General Foreman Resume Example & Writing Guide
Use this General Foreman resume example and guide to improve your career and write a powerful resume that will separate you from the competition.
General foremen are tasked with overseeing the work of their team and ensuring that projects are completed on time and within budget. They’re the ones who make sure that everyone has what they need to do their job well. And they’re the ones who keep an eye on the big picture, making sure that the work their team is doing is consistent with the organization’s long-term goals and objectives.
As a general foreman, you’re a critical part of your company’s success—and you’re compensated accordingly. General foremen are typically paid well above average wages for their industry, and they often receive generous benefits packages as well.
Here are some tips and an example to help you write a fantastic general foreman resume that will stand out from the crowd.
How to Write a General Foreman Resume
Here’s how to write a general foreman resume of your own.
Write Compelling Bullet Points
The best way to make your resume stand out is to use specific examples and numbers. So rather than saying you “managed project budgets,” you could say that you “managed project budgets of $1 million, resulting in zero budget overruns and on-time completion of all projects.”
This level of specificity will help hiring managers understand not only what you did but also how well you did it. And that can make all the difference when it comes time for them to decide who to interview.
Identify and Include Relevant Keywords
When you apply for a general foreman role, your resume is likely to go through an applicant tracking system (ATS). This program will scan your resume for specific keywords related to the job, like “construction” or “safety.” If your resume doesn’t have enough of the right terms, the ATS might filter out your application.
The best way to make sure your resume makes it past the ATS is to include keywords throughout all sections of your resume. You can add them into the work experience, skills, summary, and education sections. Here are some of the most common general foreman keywords:
- Construction
- Construction Management
- Contract Management
- Project Planning
- Construction Safety
- Project Estimation
- Contractors
- Project Management
- Value Engineering
- Concrete
- Pre-construction
- Supervisory Skills
- Contract Negotiation
- Subcontracting
- Process Scheduler
- Renovation
- Forklift Operation
- Contractors Management
- Piling
- Project Control
- Quantity Surveying
- On-site Construction
- Civil Engineering
- Contractors Management Services
- Project Control Management
- Building Services
- Supervisory Skills Development
- Team Leadership
- Health & Safety
- Design-Build
Showcase Your Technical Skills
There are a number of programs and systems that foremen use on a daily basis to oversee construction projects. Being proficient in the use of these programs and systems is essential to the job. Some of the most commonly used programs are construction management software, scheduling software, and financial software. Foremen also need to be familiar with construction-specific systems and how they work.
Remember The Basics
As you draft your resume, you’ll want to keep a few basic guidelines in mind.
Create Scannable Sections
There are a few things you can do to style your resume to make it stand out and easy to read. Use bolding, italics, and all-caps sparingly, left-align your text, and use bullets instead of paragraphs. Additionally, try to limit your text to 2 lines or less per bullet point, and use digits for numbers. Finally, leave some white space on the resume to make it less overwhelming.
Be Concise
When writing your resume, you should keep in mind that the ideal length is one page, unless you have a lot of experience to include. If you do need to go over one page, make sure to focus on the most relevant and recent experience. In general, you want to be succinct and get your point across quickly, so brevity is key.
Check Your Work
Proofreading your resume is important in order to make sure it looks professional and error-free. Spell checking is a must, as are punctuation and grammar checks. It is also helpful to have someone else proofread your resume for you, as they may catch mistakes that you have missed. Beware of easily confused words, and make sure that your tense is consistent throughout the resume.
Consider Including a Summary
If you’re looking for a job, a resume summary statement can be extremely useful. It can help to put your past experience and future goals in context, and can be a great way to show off your skills and explain how you see your experience translating into a new role. When writing your own, be sure to play up your relevant soft skills, mention your most highly transferable experiences, clearly state your intentions, and try to keep it to just a couple of lines.