Use this automotive technician CV to land a dream job

As an automotive technician or mechanic, you’ll be responsible for car maintenance, repairs, and all aspects of automotive service. That means you’ll be diagnosing various vehicle issues and problem-solving to please your customers. Therefore, you should focus on these areas in your CV:

• Preventative maintenance, routine maintenance
• Fixing brake systems
• Fixing/maintaining electrical systems
• Oil changes
• Repairing air conditioning units and cooling systems
• Increasing engine performance
• Engine repair
• Installing exhaust systems 
• Diagnosing malfunctions

Essentially, you need to showcase extensive knowledge of all vehicle systems. To land the best jobs, highlight your technical skills and previous work experience in a well-crafted CV that also demonstrates you have the communication skills to ensure customer satisfaction.

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There are three types of CV formats to choose from: a chronological CV, a functional CV and a combination CV.

A chronological CV focuses on your experience, going reverse-chronologically with your most recent position at the beginning of your CV. A functional CV, on the other hand, focuses on your skills. A combination CV provides a balanced mix of your skills and work experience. 

As an automotive technician, you can choose any of these CVs, depending on where your strengths lie. If you’re just starting in your career, a functional format might work best as it emphasises skills and training. If you’re an experienced technician, go with the chronological format to highlight your work history. A combination CV works if you have a few years of related experience and a collection of strong skills. 

Regardless of CV format, your professional CV will include the following sections:

• Header 
• Professional summary/career objective
• Skills
• Work experience
• Education

Header

The perfect CV will immediately share your contact information with the recruiter. Include this in the header in a prominent position for the hiring manager. Make sure to include:

• Your full name
• Address (city and postal code)
• Email address
• Phone number

Professional summary or career objective

Next, you’ll need to provide a snapshot of your career as an auto mechanic, using a professional summary or a career objective.

A professional summary is a brief two-to-three-sentence paragraph detailing your best qualifications and career highlights in automotive repair. You could mention specific specialities or major responsibilities from previous jobs. To keep this section concise, you can also use bullet points.

 A career objective, on the other hand, is a brief paragraph outlining your career ambitions,where you hope to progress in the future and the top skills you already have. This option is better for entry-level candidates.

Skills

To land the best roles, demonstrate your expertise in automotive technology. These are the hard skills that show you will be able to perform the duties of a mechanic. List the skills that enable you to complete the work associated with the specific mechanic job you’re applying to. This could be expert knowledge of fuel systems or familiarity with specific diagnostic equipment. Check the job description to see which skills are required.

However, don’t neglect soft skills here either. Mechanics often rely on time management and teamwork to efficiently complete tune-ups and maintenance services. If you apply to work in a dealership, you may also need excellent customer service skills. Present a mix of hard and soft skills needed to be an excellent automotive technician.

Work experience

List your previous automotive technician experience in reverse chronological order in this section, most recent job first. Any vehicle repair-related work will be relevant here, whether as a service technician or a mechanic for Ford. Just make sure to add a sentence or two about your responsibilities. 

If you are an entry-level candidate, then try to list previous experiences or activities (e.g., volunteer work, summer jobs or internships) that demonstrate some of the qualities the recruiter may be looking for.

Education

Most mechanics usually need their GCSEs, including English and maths, or equivalent for an apprenticeship. . Some automotive technicians now have an automotive technology associate degree but no licence is needed to offer repair services to the public. 

Whatever professional qualifications you have, list them here to demonstrate your technical expertise for the recruiter.

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Do:

• Establish your credibility by listing key technical skills that match the job description.
• Use bullet points as an efficient system of displaying expertise.
• Use CV templates to help you create an easy-to-read CV that follows a professional structure.

Don’t:

• Falsify any work experience or knowledge. You’ll most likely get found out later in the job application stages.
• Add too much non-relevant work experience. If you link previous work experience to the mechanic role, then great, but if not, don’t overload the recruiter with unnecessary information.
• Try to write your CV without any help! Use our CV builder and mechanic CV examples to help craft the perfect CV.

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