Plumber CV: example and tips

What plumbing firms look for

According to utdanning.no, plumbers are experts in piping installations. The work ranges from laying water and drainage pipes and installing sanitary and heating systems to gas, sprinklers, compressed air and chilled water, and it also covers service, customer contact, advice and documentation. Many firms specialise, and ads often distinguish between service for private customers, bathroom renovation and large projects in commercial buildings. So make it clear what you have done most of.

Ads tend to use the same words. If the ad says “service plumber” and “fault finding”, those words should appear in your bullet points where they fit. Most ads in Norway are in Norwegian, so use the Norwegian terms from the ad when you apply in Norwegian. With the ATS score you can see which words from the ad are missing from your CV, and if you create your CV with Selja, they are worked in for you where they fit. These words come up again and again:

• Journeyman's certificate as a plumber, ideally with the year.
• Sanitary, heating and HVAC.
• Service, fault finding, leaks and repairs.
• Renovating bathrooms and wet rooms.
• New builds and projects in homes and commercial buildings.
• Hydronic heating, heat pumps and heating plants.
• Sprinklers, gas and compressed air.
• Documentation, operation and maintenance manuals (FDV) and final inspection.
• Independent, service minded and good with customers, with a category B driving licence.

Formal requirements: the journeyman's certificate, HMS card and courses

Your journeyman's certificate should be at the top of your education section. According to utdanning.no, the plumbing trade takes two years at school and two and a half years in a company. After Vg1 bygg- og anleggsteknikk (building and construction), students move on to the Vg2 plumbing programme, and according to Udir, the Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training, the apprenticeship ends with a journeyman's test lasting at least five working days. Write, for example, “Journeyman's certificate in plumbing, 2020”. If you hold a master craftsman's certificate (mesterbrev), which utdanning.no lists as a next step, put it even higher.

If you have worked as a plumber for a long time without the certificate, you can take the journeyman's test through the praksiskandidat scheme. Udir then requires varied experience in the trade at least 25 percent longer than the normal training period, and you must pass a theory exam before the practical test.

Arbeidstilsynet, the Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority, requires an HMS card for everyone doing building, construction and assembly work, including in private homes, and the employer is responsible for the card. Arbeidstilsynet also lists welding equipment and angle grinders among the equipment that requires documented safety training, so list the courses you have in such equipment. If you hold a wet room certificate or a hot work course, list them with the year. They show that you can take on bathrooms and work with open flames without extra training.

Example of a summary for a plumber CV

The summary should state your certificate, whether you work on service or projects, and what you are best at. Here is a made up example:

Example: “Plumber with a journeyman's certificate from 2017 and nine years of experience in service and renovation in homes and housing cooperatives. Have handled four to six service calls a day on my own, and renovated more than 60 bathrooms with full documentation. Confident with fault finding on heating systems, leaks and hydronic heating. Hold a wet room certificate, a hot work course and a category B driving licence. Looking for a role with responsibility for larger renovation projects.”

If you are applying for a project role, put the projects and the size of the buildings first. Replace the numbers with your own, and read more in our guide to writing a CV summary.

Bullet points with results: weak versus strong

Every plumber lays pipes and installs equipment, so a list of tasks says little. Show instead how much you have done, how large the systems were, and what improved. Start with a verb in the past tense, and include a number where you can.

• Weak: “Service calls.” Strong: “Handled four to six service calls a day on my own, fixing most faults on the first visit.”
• Weak: “Bathroom renovation.” Strong: “Renovated 35 bathrooms in a housing cooperative in four months, with final documentation for every bathroom and no complaints in the first year.”
• Weak: “Worked on new builds.” Strong: “Installed sanitary and heating systems in 48 flats, from pipe in pipe systems to fitted fixtures and pressure testing.”
• Weak: “Heating systems.” Strong: “Replaced and balanced the heating plant in a 3,000 square metre office building, cutting complaints about cold offices to almost zero.”
• Weak: “Responsible for an apprentice.” Strong: “Had day to day responsibility for two apprentices, who both passed the journeyman's test.”
• Weak: “Documentation.” Strong: “Prepared operation and maintenance documentation for 20 projects, and introduced a checklist that shortened handover time.”

Courses, certificates and systems worth including

Group courses and certificates in a separate section with names and years. Systems and tools can go under skills. Only include what you have used in practice.

• Journeyman's certificate and any master craftsman's certificate in plumbing.
• Wet room certificate and hot work course, with years.
• HMS card, first aid and training in welding equipment and angle grinders.
• Supplier courses, for example in heat pumps, pipe systems or press fittings.
• Courses in sprinklers, gas or compressed air, if you have worked with them.
• Systems for work orders, time sheets and documentation, and any drawing or calculation software you have used.
• A category B driving licence, and BE or C1 if you have them.

Apprentice, or plumber with long experience

If you are applying for an apprenticeship, say what you have learned in Vg1 building and construction and the Vg2 plumbing programme, what you did during in-depth vocational training (yrkesfaglig fordypning) and what you have done on your own, such as a summer job or working at a plumbing supplier or builders' merchant. Show that you are accurate, turn up on time and can talk to customers, since much of the work takes place in people's homes. See also our guide to a CV for recent graduates.

If you have long experience, you can divide your CV by type of work: service, renovation and projects. Highlight what you have been responsible for, such as apprentices, customer contact, quotes or entire projects. If you have worked for the same firm for many years, you can split the job into periods with different roles. If you are aiming for service manager, project manager or running your own department, figures for jobs completed, turnover or people you led are what set you apart. Cut the oldest jobs down to one line.

Common mistakes in a plumber CV

Read your CV with the ad beside it. These mistakes come up again and again:

• The journeyman's certificate is far down the page, or has no year.
• No distinction between service and projects, even though the ad makes that distinction.
• Only tasks, with no number of jobs, bathrooms or flats.
• Courses without years, or long lists of courses that are not relevant.
• Nothing about customer contact, even though the role is service for private customers.
• The driving licence is missing, even though you will drive a service van.

Faster with Selja: a plumber CV for every ad

A service role asks for fault finding, customer contact and a driving licence, while a sprinkler project asks for completely different words. With Selja you paste in the job ad and upload the CV you already have. In under a minute you get a professional, ATS-friendly CV and cover letter tailored to the job, with the words from the ad where they match what you have done. That way you can apply for more jobs in less time.

Selja never adds certificates, courses or experience you do not have. If the ad asks for something your CV does not show, for example hydronic heating, Selja asks you first and only uses what you confirm. Start for free with an ATS check against the ad or a CV score, or get started right away.

The application and next steps

The cover letter can be short: why you want to work for that firm, whether you are strongest on service or projects, and when you can start. If the firm has a speciality, for example bathrooms or heating systems, say what you have done in that area. Our guide on how to write a cover letter walks through the structure.

In the interview you may be asked how you find a leak, how you deal with an unhappy customer and how you document your work. Prepare a couple of concrete examples, and practise with the interview questions. If you are wondering about pay, the free pay check shows figures from Statistics Norway (SSB), and our guide to negotiating your salary helps you ask for more.