Finish Carpenter Overview
Finish Carpenter Careers
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a finish carpenter. For example, did you know that they make an average of $20.11 an hour? That's $41,833 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 8% and produce 80,100 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Finish Carpenter Do
There are certain skills that many finish carpenters have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed business skills, detail oriented and math skills.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a finish carpenter, we found that a lot of resumes listed 16.9% of finish carpenters included hand tools, while 13.5% of resumes included general carpentry, and 11.9% of resumes included custom cabinets. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the finish carpenter job title. But what industry to start with? Most finish carpenters actually find jobs in the construction and manufacturing industries.
How To Become a Finish Carpenter
If you're interested in becoming a finish carpenter, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 20.0% of finish carpenters have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 1.8% of finish carpenters have master's degrees. Even though some finish carpenters have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a finish carpenter. When we researched the most common majors for a finish carpenter, we found that they most commonly earn high school diploma degrees or bachelor's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on finish carpenter resumes include associate degree degrees or diploma degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a finish carpenter. In fact, many finish carpenter jobs require experience in a role such as carpenter. Meanwhile, many finish carpenters also have previous career experience in roles such as lead carpenter or foreman.
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Finish Carpenter Career Paths
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a finish carpenter can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as foreman, progress to a title such as superintendent and then eventually end up with the title project superintendent.
What is the right job for my career path?
Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the rights job to get there.
Average Salary for a Finish Carpenter
Best Paying Cities
Recently Added Salaries
Job TitleCompany  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
Tradesmen International, Inc. Finish Carpenter Finish Carpenter | Tradesmen International, Inc. Tradesmen International, Inc. | 01/25/2021 01/25/2021 | $52,17501/25/2021 $52,175 |
Aerotek Finish Carpenters Finish Carpenters | Aerotek Aerotek | 01/19/2021 01/19/2021 | $52,17501/19/2021 $52,175 |
Tradesmen International, Inc. Trim/Finish Carpenter Trim/Finish Carpenter | Tradesmen International, Inc. Tradesmen International, Inc. | 01/18/2021 01/18/2021 | $37,56601/18/2021 $37,566 |
Aerotek Finish Carpenter Finish Carpenter | Aerotek Aerotek | 01/14/2021 01/14/2021 | $35,47901/14/2021 $35,479 |
Tradesmen International, Inc. Trim/Finish Carpenter Trim/Finish Carpenter | Tradesmen International, Inc. Tradesmen International, Inc. | 12/18/2020 12/18/2020 | $37,56612/18/2020 $37,566 |
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Finish Carpenter Resumes
Designing and figuring out what to include on your resume can be tough, not to mention time-consuming. That's why we put together a guide that is designed to help you craft the perfect resume for becoming a Finish Carpenter. If you're needing extra inspiration, take a look through our selection of templates that are specific to your job.
Learn How To Write a Finish Carpenter Resume
At Zippia, we went through countless Finish Carpenter resumes and compiled some information about how best to optimize them. Here are some suggestions based on what we found, divided by the individual sections of the resume itself.
View Detailed InformationTop Skills For a Finish Carpenter
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 16.9% of finish carpenters listed hand tools on their resume, but soft skills such as business skills and detail oriented are important as well.
- Hand Tools, 16.9%
- General Carpentry, 13.5%
- Custom Cabinets, 11.9%
- Safety Rules, 6.2%
- Construction Projects, 6.0%
- Other Skills, 45.5% See All Finish Carpenter Skills
Best States For a Finish Carpenter
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a finish carpenter. The best states for people in this position are California, Washington, New Jersey, and Connecticut. Finish carpenters make the most in California with an average salary of $65,078. Whereas in Washington and New Jersey, they would average $63,832 and $63,316, respectively. While finish carpenters would only make an average of $62,347 in Connecticut, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. Alaska
$58,551
Avg. Salary
2. Washington
$63,832
Avg. Salary
3. New Hampshire
$50,951
Avg. Salary
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