You'll learn:
HVAC stands for "heating, ventilation, and air conditioning”. As the name says, an HVAC technician/engineer is responsible for the installation, repair, and maintenance of heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration systems.
📓 HVAC job description:
Land your dream job in this field by making sure your HVAC resume fully features your skills and qualifications. This article will show you how to write the best HVAC resume for all professional levels and provide an HVAC resume sample in text format for your reference.
A resume headline is placed at the very top of resumes, right under the applicant’s name and above contact information to summarize the entire resume. A well-phrased HVAC resume headline is the very first step to grab the recruiter’s attention and make your HVAC resume stand out.
Examples of Resume Headline for HVAC Positions:
Further reading: Resume Headline | Examples, Templates, Writing Guide
Let’s move on to the next step - crafting an impressive resume summary. It’s a short paragraph at the top of a resume that provides a brief summary of the candidate's relevant skills, experience, and outstanding achievements. A resume summary is very important because it determines the hiring manager’s first impression of you.
Examples of a Well-Written Summary for HVAC Engineer Resume:
👍 Note: Keep your HVAC resume summary less than 4 sentences - concise and straight to the point.
The skills section in a resume indicates whether your abilities meet the job requirements. Based on this, employers can determine whether to move on to the next step of the hiring process. For an HVAC resume, it's highly recommended that you include both technical skills obtained through formal apprenticeship and personal traits contributing to your work in this career.
Be sure to highlight HVAC-related skills only and present them in bullet points.
Check the table below for 10 examples of skills for HVAC jobs:
📘 Hard skills | 📙 Soft skills |
HVAC controls & air distribution Electrical control circuits Safety compliance Blueprint interpretation Preventive maintenance | Detail-oriented Organizational skills Good work ethic Problem-solving Critical thinking |
The HVAC industry consists of various occupations, hence, it's important to tailor your HVAC resume to the specific job you are targeting. This way you can better feature yourself as an ideal candidate for the job opening.
In terms of professional level, an entry-level HVAC technician resume should encompass eagerness and enthusiasm whereas an HVAC service manager resume puts emphasis on the candidate's considerable experience, achievements, and leadership skills in the field.
Once you think you have written an excellent HVAC resume with compelling content, take an extra step for a final check before sending it out to the recruiter. Make sure that you provide accurate information and especially there are no typing errors or grammatical mistakes.
Four common types of resume format:
🏷️ Chronological resume format:
This is the most basic format in which your employment history is listed chronologically, with the most recent work at the top and the oldest at the bottom. Make sure this section in your HVAC technician resume should include the employer name, position title, employment date, job tasks, and accomplishments.
🏷️ Functional resume format:
This format will preferably match a skill-based HVAC resume as it highlights the applicant’s skills and qualifications. For the individuals who have just completed the apprenticeship, this HVAC resume format can help draw the recruiter's attention to your skills instead of work experience.
🏷️ Hybrid/Combinational resume format:
A hybrid format is the combination version of the two previous formats. An HVAC resume adopting the combinational format not only showcases the applicant's skills but also presents his employment history in reverse chronological order.
Thus, this HVAC resume format is beneficial for professionals who have stayed in the field for years and made significant gains, such as supervisor, senior, and manager positions.
🏷️ Targeted resume format
With a focus on a specific job opening, the targeted resume features the applicant's skills and demonstrates his work experience that are relevant to a particular position.
Say you are in urgent employment needs or applying for a specific position, adopt this format to demonstrate that you are the best fit.
Most job seekers use Microsoft Word or online resume builders like Cake to create CVs or resumes. Basically, all you need to do is select a proper HVAC resume template and drop relevant content into your resume to make it highly unique.
See the advantages and disadvantages of each tool below.
Microsoft Word
🙋♀️ Pros
🙅 Cons
Online Resume Builder (Cake)
🙋♀️ Pros
🙅 Cons
Once you already get the idea of the fundamental elements of a professional HVAC resume, keep in mind the following advanced tips:
✅ 5 Dos that could be a plus for your HVAC resume:
1. Tailor your HVAC resume and include only relevant information.
As noted earlier, applicants with skills and qualifications closely related to the specific opening will likely make a better impression on the employer. Thus, be sure to tailor your HVAC resume instead of crafting a generic one.
The most effective way is to include relevant information only.
For example, an HVAC maintenance engineer resume will cover the specialization in system maintenance. Meanwhile, the applicant should demonstrate his skills and experience in performing basic engineering for selected HVAC projects in his HVAC project engineer resume.
2. Add quantifiable and measurable achievements to your HVAC resume.
Numbers can attract attention better than words.
That’s very true! In the work experience section, it's highly recommended by recruiters that you bring up measurable achievements to make your HVAC technician resume win the competition.
Examples of Adding Metrics and Figures to an HVAC Resume:
3. Optimize the resume for ATS.
75% of submitted applications never reach the recruiter as they are eliminated by ATS (applicant tracking system) beforehand. Thus, be sure to optimize your HVAC engineer resume for ATS if you don't want to lose your job opportunity.
💡 How to get through ATS easily and reach the hiring managers effectively?
4. Choose the right resume format.
If you've forgotten about how to choose the right HVAC resume format, return to paragraph 2 for a detailed explanation. But first, know where you are in the field and go through the HVAC job description carefully before picking the best format for you.
5. Use action verbs in the resume.
For the HVAC resume summary, career objective, and work experience, try to insert many power verbs that are relevant to the position. This will make your HVAC resume more ATS-friendly and stand out from other candidates.
❌ 5 Don’ts that could be deal-breakers for your job opportunity:
1. Mix up an HVAC resume with an HVAC CV.
Read the job posting carefully to see whether the recruiter asks for an HVAC resume or an HVAC CV. Even though they are both application documents, their purpose, content, and design are different.
2. Adopt an old-style resume objective statement.
If you ever see an HVAC resume objective like this “Looking for an HVAC tech position at ABC company". Well, that's a kind of outdated and old-style objective statement for the HVAC resume because it doesn’t say anything about you.
It's important to draft a compelling objective to impress the employer, for example in an HVAC Supervisor resume:
“Seeking an HVAC Tech Supervisor position that I can utilize my solid expertise in preventative maintenance and installations of heating & cooling systems.”
3. Disclose confidential information about previous employers.
If you include confidential information about previous employers in your HVAC resume (e.g: salary, business plan, customer data), you may get involved in legal issues or be labeled as unprofessional and lack of work ethics.
4. Include unnecessary personal details that might lead to discrimination.
Personal details that you need to avoid in your HVAC resume are: height/weight, race, religion, political affiliation, etc.
5. Send the resume as a Word doc.
Many people experience common errors while opening a Word file such as fonts and formatting, or unable to read. Hence, it’s better to submit an HVAC resume as PDF for the job application.
Further reading: What Is the Difference Between CV and Resume?
Professional HVAC Technician working for commercial and residential settings.
[email protected]
(+361)-475-3943
Lolita, TX
Performance-driven and hard-working HVAC Technician with 5+ years of experience in installing, performing, and maintaining heating and cooling systems. Solid background in design review, load calculation, heating/cooling, and civil engineering. Highly proficient in servicing and troubleshooting to successfully repair units.
Central Lolita Heating & Air | Lolita, TX
HVAC Technician
July 2018 - Present
Billy's Heating & Cooling | Victoria, TX
HVAC/R Technician
May 2015 - May 2018
2013-2015, Associate of Applied Science in Electro-mechanical Technology
Texas A&M, TX
Hard skills | Soft skills |
Equipment installation Electrical & mechanical repairs Inventory management Safety compliance Troubleshooting & diagnostics | Flexibility Time management Problem-solving Attention to detail Innovation and Creativity |
Green HVAC/R Certified
EPA 608 Certification
--- Originally written by May Luong ---
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