How to write a CV for a CNC machinist role

Start with what the advert is actually asking

Most CNC machinist adverts are specific about three things: the machine type, the control system, and whether they need a setter, an operator, or a setter-operator. If the advert says "Fanuc-controlled 5-axis machining centre, aerospace sector, setter-operator" and your CV says "experienced CNC machinist, hardworking and reliable", the person reading it has no way to match you to the job in the six seconds they're giving it. Put the machine and control you've actually run in the first third of the page, not buried in a job description paragraph two-thirds down.

This matters more in this trade than in most, because the tools are not interchangeable. Someone who has only set and run a Haas VF-2 3-axis mill is not automatically able to walk onto a Mazak Integrex with Mazatrol conversational programming, and a hiring manager who has to run that machine knows it even if the recruiter screening CVs doesn't. Naming the control you know is not padding, it's the single most useful sentence on the page.

Name the controls, the machines, and the axis count

Write these out explicitly, not as "CNC machines":

• Control systems: Fanuc (and which version if you know it, e.g. 0i, 31i), Siemens Sinumerik, Heidenhain, Mazatrol.
• Machine type and axis count: 3-axis vertical machining centre, 4-axis with rotary table, 5-axis simultaneous, CNC lathe, turn-mill, Swiss-type lathe.
• Specific models if you've held long-term roles on them, e.g. Haas VF-4, DMG Mori NLX, Okuma Genos. Model names are searchable and specific in a way "various CNC machines" is not.

If you programme as well as operate, say which CAM software: Mastercam, Fusion 360, Edgecam, SolidCAM, or PowerMill. If you write G-code and M-code by hand rather than posting it from CAM, say that too — it's a different and, for some employers, more valuable skill, particularly in smaller job shops doing one-offs rather than high-volume production.

Be honest about the setter/operator/programmer distinction, because it's one hiring managers check for immediately:

• Operator: runs the machine on an existing programme, loads material, checks parts against a setting sheet.
• Setter-operator: sets tool offsets, work coordinates and datums, edits programmes for minor adjustment, then runs the job.
• Programmer/setter-operator: writes or edits the CNC programme from a drawing or CAD model, not just adjusts an existing one.

These are paid differently and hired for differently. If your CV is vague about which of these you actually do, the reader will assume the lowest one and price you accordingly, or reject you outright if the role needs a setter and you can't demonstrate you've set machines unsupervised.

Tolerances, materials and inspection — this is where experience gets proven

Anyone can write "precision machining experience". What separates a CV that gets read from one that gets skimmed past is specificity about what "precision" meant in practice.

State the tolerances you've routinely worked to — in microns or thou, whichever your sector uses (aerospace and medical tend toward microns, general engineering often still says thou or mm to two or three decimal places). "Held tolerances of ±0.02mm on turned components" tells a hiring manager something concrete. "High precision work" tells them nothing they can check.

Name the materials: aluminium alloys, mild steel, stainless, tool steel, titanium, Inconel, engineering plastics like Delrin or PEEK. Titanium and Inconel in particular signal aerospace or medical sector experience and the harder machining knowledge — speeds, feeds, tool wear — that comes with cutting difficult materials, so don't bury this in a bullet point if it's genuinely part of your background.

Name the inspection equipment you use to prove parts are in tolerance, because using a micrometer is not the same claim as running a CMM:

• Verniers, micrometers, dial and digital gauges for routine in-process checks.
• Height gauges, bore gauges, thread gauges for specific features.
• CMM (coordinate measuring machine) if you operate one yourself or work closely with quality on first-off inspection.
• Surface finish testing (Ra values) if your work is finish-critical.

If you carry out first-off and last-off inspection and sign it off yourself, say so explicitly — it tells the reader you're trusted to release parts without a quality inspector checking behind you, which is a meaningfully higher level of responsibility than "operator following instructions".

Qualifications and quality systems, stated by name

CNC machining doesn't carry a single licensing body the way some trades do, but it has a recognisable qualification ladder and hiring managers know what the rungs mean:

• NVQ/City & Guilds Level 2 or Level 3 in Machining, Engineering, or Performing Engineering Operations.
• An advanced manufacturing or engineering apprenticeship, and the employer or training provider it was completed with — a recognised aerospace or automotive apprenticeship scheme carries weight on its own.
• BTEC in Engineering, if that's your route in rather than an apprenticeship.
• Any manufacturer-specific control training — a Fanuc or Siemens operator/programming course is worth naming, since it confirms depth on that specific control rather than general familiarity.

State these by name and, ideally, with the year and awarding body, not as "relevant engineering qualifications". A hiring manager scanning for a Level 3 machinist will search for "Level 3", not infer it from a vague sentence.

Quality systems are the other thing routinely left off and routinely checked for. If you've worked under ISO 9001, or in aerospace under AS9100, or in automotive under IATF 16949, name it. It signals you understand traceability, non-conformance reporting, and documented process control, which matters as much as machining skill in regulated sectors. If you've filled out non-conformance reports, worked to a controlled setting sheet, or used a quality management system to log first-off approval, that's evidence worth a line, not something to assume is implied by "attention to detail".

Reading drawings, GD&T, and batch size — the things that get assumed and never stated

Three things routinely get left off CNC machinist CVs because the candidate assumes they're obvious. They are not obvious to someone screening fifty CVs.

Reading engineering drawings, including GD&T. Geometric dimensioning and tolerancing (the symbols for flatness, concentricity, true position, and so on) is a distinct skill from general drawing reading, and a hiring manager scanning for someone who can work from complex aerospace or medical drawings will look for the phrase directly. If you can interpret GD&T callouts without someone translating them for you, say so.

Work-holding and fixturing. Setting up vices, jigs, custom fixtures, chucks, and collets is a core part of the job that candidates rarely mention because it feels too basic to write down. It isn't. Employers running low-volume, high-mix work in particular want to know you can devise a sensible work-holding solution yourself, not just load a part into a fixture someone else designed.

Batch size and production type. One-off prototype work, small batch (tens or low hundreds), and high-volume production (thousands, often with automation or bar feeders) require different instincts — cycle time optimisation matters far more in high volume, while flexibility and fast changeover matter more in one-offs and small batch. State which you've mainly done. "Fast-paced environment" says nothing; "high-mix, low-volume job shop, typical batch sizes of 5–50" says exactly what kind of machinist you are.

What to do next

Go through your CV and replace every instance of "CNC machines", "precision engineering" and "various materials" with the actual control, machine, tolerance and material. Add the setter/operator/programmer distinction explicitly near the top. Name your qualification, its level, and the awarding body. If you inspect and sign off your own work, say so — it's a level of trust worth stating plainly rather than implying.

If you're sending the same version of this CV to every advert regardless of whether it asks for a lathe operator or a 5-axis setter-programmer, that's usually why nothing comes back — not the standard of the work, but the mismatch between what's on the page and what's being asked for. jobmarket.pro reads each advert in full and prepares the application from your profile so the machine, control and tolerance detail that matters for that specific role is what ends up on the first page.