How To Become A Smelter: What It Is and Career Path

What is a smelter 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 smelter. For example, did you know that they make an average of $15.89 an hour? That's $33,051 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow -5% and produce -45,900 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreSmelterUS Average

Salary

2.6

Avg. Salary $33,051

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.5

Growth rate -5%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

8.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.83%

Asian 3.35%

Black or African American 9.47%

Hispanic or Latino 16.75%

Unknown 4.81%

White 64.79%

Gender

female 10.91%

male 89.09%

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 smelter

Explore smelter education requirements

Most common smelter degrees

High School Diploma

28.0 %

Bachelor's

24.0 %

Associate

16.0 %

Start to develop specific smelter skills

Skills	Percentages
DOT	35.80%
Cranes	26.65%
Shovels	19.25%
Plant Equipment	18.30%

Complete relevant smelter training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New smelters 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 smelter based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real smelter resumes.

Research smelter duties and responsibilities

Lead and coordinate team in all aspects of operation in an aluminum blast furnace.
Assist in the process of extracting CO2 gas from molten copper ore.
Help to fix anode cool down machines when anodes get stick in them.
Change anode molds on anode wheel when they become crack or are no longer acceptable.

Prepare your smelter resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your smelter 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 smelter resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable smelter resume templates

Build a professional smelter 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 smelter resume.