The Foreman is a central figure at construction sites, supervising work and troubleshooting any issues that may arise. Foremen mediate between site workers, architects, and supervisors, or property owners. They coordinate the day-to-day work on-site and report on the progress to the managers. Following the lead of a general contractor, they create the work schedule and allocate tasks, manage the budget, order material, if necessary, and make sure the delivered work is top-notch.
They make sure safety measures are met and supervise the machinery and equipment in use. They might also be responsible for recruiting, hiring, and training the crew.
Being a foreman is not for the faint of heart. You need to have excellent leadership skills, years of on-the-job experience, and the nerves to deal with paperwork, follow sketches and blueprints, hammer out interpersonal conflicts, and manage time like a pro.
Foreman Overview
Working as a Foreman
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a foreman. For example, did you know that they make an average of $22.63 an hour? That's $47,079 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow -3% and produce -400 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Foreman Do
There are certain skills that many foremen 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 communication skills, detail oriented and listening skills.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a foreman, we found that a lot of resumes listed 10.7% of foremen included cdl, while 7.8% of resumes included safety rules, and 7.1% of resumes included crew members. 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 foreman job title. But what industry to start with? Most foremen actually find jobs in the construction and manufacturing industries.
How To Become a Foreman
If you're interested in becoming a foreman, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 17.0% of foremen have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 1.6% of foremen have master's degrees. Even though some foremen 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 foreman. When we researched the most common majors for a foreman, we found that they most commonly earn high school diploma degrees or bachelor's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on foreman resumes include associate degree degrees or diploma degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a foreman. In fact, many foreman jobs require experience in a role such as supervisor. Meanwhile, many foremen also have previous career experience in roles such as carpenter or superintendent.
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Foreman Career Paths
In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of supervisor you might progress to a role such as superintendent eventually. Later on in your career, you could 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 Foreman
Best Paying Cities
Recently Added Salaries
Job TitleCompany  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
Launch Technical Workforce Solutions Service Foreman Service Foreman | Launch Technical Workforce Solutions Launch Technical Workforce Solutions | 01/29/2021 01/29/2021 | $70,00001/29/2021 $70,000 |
Peopleready Foreman Foreman | Peopleready Peopleready | 01/29/2021 01/29/2021 | $37,56601/29/2021 $37,566 |
Main Enterprises, Inc. Plumbing Foreman Plumbing Foreman | Main Enterprises, Inc. Main Enterprises, Inc. | 01/26/2021 01/26/2021 | $93,91501/26/2021 $93,915 |
Premier Construction Plumbing Plumbing Foreman Plumbing Foreman | Premier Construction Plumbing Premier Construction Plumbing | 01/25/2021 01/25/2021 | $52,17501/25/2021 $52,175 |
American Crystal Sugar Company Boilerhouse Foreman Boilerhouse Foreman | American Crystal Sugar Company American Crystal Sugar Company | 01/23/2021 01/23/2021 | $66,03301/23/2021 $66,033 |
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Foreman 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 Foreman. 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 Foreman Resume
At Zippia, we went through countless Foreman 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 Colleges for Foremans
1. California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo
San Luis Obispo, CA • Public
2. University of Florida
Gainesville, FL • Public
3. University of Maryland - College Park
College Park, MD • Public
4. North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC • Public
5. Clemson University
Clemson, SC • Public
6. Purdue University
West Lafayette, IN • Public
7. University of Georgia
Athens, GA • Public
8. Texas A&M University
College Station, TX • Public
9. University of Massachusetts Amherst
Amherst, MA • Public
10. Pennsylvania State University
University Park, PA • Public
Top Skills For a Foreman
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, 10.7% of foremen listed cdl on their resume, but soft skills such as communication skills and detail oriented are important as well.
- CDL, 10.7%
- Safety Rules, 7.8%
- Crew Members, 7.1%
- Osha, 6.7%
- Heavy Equipment, 5.5%
- Other Skills, 62.2% See All Foreman Skills
Best States For a Foreman
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a foreman. The best states for people in this position are Hawaii, Oregon, California, and Nevada. Foremen make the most in Hawaii with an average salary of $51,634. Whereas in Oregon and California, they would average $51,196 and $50,681, respectively. While foremen would only make an average of $49,685 in Nevada, 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. Nevada
$49,685
Avg. Salary
2. New Hampshire
$47,945
Avg. Salary
3. Oregon
$51,196
Avg. Salary
How Do Foreman Rate Their Jobs?
4.0
4.0
What do you like the most about working as Foreman?
I like most is being able to motivate and encourage the crew to do the best they can and all there efforts are appreciated I feel that a positive attitude toward your employees resault in a more positive attitude throughout the company as a whole I also like to keep everyone aware of the safety hazards around there work space and maintain a safe work place environment but what I enjoy most is being able to look back at a job complete and know that I was the one in charge of completing that job and it gives me that great feeling of accomplishment Show More5.0
5.0
Formated IUI • March +0000