There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a grain elevator operator. For example, did you know that they make an average of $15.44 an hour? That's $32,119 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 4% and produce 32,600 job opportunities across the U.S.
There are certain skills that many grain elevator operators 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 math skills, mechanical skills and visual ability.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a grain elevator operator, we found that a lot of resumes listed 33.6% of grain elevator operators included grain elevator, while 11.6% of resumes included logistics, and 10.2% of resumes included routine maintenance. 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 grain elevator operator job title. But what industry to start with? Most grain elevator operators actually find jobs in the manufacturing and retail industries.
If you're interested in becoming a grain elevator operator, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 15.5% of grain elevator operators have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 1.7% of grain elevator operators have master's degrees. Even though some grain elevator operators 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 grain elevator operator. When we researched the most common majors for a grain elevator operator, we found that they most commonly earn high school diploma degrees or bachelor's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on grain elevator operator resumes include associate degree degrees or diploma degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a grain elevator operator. In fact, many grain elevator operator jobs require experience in a role such as cashier. Meanwhile, many grain elevator operators also have previous career experience in roles such as sales associate or machine operator.
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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 forklift operator you might progress to a role such as technician eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title operations manager.
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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, 33.6% of grain elevator operators listed grain elevator on their resume, but soft skills such as math skills and mechanical skills are important as well.
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a grain elevator operator. The best states for people in this position are Alaska, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. Grain elevator operators make the most in Alaska with an average salary of $38,410. Whereas in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, they would average $35,666 and $35,588, respectively. While grain elevator operators would only make an average of $35,474 in New Hampshire, 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. South Dakota
$34,473
Avg. Salary
2. North Dakota
$35,105
Avg. Salary
3. Nevada
$33,980
Avg. Salary