How To Become A Furnace Tender: What It Is and Career Path

What is a furnace tender and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a furnace tender. For example, did you know that they make an average of $18.93 an hour? That's $39,384 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow -5% and produce -45,900 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreFurnace TenderUS Average

Salary

3.1

Avg. Salary $39,384

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.5

Growth rate -5%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

7.9

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.87%

Asian 3.58%

Black or African American 9.43%

Hispanic or Latino 13.49%

Unknown 4.85%

White 67.79%

Gender

female 6.45%

male 93.55%

Age - 45

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 45

Stress level

7.5

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

4.4

Complexity level is basic

7 - challenging

Work life balance

5.8

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a furnace tender

Explore furnace tender education requirements

Most common furnace tender degrees

High School Diploma

78.9 %

Diploma

15.8 %

Associate

5.3 %

Start to develop specific furnace tender skills

Skills	Percentages
Crucibles	100.00%

Complete relevant furnace tender training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New furnace tenders learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a furnace tender based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real furnace tender resumes.

Research furnace tender duties and responsibilities

Lead and coordinate team in all aspects of operation in an aluminum blast furnace.
Demonstrate ability to troubleshoot creatively, solve problems effectively, and make inform decisions while successfully guiding others through constant change.
Demonstrate ability to troubleshoot creatively, solve problems effectively, and make inform decisions while successfully guiding others through constant change.

Prepare your furnace tender resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your furnace tender resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a furnace tender resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable furnace tender resume templates

Build a professional furnace tender resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your furnace tender resume.