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CNC Machine Operator Must-Have Resume Skills and Keywords

Are you interested in improving your job outlook and increasing your salary? How can you demonstrate that you are the most qualified candidate for a CNC Machine Operator position? Of course continuing to gain experience working as a CNC Machine Operator may be your best qualification, but there are other ways you can also develop your skills, like continuing education or volunteer opportunities. More immediately, however, you can be ready for your next opportunity or promotion by educating yourself about the duties, responsibilities, and required skills of a CNC Machine Operator and making sure your resume reflects your experience properly.

In order to do so, you’ll want to know that both employers hiring for a CNC Machine Operator and those who list the position of CNC Machine Operator on their resumes predominantly feature CNC Machining and Numerical Control as the most common and important terms, respectively. But the list quickly begins to diverge with resumes showing Blueprint Reading, Assembly Line and Caliper at positions three, four and five, while job listings show a different pattern. Do you know what you would list?

We designed the ZipRecruiter Career Keyword Mapper to help you solve this problem and hopefully improve your resume. Using machine learning tools paired with industry research, our Marketplace Research Team helped analyze millions of job postings and resumes to identify the most important keywords related to CNC Machine Operator jobs. Our goal is to help you discover opportunities to improve your resume or to help you understand what skills and qualifications you need to be a CNC Machine Operator or to advance your career into beyond this role.

Top Skills Mentioned in Job Descriptions

Top
10
Job Skills
The top three keywords employers use in CNC Machine Operator job descriptions are CNC Machining appearing in 29.89% of postings, Numerical Control 17.63%, and Blueprint Reading appearing in 11.87%. 59.39% of CNC Machine Operator job postings have at least one of these terms indicating the value employers place commonly place on these experiences when hiring candidates. Milling, Caliper and Micrometer are still quite important, but a smaller sliceof the employer CNC Machine Operator job postings with their combined total of 20.54%. At 20.07%, Detail Oriented, Milling Machines, Mathematics, and Technical appear far less frequently, but are still a significant portion of the 10 top CNC Machine Operator skills and requirements according to employers.

Top Skills Mentioned in Resumes

Top
10
Job Skills
Job seeker resumes showcase a broad range of skills and qualifications in their descriptions of CNC Machine Operator positions. The top three keywords represent 48.81% of the total set of top resume listed keywords. Look to the Resume Checklist below to investigate how CNC Machining, Numerical Control, and Blueprint Reading match up to employer job descriptions. Assembly Line, Caliper, and Forklift Experience are still quite common, and a respectable share of skills found on resumes for CNC Machine Operator with 24.54% of the total. At 26.64%, Milling, Customer Service, Micrometer, and Troubleshooting appear far less frequently, but are still a significant portion of the 10 top CNC Machine Operator skills and qualifications found on resumes.

Most Important Skills Required to Be a Cnc Machine Operator as Listed by Employers and Employees

Here is a simple table of the top 10 skills and qualifications as listed by employers in CNC Machine Operator job postings since January of 2018, followed by the top 10 skills and qualifications most commonly listed by people who held the title of CNC Machine Operator on their resumes.
Top CNC Machine Operator Skills
Skills Required by Employers Share
CNC Machining 29.89%
Numerical Control 17.63%
Blueprint Reading 11.87%
Milling 7.84%
Caliper 6.41%
Micrometer 6.29%
Detail Oriented 5.78%
Milling Machines 5.41%
Mathematics 4.48%
Technical 4.40%
Skills Listed by Employees Share
CNC Machining 24.35%
Numerical Control 13.02%
Blueprint Reading 11.44%
Assembly Line 9.06%
Caliper 7.77%
Forklift Experience 7.71%
Milling 7.22%
Customer Service 6.72%
Micrometer 6.42%
Troubleshooting 6.28%

Cnc Machine Operator Resume Checklist

Our Resume Keyword Checklist is based upon an analysis of the most commonly found terms within both job descriptions and resumes for CNC Machine Operator roles. Our algorithm helps isolate phrases and patterns to identify the most frequently recurring and reused keywords from each data source, while correcting for uncommon and outlier results. Various heuristic methodologies are then applied to ultimately create two top 20 lists of the most important and significant skills, certificates and requirements found within CNC Machine Operator job postings and resumes. We then merge the two lists together and use a combination of statistics and rules-based scenarios to create a list that is audited by the Marketplace Research team, and finally turned into the checklist you see below. Our hope is that knowing this information can help you make your best impression with your next potential employer.
Uncommon Keywords on Cnc Machine Operator Resumes
We did not find any skills or qualifications that were common on CNC Machine Operator job descriptions, but uncommon on CNC Machine Operator resumes.
Common Keywords on Cnc Machine Operator Resumes
Job Descriptions
Resumes
25%
50%
75%
100%
Mathematics
Computer Numerical Control
Measuring Tools
Numerical Control
Drilling
Detail Oriented
CNC Machining
Lathe Operator
Milling
Blueprint Reading
Lathe Machining
Micrometer
Communication Skills
Milling Machines
Grinding
Caliper
Technical
Both employer job listings and resumes from people who’ve held the role of CNC Machine Operator tend to always include skills and requirements found in this list. Whether you’ve only got Mathematics, Computer Numerical Control, Measuring Tools, Numerical Control, Drilling, Detail Oriented, CNC Machining, Lathe Operator, Milling, Blueprint Reading, Lathe Machining, Micrometer, Communication Skills, Milling Machines, Grinding, Caliper or Technical in your background and experience, make sure to highlight the term prominently on your resume. As a job seeker you’ll be competing with many others who are bound to have as many as you (or more!) of these common resume keywords highlighted in their application for a job as a CNC Machine Operator.
Uncommon Keywords on Cnc Machine Operator Job Descriptions
Job Descriptions
Resumes
25%
50%
75%
100%
Troubleshooting
CNC Lathe
English Speaking
Assembly Line
Quality Control
Employer job listings rarely list Troubleshooting, CNC Lathe, English Speaking, Assembly Line or Quality Control as important skills or qualifications in CNC Machine Operator job descriptions. Nevertheless, job seekers mention them much more commonly in their resumes. If you possess any or all of these experiences, including these keywords prominently on your resume when applying for a CNC Machine Operator role may go unnoticed or even discounted by hiring managers.

FAQs about Cnc Machine Operator Skills and Resume Keywords

What are the most important CNC Machine Operator job skills to have on my resume?

The most common important skills required by employers are Mathematics, Computer Numerical Control, Measuring Tools, Numerical Control, Drilling, Detail Oriented and CNC Machining. These skills and requirements are just as likely to be mentioned by employers as well as on resumes of people that held a job as a CNC Machine Operator, suggesting that having these keywords on a resume are important for success as a CNC Machine Operator.

What are the least important CNC Machine Operator job skills to have on my resume?

Although you'd probably love to load up your resume with every possible keyword you can, employers tend to look for the things they specify in the job description. Our analysis suggests that highlighting too prominently terms like Troubleshooting, CNC Lathe, English Speaking, Assembly Line and Quality Control may be something to reconsider. These 5 terms appear 2.05, 2.09, 3.35, 4.03 and 4.77 times less frequently, respectively, than in job descriptions for a CNC Machine Operator role. This indicates that highlighting any of these keywords on your resume may not be a great way to impress a potential employer.

How do I make sure my resume has all of the right keywords for a CNC Machine Operator position?

Unless your resume has a good density of the following skills and experience listed, you may not be considered for the role of CNC Machine Operator. Make sure to include a strong showing for the following keywords on your resume:
  • Mathematics
  • Computer Numerical Control
  • Measuring Tools
  • Numerical Control
  • Drilling
  • Detail Oriented
  • CNC Machining
  • Lathe Operator
  • Milling
  • Blueprint Reading
  • Lathe Machining
  • Micrometer
  • Communication Skills
  • Milling Machines
  • Grinding
Finally people who held the position of a CNC Machine Operator and list it on their resume are adding these terms that are less likely to be noticed by employers. You may want to consider downplaying these terms on your CNC Machine Operator application:
  • Troubleshooting
  • CNC Lathe
  • English Speaking
  • Assembly Line
  • Quality Control

Before applying for a Cnc Machine Operator job

At ZipRecruiter, we understand better than anyone the importance of using the right keywords to describe your experience — it’s crucial to attracting the right employers! We built our business on the ability to effectively match job seekers with employers using AI-technology that understands your resume and how likely you are to be noticed by a potential future employer. Having a ZipRecruiter profile that showcases your most relevant skills and abilities can help you get recruited into a new role as a CNC Machine Operator. Get started on your journey with a new ZipRecruiter Profile today!