Can you assess damage, prepare quotes and repair damaged bodywork to make sure the car looks as good as new?
Then you could be an integral part of any garage. Providing you can prove you’ve got the skills and experience to land the job, that is.
To help you do just that, we’ve created a step-by-step guide, complete with a panel beater CV example to shape your own.
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Panel Beater CV example
Unsure of what your Panel Beater CV should look like?
Have a look at the CV example above to get familiar with the structure, layout and format of a professional CV.
As you can see, it provides plenty of relevant information about the applicant but is still very easy to read, and brief – which will please busy recruiters and hiring managers.
Panel Beater CV format and structure
If you focus purely on the written content of your CV but ignore the style and layout, your efforts could end up wasted.
No matter how suitable you are for the role, no recruiter wants to spend time squinting and trying to navigate a badly designed and disorganised CV.
Instead, make sure to organise your content into a simple structure and spend some time formatting it for ease of reading – it will ensure every recruiter and hiring manager can read your CV with ease.
Tips for formatting your Panel Beater CV
- Length: It’s essential to keep your CV concise, regardless of whether you have one year or thirty years of experience. Recruiters are frequently managing multiple roles and responsibilities and do not have the luxury of reading lengthy CVs. Therefore, limit your CV to two sides of A4. If you have little industry experience, one page is sufficient.
- Readability: Help out time-strapped recruiters by formatting your CV for easy reading. Using lots of bullet points and lists will help them to skim through your info, while clearly formatted headings will allow them to navigate towards the content which is most useful to them.
- Design & format: When it comes to CV design, it’s best to keep things simple and sleek. While elaborate designs certainly command attention, it’s not always for the right reasons! Readability is key, so whatever you choose to do, make sure you prioritise readability above everything.
- Photos: Don’t add profile photos to your CV unless you work in an industry or region which prefers to see them. Most employers in the UK will not need to see one.
Quick tip: Creating a professional CV style can be difficult and time-consuming when using Microsoft Word or Google Docs. To create a winning CV quickly, try our quick-and-easy CV Builder and use one of their eye-catching professional CV templates.
CV structure
As you write your CV, divide and sub-head into the following sections:
- Name and contact details – Always start with these, so employers know exactly how to get in touch with you.
- CV profile – Add a short summary of your relevant experience, skills and achievements, which highlights your suitability.
- Core skills section – A 2-3 columned list of your key skills.
- Work experience – A detailed list of any relevant work experience, whether paid or voluntary.
- Education – An overview of your academic background and any training you may have completed.
- Hobbies and interests – A brief overview of your hobbies and interests, if they’re relevant (optional).
Now you understand the basic layout of a CV, here’s what you should include in each section of yours.
Contact Details
Tuck your contact details into the corner of your CV, so that they don’t take up too much space.
Stick to the basic details, such as:
- Mobile number
- Email address – It should sound professional, such as your full name.
- Location -Just write your rough location, rather than your full address.
- LinkedIn profile or portfolio URL – If you include these, ensure they’re sleek, professional and up-to-date.
Panel Beater CV Profile
Grab the reader’s attention by kick-starting your CV with a powerful profile (or personal statement, if you’re a junior applicant).
This is a short introduction paragraph which summarises your skills, knowledge and experience.
It should paint you as the perfect match for the job description and entice recruiters to read through the rest of your CV.
How to write a good CV profile:
- Make it short and sharp: Aim for a short, snappy paragraph of 3-5 lines. This is just enough room to showcase why you’d make the perfect hire, without going into excessive detail and overwhelming busy recruiters.
- Tailor it: Not tailoring your profile (and the rest of your CV) to the role you’re applying for, is the worst CV mistake you could make. Before setting pen to paper, look over the job ad and make a note of the skills and experience required. Then, incorporate your findings throughout.
- Don’t add an objective: Leave your career objectives or goals out of your profile. You only have limited space to work with, so they’re best suited to your cover letter.
- Avoid generic phrases: Cheesy clichès and generic phrases won’t impress recruiters, who read the same statements several times per day. Impress them with your skill-set, experience and accomplishments instead!
Example CV profile for Panel Beater
What to include in your Panel Beater CV profile?
- Experience overview: Start with a brief summary of your relevant experience so far. How many years experience do you have? What type of companies have you worked for? What industries/sectors have you worked in? What are your specialisms?
- Targeted skills: Highlight your skills which are most relevant to Panel Beater jobs, to ensure that recruiters see your most in-demand skills as soon as they open your CV.
- Important qualifications: If the jobs you are applying to require candidates to have certain qualifications, then you must add them in your profile to ensure they are seen by hiring managers.
Quick tip: If you are finding it difficult to write an attention-grabbing CV profile, choose from hundreds of pre-written profiles across all industries, and add one to your CV with one click in our quick-and-easy CV Builder. All profiles are written by recruitment experts and easily tailored to suit your unique skillset.
Core skills section
To ensure that your most relevant skills catch the eye of readers, create a core skills section below your profile.
This section should be presented in 2-3 columns of bullet points highlighting your applicable skills. Before crafting this section, carefully examine the job description and create a list of any required skills, specialisms, or knowledge.
Use this list to include the necessary information in your section and present yourself as the ideal match for the position.
Important skills for your Panel Beater CV
Automotive Body Repair – Repairing and restoring damaged vehicle body panels, including straightening, welding, and smoothing metal surfaces.
Panel Replacement – Removing and replacing damaged vehicle panels, such as doors, fenders, and bumpers, using proper techniques and tools.
Body Filling and Sanding – Applying body filler, sanding, and shaping surfaces to achieve a smooth finish and prepare them for painting.
Paint Mixing and Application – Maintaining knowledge of automotive paint systems, including colour matching and the proper application of primers, basecoats, and clearcoats.
Dent Removal – Skilfully removing dents and creases from vehicle panels, often using techniques like paintless dent repair (PDR).
Welding and Fabrication – Welding and fabricating metal parts, including repairing structural damage and frame straightening.
Rust Repair – Assessing and repairing rust damage, which may involve cutting out and replacing corroded sections.
Frame Alignment – Aligning and straightening vehicle frames and chassis to restore structural integrity and safety.
Vehicle Disassembly and Reassembly – Disassembling and reassembling vehicle components, including interior and exterior parts.
Quality Control Inspection – Conducting thorough quality control inspections to ensure repairs meet industry standards and safety requirements.
Quick tip: Our quick-and-easy CV Builder has thousands of in-demand skills for all industries and professions, that can be added to your CV in seconds – This will save you time and ensure you get noticed by recruiters.
Work experience
Next up is your work experience section, which is normally the longest part of your CV.
Start with your current (or most recent) job and work your way backwards through your experience.
Can’t fit all your roles? Allow more space for your recent career history and shorten down descriptions for your older roles.
Structuring each job
The structure of your work experience section can seriously affect its impact.
This is generally the biggest section of a CV, and with no thought to structure, it can look bulky and important information can get lost.
Use my 3-step structure below to allow for easy navigation, so employers can find what they are looking for:
Outline
Start with a brief summary of your role as a whole, as well as the type of company you worked for.
Key responsibilities
Next up, you should write a short list of your day-to-day duties within the job.
Recruiters are most interested in your sector-specific skills and knowledge, so highlight these wherever possible.
Key achievements
Finish off by showcasing 1-3 key achievements made within the role.
This could be anything that had a positive effect on your company, clients or customers, such as saving time or money, receiving exemplary feedback or receiving an award.
Sample job description for Panel Beater CV
Outline
Worked at a leading panel beating and auto body repair shop in central Nottingham specialising in classic cars and frame straightening.
Key Responsibilities
- Evaluate vehicles for damage, including dents and structural issues
- Execute precise panel repairs through metalworking and welding techniques, ensuring the vehicle’s structural integrity is maintained
- Match paint colours accurately and apply paint to repaired areas
- Align and restore damaged vehicle frames and chassis components
Quick tip: Create impressive job descriptions easily in our quick-and-easy CV Builder by adding pre-written job phrases for every industry and career stage.
Education section
Although there should be mentions of your highest and most relevant qualifications earlier on in your CV, save your exhaustive list of qualifications for the bottom.
If you’re an experienced candidate, simply include the qualifications that are highly relevant to Panel Beater roles.
However, less experienced candidates can provide a more thorough list of qualifications, including A-Levels and GCSEs.
You can also dedicate more space to your degree, discussing relevant exams, assignments and modules in more detail, if your target employers consider them to be important.
Hobbies and interests
This section is entirely optional, so you’ll have to use your own judgement to figure out if it’s worth including.
If your hobbies and interests could make you appear more suitable for your dream job, then they are definitely worth adding.
Interests which are related to the industry, or hobbies like sports teams or volunteering, which display valuable transferable skills might be worth including.
Creating a strong Panel Beater CV requires a blend of punchy content, considered structure and format, and heavy tailoring.
By creating a punchy profile and core skills list, you’ll be able to hook recruiter’s attention and ensure your CV gets read.
Remember that research and relevance is the key to a good CV, so research your target roles before you start writing and pack your CV with relevant skills.
Best of luck with your next application!