Machinist Resume: Sample & Guide [20+ Examples]

You’re not one of those CNC machinists. You’re the real deal with precision skills and you can make the cut with style. Prove it with this well-crafted sample machinist resume.

Tom Gerencer

Career Expert

Updated 11/17/2021

As seen in:

Machinist Resume Sample

Ashley Moss, Machinist

ashley.q.moss@gmail.com

linkedin.com/in/ashleyqmoss

940-453-7065

Professional Summary

Efficient machinist with 5+ years of experience, skilled in tooling and changeover. Seeking to deliver quality machining at Rakiomed. At Dallas Hubless, consistently exceeded production targets by 10% or more. Beat the factory average defect rate by 15% through improved machine maintenance and monitoring.

Work Experience

Machinist

Dallas Hubless, Inc.

May 2015–May 2019

Regularly beat production goals by more than 10%.
Delivered all work with 15% less defects than the facility average, thanks to strict attention to machine monitoring and maintenance.
Installed an air filter on my lathe that reduced downtime by 35%. Addition was adopted by entire factory, saving an estimated $225,000 a year in maintenance costs.
Assisted with design of quick changeover drive that saved 10 hours a month in setup time.

Materials Handler

Clay Miles Fabrication

Jan 2014–Feb 2015

Assisted with lathe operation during busy times.
Performed daily light maintenance on manually operated lathes.

Education

2009–2013 Teneha High School

Graduated with H.S. Degree

Excelled in shop and technical classes.
Played on varsity baseball team.

Skills

Hard skills: Manual lathe operation, monitoring, maintenance, Kaizen
Soft skills: Teamwork, time management, efficiency, problem solving

Activities

Volunteer builder, Habitat for Humanity

Girls’ little league coach 1x per week.

Do you need a machine operator resume or something else? See these guides:

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Sample Machinist Resume—See more templates and create your resume here.

One of our users, Nikos, had this to say:

[I used] a nice template I found on Zety. My resume is now one page long, not three. With the same stuff.

Here’s how to write a machinist resume that gets jobs:

1. Select the Best Machinist Resume Format

Machinists operate precision equipment to create milled parts in manufacturing shops. Non-CNC machinists use manual machines that aren’t controlled by computer code. A machinist resume must show skills in manual lathe operation, machine monitoring, and light maintenance, as well as teamwork, time-management, and effciency.

You work with precision.

Prove it with your machinist resume format.

There are a few different resume layouts, but the best resume format for job puts your last position first.

It’s the chronological resume template. To make it yours:

Put your name and title (Machine Operator) in the heading of your resume.
Add other personal information on your resume like phone and email.
Use a professional resume font like Cambria or Georgia.

Pro Tip: Should you use PDF resume format? Yes—unless the hiring manager says not to in the job offer. PDFs travel better than MS Word format resumes for machinist jobs.

2. Write a Machinist Resume Objective or Resume Summary

You’ve suspected this all along—

The hiring team won’t really read your machinist resume.

They’ll glance and skim.

Get them on your side fast with a one minute elevator pitch.

We call it a “profile for resumes” or a “resume summary.” It’s just a blurb up top that gives your career highlights.

Put some machinist achievements in it that display your skills in action.

In a resume for freshers looking for a first job, we call it a “career objective.”

It’s the same thing, but your achievements come from non-machinist jobs.

Pro Tip: Don’t try to tackle your summary before you’ve got something to summarize. In other words, write the top part of your resume last.

3. Calibrate Your Resume to Fit the Machinist Job Description

You know who’ll get the job?

Whoever fits it best.

Targeting resumes for machinist jobs is all-important.

Here’s how to add experience in a resume for machinist jobs:

List your newest machinist job first.
Install business titles in each job.
Mount a few achievement examples to show your skills at work. Example: “beat production goals.”
Plug in some numbers like “15%” or “10 hours” to send a strong message about your machinist skills.

Pro Tip: Don’t put the hiring staff asleep at the switch. Keep them in the game with strong resume words like beat, installed, or assisted.

4. Spin Up Your Machinist Resume Education Section

Do they care about your education in a machinist resume?

Yes.

But not the way you think.

Here’s how to put education on a resume:

Show your school name, graduation date, and degree title.

But then show off a few more skills.

If you were on a sports team, that proves fitness. Did you do a school project with a plasma cutter? That’s another good addition.

5. Show Machinist Skills in Your Resume

Use this machinist resume skills list.

It has hard and soft skills both:

Machinist Resume Skills

Hard Skills:

Manual lathe operation
Machine monitoring
Light machine maintenance
Kaizen
Kanban
Quality control
Setup reduction
Troubleshooting
Engine lathes
Bench lathes
Speed lathes

Soft Skills:

But—

List the few you’re really good at, and that the job ad really needs.

Pro Tip: Not sure how to list technical skills on resume? Put them in a skills section, with added proof of usage in your resume bullet points.

When making a resume in our builder, drag & drop bullet points, skills, and auto-fill the boring stuff. Spell check? Check. Start building a professional resume template here for free.

Create my resume now

When you’re done, Zety’s resume builder will score your resume and tell you exactly how to make it better.

6. Add Other Sections to Your Machinist Resume

What resume sections do you need besides experience and education?

None. But—

Extra sections in a machinist resume help a lot.

Pick from:

Activities
Associations like NTMA
Side projects
Resume language skills
Volunteer tasks
Supervisor compliments
Hobbies and interests
Fitness
Volunteer work on a resume

Pro Tip: Want tips for how to add certifications to a resume? Put them under “Education” in their own dedicated section.

7. Send a Cover Letter With Your Machinist Resume

Is a cover letter required?

Nope.

But you should almost always send one.

For a machinist resume cover letter, use the proper cover letter format. That’s three paragraphs that each do a different job:

In your cover letter intro paragraph, put your most easily-remembered machinist moment. Example: “When I saved an estimated $225,000...”
In paragraph #2, add other goodies that show passion and job competence.
With your cover letter ending, tease something like an explanation of how you cut machine downtime by 35%.

Is my cover letter too long? If it’s more than half a page, it should be shorter.

Following up on a job application is a great way to get interviewed. If they forgot about you, a reminder once a week can get you in the door.

Plus, a great cover letter that matches your resume will give you an advantage over other candidates. You can write it in our cover letter builder here. Here's what it may look like:

See more cover letter templates and start writing.

That’s it!

That’s how to write a resume for machinist jobs.

What do you really think of your education section? What chance do you think your lathe machinist resume has of getting noticed? Give us a shout in the comments. We’d love to talk!

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