reliability that a list of agency jobs otherwise hides.
- 05
Walk the active deck each morning to check guardrail and hole covers; the crew is at 410 days without a recordable injury
Days without a recordable is the safety number sites track, tied to something you do each day.
What supers look for in a construction worker resume
- An OSHA card by name. One general contractor's laborer posting lists OSHA 10 and CPR/First Aid as preferred; another required OSHA 30.
- Flagger certification for any road or gate work. One transportation contractor's posting says you must pass the flagger test to act as flagger.
- The equipment you have run, in the posting's words: power trowels, power screeds, forklifts, lifts, jackhammers.
- The work you did on concrete and masonry jobs: forming, stripping, placing, mixing mortar, stocking block.
- A valid driver's license. Valid driver's license is in 7% of the 1,981 postings we counted; one lists it next to a high school diploma or GED.
- Physical range stated as fact: lifting, heights, confined spaces. One heavy civil posting mentions work at heights that may exceed 200 feet.
Skills for a construction worker resume
- Site work
- Concrete placementForming and strippingReshoringExcavation and gradingTrench backfillDemolitionMasonry supportHousekeeping
- Equipment
- Power trowelsPower screedsRough-terrain forkliftScissor and boom liftsSkid steerPlate compactorJackhammerConcrete saw
- Safety and traffic
- FlaggingTraffic controlFall protectionSignaling operatorsErosion and sediment control
Turn site duties into numbers
Before
Poured concrete and did general labor.
After
Place and vibrate concrete on elevated decks for a 6-story mixed-use building, 40 to 120 yards a pour on a 9-person crew
Yards, building and crew size show your scale.
Before
Moved materials around the site.
After
Unloaded and staged about 30 deliveries a week with a rough-terrain forklift, keeping laydown areas clear for 4 trades
Names the machine and the volume.
Before
Safety-minded team player.
After
Walk the active deck each morning to check guardrail and hole covers; the crew is at 410 days without a recordable injury
A daily habit and a number, not an adjective.
Before
Temp laborer, various companies.
After
Worked 14 assignments for 6 contractors: demolition, cleanup, trench backfill and framing support
Turns a vague agency line into a record.
Action verbs for a construction worker resume
- Placed
- Vibrated
- Formed
- Stripped
- Reshored
- Troweled
- Excavated
- Backfilled
- Compacted
- Demolished
- Staged
- Rigged
- Flagged
- Signaled
- Installed
- Maintained
Keywords from construction laborer postings
Recurring terms in general contractor, heavy civil and laborer postings, Nov 2026.
- OSHA 10
- OSHA 30
- Flagger certification
- CPR and First Aid
- Valid driver's license
- Hand and power tools
- Layout tools
- Concrete
- Form panels
- Power trowels
- Power screeds
- Excavation and grading
- Scaffolding
- Fall protection
- Traffic control
- Housekeeping
- Blueprint reading
- Outdoor work in all weather
Common construction worker resume mistakes
Calling an OSHA card a certification or giving it an expiry date
OSHA says the Outreach card is not a certification or license, and Construction cards do not expire. Write the course and year: "OSHA 30-Hour Construction, completion card, 2023".
"Forklift certified" with no detail
Your employer certifies you after training and an evaluation, which OSHA requires at least every 3 years. Name the truck type and the year you were last evaluated.
Leaving short jobs and agency work off
List them. Put staffing assignments under the agency, and add "(project hire)" plus one line on how the job ended, so a super sees the project ended, not you.
A skills list of "hard worker, team player"
Name the work and the machines: reshoring, silt fence, power trowel, rough-terrain forklift. Those are the words in the posting.
Short jobs, layoffs and gaps
Construction jobs end when the project does, and supers know it. What hurts is a run of dates with no reason. Mark project hires in the title and give one line on how each ended: "laid off at turnover" or "phase complete". Put agency assignments under the agency's name: it shows you kept getting sent back out.
Do not drop a short job to tidy the page. A job you left off that turns up in a reference check hurts more than the short stay. If you work out of a union hiring hall, list the local once with a date range and name the contractors and projects in the bullets.
No construction experience yet
BLS says most laborers learn on the job and employers often want OSHA safety training before or after hire, so take OSHA 10 first and put it at the top. Then list physical work with numbers: warehouse, landscaping, moving, military. Union apprenticeships take beginners; New Jersey's laborers' program runs 4,000 on-the-job hours plus 400 classroom hours.
Frequently asked questions
Should I put OSHA 10 or OSHA 30 on my construction resume?+
Put whichever card you hold, near the top. OSHA describes the 10-hour class as hazard awareness for workers and the 30-hour class as better suited to supervisors or workers with safety responsibility. If you have both, list only the 30. If you lost the card, your trainer can replace it only for classes taken in the last 5 years.
Is a construction laborer resume different from a construction worker resume?+
No. The same resume works for both; use the job title from the posting in your header. BLS groups the work as construction laborers and helpers. What changes from job to job is which work you lead with: concrete, demolition, road work or site cleanup.
How long is a flagger card good for?+
ATSSA flagger certification lasts up to 4 years, but card rules and acceptance vary by state. The Maryland SHA-approved ATSSA card, for example, is accepted in Maryland, Virginia and DC. Write the issuer and the expiry year on your resume, and check the state DOT's rules before road work in a new state.
Do laborers even need a resume?+
For walk-in and agency work, often not. Large general contractors hire laborers through online postings, so a one-page resume with your cards, equipment and recent jobs helps you get past that first screen.
Sources
- OSHA Outreach Training Program FAQs (card status, expiry, 10 vs 30 hour) · read 2026-11-14
- OSHA 29 CFR 1910.178(l): forklift operator training, evaluation and certification · read 2026-11-14
- ATSSA: certification and recertification (flagger) · read 2026-11-14
- Maryland T2 Center flagger course: MD SHA-approved ATSSA card · read 2026-11-14
- BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook: Construction Laborers and Helpers · read 2026-11-14
- New Jersey Construction Craft Laborers apprenticeship requirements · read 2026-11-14
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