Construction Careers, written by superintendents, PMs, and the people who actually build the job.
Résumé examples, interview guides, salary benchmarks, and career-path maps for general contractors, superintendents, project managers, foremen, estimators, and skilled tradespeople — authored by builders who have run the job.
Construction hiring runs on referrals, jobsite history, and a résumé that lists the projects you ran, the trades you managed, and the dollar volume you delivered. Marqee's construction coverage is authored by Michael Asante (ex-Turner, Skanska, Suffolk project executive), Xavier Beaumont (ex-Bechtel, Fluor, PCL commercial estimator), and Terrence Booker (30-year union superintendent, IUOE Local 3). Every guide is written to what a general contractor, sub, or owner's-rep actually looks for on a résumé — not what a marketing site thinks they should look for.
What the construction careers vertical actually covers
Construction Careers at Marqee spans general contractors, construction managers, project managers, superintendents, foremen, estimators, safety managers, and every major skilled trade — from carpenters and electricians to ironworkers and pipe fitters. Fourteen SOC codes covered, individual-contributor through project-executive level.
Every résumé example lists the exact jobsite tools a GC scans for — Procore, Bluebeam, Autodesk BIM 360, P6 — and the ANSI/OSHA credentials that matter. Every interview guide lists the walk-the-jobsite questions and the schedule-recovery scenarios superintendents actually ask. Every salary guide lists the real US band, the per diem, and the truck-and-fuel line most sites forget.
The construction careers landscape, honestly
Three things every candidate in this vertical should understand before writing the résumé, running the interview loop, or asking for the number. Written by the same operators who author the role-by-role guides below.
How construction hiring actually screens
General contractors and major subs run three parallel hiring tracks. Field labor is hired through union halls, referrals, and jobsite walks — a résumé barely enters the process; a working phone, a valid card, a clean drug test, and a jobsite reference are what matter. Field leadership (foreman, superintendent, project engineer) is hired on project history: the résumé that lists dollar volume, contract type (GMP, lump-sum, cost-plus), delivery method (design-build, CM-at-risk, IPD), and dispute-free closeout beats the one that lists degrees. Preconstruction, estimating, and project-management roles are hired on software fluency, schedule detail, and change-order discipline. The résumé that includes P6 schedule complexity (number of activities, resource-loading approach), Procore submittal volume, and typical RFI cycle time gets the callback.
Trades, tickets, and the union track
Union hiring — IBEW, UA, IUOE, Iron Workers, Carpenters — runs on the local's dispatch rules. Journeyman cards, apprenticeship completion, and specialty tickets (rigging, welding, hazmat) determine dispatch order. If you are a non-union tradesperson looking to move into a union local, the résumé is a supporting document; the hall wants proof of hours, references from a signatory contractor, and, in many locals, a wait time. Marqee's construction guides distinguish clearly between merit-shop and union tracks and coach candidates through both. Safety credentials — OSHA 10, OSHA 30, MSHA, First Aid/CPR, Fall Protection Competent Person — are table stakes on any commercial jobsite over $10M and should be listed with issue dates, not just checkbox claims.
What breaks a candidate in this vertical
Three failure modes recur. First: a résumé that lists 'oversaw multiple projects' with no dollar figures, no square-footage, no crew size, and no delivery method. A construction résumé without numbers reads as either exaggerated or supervisory-only. Second: an interview answer to a schedule-slip question that blames a sub, a designer, or an owner. Every construction interviewer has run a slipping schedule and wants to hear the recovery move — the resequencing, the crew adds, the acceleration cost, and the change-order argument — not the blame. Third: a compensation ask that ignores per diem, truck-and-fuel, tool allowance, and the traveler premium. On heavy-industrial, oil-and-gas, and mission-critical data-center work, the base can look modest until you add the loaded number; asking on base alone leaves money on the table.
The market for construction talent right now
US construction employment is at a multi-decade high, and the mega-project pipeline — chips-act semiconductor fabs, IRA-funded battery and EV plants, IIJA-funded infrastructure, hyperscale data centers, LNG export terminals, and industrial reshoring — has produced the tightest field-leadership market since the mid-2000s. Superintendents with heavy-industrial or mission-critical delivery experience are commanding 20–35% base premiums over three years ago, and per-diem rates on traveler roles have climbed with them. Preconstruction and estimating talent, especially estimators fluent in modern takeoff and cost-modeling software, remain the single most under-supplied function in the vertical. Skilled-trades supply is limited by apprenticeship throughput, which means union locals and merit-shop trainers with credentialed pipelines have durable leverage. Marqee's construction guides adjust bands and negotiation coaching to the current market, not to 2019 assumptions.
Resume examples
20 guidesRole-specific resume examples with the responsibilities, tools, ATS keywords, and salary range that pass a screen.
General Contractor
Construction Manager
Construction Project Manager
Construction Superintendent
Foreman
Estimator
Safety Manager
Carpenter
Electrician
Plumber
HVAC Technician
Welder
Heavy Equipment Operator
Ironworker
Roofer
Concrete Finisher
Building Inspector
Site Engineer
Field Engineer
Union Journeyman
Cover letter examples
12 guidesCover letters written to the exact hire this vertical actually screens for — not template mad-libs.
General Contractor
Construction Manager
Construction Project Manager
Construction Superintendent
Estimator
Safety Manager
Carpenter
Electrician
Plumber
HVAC Technician
Heavy Equipment Operator
Building Inspector
Interview questions
10 guidesQuestion banks and framework answers built to the loops this vertical actually runs.
Construction Manager
Construction Project Manager
Construction Superintendent
Foreman
Estimator
Safety Manager
Carpenter
Electrician
HVAC Technician
Building Inspector
Salary guides
10 guidesRealistic US ranges by role, level, and market — with the levers a recruiter can actually move.
Construction Manager
Construction Project Manager
Construction Superintendent
Foreman
Estimator
Carpenter
Electrician
Plumber
HVAC Technician
Heavy Equipment Operator
How-to-become guides
10 guidesEntry-path guides — degrees, licenses, portfolios, and the first-role playbook by occupation.
How to Become a Construction Manager
How to Become a Construction Superintendent
How to Become a Construction Project Manager
How to Become an Estimator
How to Become a Carpenter
How to Become an Electrician
How to Become a Plumber
How to Become an HVAC Technician
How to Become a Building Inspector
How to Become a Safety Manager
Compare adjacent roles
2 guidesHead-to-head breakdowns of two roles this vertical hires side by side — day-to-day, comp, and where the interview loops diverge.
Adjacent verticals
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