The site manager holds many responsibilities. Generally, this role oversees all operations at the construction site and ensures safety standards are being met. These professionals are also responsible for communicating with developers, ownership groups, and other stakeholders to ensure the project is progressing as planned and remaining within the set budget.
When hiring for this role, hiring managers will be looking for someone with superb project management skills, the ability to multitask effectively, and considerable knowledge about construction safety. Prior internships and co-op job experience in a similar role may help you become a site manager. Ideal candidates will have knowledge of procurement, construction safety, project estimation, inspections, and more. An ideal candidate should also have great leadership skills, strong negotiation and budgeting knowledge, and great communication skills.
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The site manager serves a supervisory role to all on-site construction staff. The site manager is expected to train staff on compliance and safety standards, implement innovative ways to complete tasks at hand, manage the budgetary constraints of the project, and more.
To land a role as a site manager, you will need a bachelor’s degree. Hiring managers might look for a candidate with additional certifications, such as a site safety manager certification. Relevant job experience will be crucial to land this role. Hiring managers will want a candidate with some previous job or internship experience as a building manager, estimator, construction administrator, or other relevant experience. Overall, an ideal candidate for the role will possess relevant educational merits and a robust knowledge of on-site construction regulations and safety.
Since no specific undergraduate degree is required for the role, certifications are a great way to show you are ready to put your skills to use as a site manager. Earning certifications like a site safety management or a construction management certificate will help show hiring managers you have the necessary knowledge for the job. You also need to be certified in on-site safety regulations, which usually comes in the form of an OSHA certification.
Since site managers oversee many staff on-site, they need to have effective leadership skills. It’s important that candidates for this role have experience managing others, particularly if it’s in a construction setting. Be sure to detail any experience you have managing others or assisting with the management of staff.
The site supervisor oversees the individual safety and productivity of each employee on site. They may work with a site manager to help execute big initiatives and ensure timelines are being met. The site supervisor is responsible for ensuring all paperwork and required standards are being met and cataloged.
To land the role of a site supervisor, you will need relevant education and job experience. A bachelor's degree is not required for this job. A high school education, and some vocational training, are typically sought after by hiring managers for this role.
Hiring managers will prefer you to have certifications in site management and safety. Additionally, they will be looking for candidates with relevant work experience, such as prior roles as an estimator, building manager, or material specialist. The site supervisor must also demonstrate superb communication, organization, and project management skills.
The site supervision certification is crucial to maximizing your chance of landing a site supervisor role. This certification shows hiring managers you know the safety standards and regulations that must be met by on-site employees. In addition to relevant experience and training, this certification shows you are knowledgeable and ready for the role of site supervisor.
The primary role of the site supervisor is to ensure all on-site safety standards are being adhered to. For this reason, it’s important to demonstrate prior roles where you enforced workplace standards, improved safety training, or positively impacted the precedence of workplace accidents. This will show hiring managers you know how to manage people’s actions and enforce standards.
The site engineer is an important role at any construction job site. The site engineer informs the on-site team with technical knowledge to make sure the project is following all codes and regulations. They help supervise staff members and practices to ensure the project is completed correctly.
Site managers typically have a bachelor's degree in civil or structural engineering. Depending on your location, it may be required that you become a licensed professional engineer to become a site engineer. Site engineers should also be proficient in understanding and adhering to local and state construction laws. Hiring managers will look for a site engineer with previous experience as a junior engineer, surveyor, or other relevant engineering roles. Site engineers must be quick critical thinkers with great project management skills and extensive technical knowledge.
Though most people can land a role as a site engineer with a bachelor's degree and relevant experience, a master’s degree in engineering can help your resume stand out. A master’s degree may also open up job opportunities to work on higher stake projects with bigger budgets.
In addition to the proper education and relevant job experience, hiring managers will be looking for a site engineer with certifications that show they have relevant knowledge of site-specific safety standards. You should earn an OSHA certification, and may also consider earning certifications in construction management or site management.
As a hiring manager who has recruited for site manager roles at companies like Amazon, Walmart, and FedEx, I've seen my fair share of resumes. The best ones always stand out by highlighting the right skills and experiences that are most relevant to the job. Here are some tips to help you craft a winning site manager resume:
Employers want to see that you have experience leading teams and managing projects. Use specific examples to demonstrate your leadership skills:
Quantify your achievements whenever possible to show the impact you've made.
A resume summary, also known as a professional summary or career summary, is an optional section that highlights your most relevant qualifications for the role. While it's not a mandatory part of your resume, a well-written summary can grab the attention of hiring managers and succinctly convey your career narrative, especially if you're changing careers or have a diverse background. Avoid using an objective statement, as it focuses on your goals rather than how you can benefit the employer.
When crafting your site manager resume summary, focus on your years of experience, key skills, and biggest accomplishments that are relevant to the job. Tailor your summary to the specific role and company you're applying to by using keywords from the job description. Keep it concise, around 3-5 sentences or bullet points, and place it at the top of your resume, just below your contact information.
The work experience section is the most important part of your resume as a site manager. It's where you highlight your relevant experience, key accomplishments, and the skills that make you a strong candidate for the job.
When writing your work experience section, it's important to focus on your achievements and the value you brought to each role, rather than just listing your responsibilities. Use specific examples and metrics to demonstrate your impact.
When writing a resume, you want to use action verbs to describe previous experiences, achievements, and skills. This makes your resume sound more authoritative and confident. You want to start every bullet point with a relevant action verb and avoid overusing the same action verb too often.
You should use action verbs that relate to the role you’re applying for. For example, it’s important that site managers have strong leadership and project management skills, so you may use relevant verbs like “supervised” or “led”.
For a full list of effective resume action verbs, visit Resume Action Verbs.
When applying for a site management role, you will need to make sure your resume highlights all of the relevant skills you need for the role. Many companies use an applicant tracking system to weed out resumes that do not feature the right skills. For this reason, it's important to identify an employer's desired skills and add them to your resume.
You may list your skills in bulleted form or work your skills into your job descriptions. Either way, it’s important that your skills are explicitly listed on your resume. You can find an employer's desired skills by studying the job posting and reading the most common desired skills for site managers below.
You can include the above skills in a dedicated Skills section on your resume, or weave them in your experience. Here's how you might create your dedicated skills section:
This word cloud highlights the important keywords that appear on Site Manager job descriptions and resumes. The bigger the word, the more frequently it appears on job postings, and the more 'important' it is.
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