We read 125 UK electrician job adverts. Here's what employers actually want.

After analysing 651 UK job adverts across healthcare, education, and admin, we ran the same exercise for electricians. 125 real adverts pulled from Find a Job DWP plus NHS Jobs, every one read and counted.

This is the first trades post in the series, and the patterns are different. Less about soft skills, more about explicit qualifications and certificates that employers want to see in writing on line one.

The headline: certificates beat narrative

Most CV advice tells you to lead with a personal statement and let your qualifications come later. For electrician roles, that is backwards.

The single most-asked thing is the 18th Edition (41% of adverts). Driving licence (36%) is in the top five. NVQ Level 3 and 2391 testing each appear in 18%. ECS Gold Card in another 18%. Recruiters scanning a stack of CVs are looking for these markers in the first ten seconds.

If your CV reads like a story instead of a checklist of what you actually hold, you are losing applications to candidates with weaker experience but a clearer first page.

The top 10 things UK electrician employers actually ask for

Ranked by frequency across 125 real adverts.

1. Installation work, 63%

Two-thirds of adverts mention installation explicitly. Name the kind of installation you have done. “First fix and second fix on commercial fit-outs” tells the recruiter more than “experienced in installations”.

2. Maintenance, 50%

Half of adverts mention maintenance. If you do planned preventative maintenance or reactive maintenance, name which. PPM contracts, fault response, callouts. The specifics get you shortlisted.

3. Qualified, 42%

A general term but a real screen. Adverts using “qualified electrician” are screening out apprentices and improvers. If you are fully qualified (NVQ Level 3 plus AM2 or equivalent), put it in the first line of your summary so the recruiter does not have to dig.

4. 18th Edition (BS 7671), 41%

The most-asked specific qualification. If you hold it, your summary line should read something like this.

“Fully qualified electrician, NVQ Level 3, 18th Edition (BS 7671), 6 years on commercial and light industrial sites across the South East.”

That single line covers the four most-screened signals in one go.

5. Testing, 41%

Testing experience is a major filter. If you have done EICRs, inspection and testing work, or hold the 2391, surface it. “EICR-experienced” or “2391 qualified” lands harder than “testing skills”.

6. Driving licence, 36%

More than a third of adverts require a UK driving licence. If you have one, say so plainly. If you have a clean licence (no points), that is worth mentioning too. Mobile maintenance and callout work need it.

7. Commercial, 34%

Commercial work (offices, retail, healthcare estates) is the largest single segment. If you have commercial experience, lead with the setting type. “NHS estates”, “commercial fit-out”, “retail rollout”. Specific beats generic.

8. Health and safety, 31%

Use the exact wording. “Health and safety” is a direct match in roughly 1 in 3 adverts. If you have a CSCS card, mention it. If you have completed any HSE-required training (working at height, asbestos awareness, manual handling), name it.

9. Fault finding, 30%

Strong signal for maintenance and reactive callout roles. If you have done fault diagnosis on commercial or industrial systems, name the type.

“Fault-finding on three-phase systems, motor controls, and BMS-integrated lighting circuits across a food manufacturing site.”

10. City and Guilds, 23%

Less than a quarter of adverts mention it directly, but it underpins the 18th Edition and most other qualifications you would list anyway. If you hold the 2365 plus the 2391, name both numbers, not just “City and Guilds”. The numbers are what recruiters search for.

The signals that quietly separate you from the pile

Four signals that are not in the top 10 but appear often enough to be worth surfacing where they apply.

• Three-phase work, 14%. If you have done it, name it. Industrial roles in particular screen on this.
• ECS Gold Card or JIB grading, 18%. The recognised trade benchmark for time-served electricians. Name the grade.
• Callouts and overtime, 13 to 20%. If you are willing to do callouts or have done them, mention it plainly. Many electricians leave it off the CV.
• Fire alarms or emergency lighting, 5 to 7%. Niche but high-value. If you have certified install or test experience, it can open doors that general maintenance experience cannot.

What electrician adverts barely mention

• Soft skills. Communication appears in 17%, reliability in 20%. Both worth a passing mention but not worth leading with. The certificates are the screen.
• Apprenticeship. Only 6%. The advert audience is mostly time-served. If you are an apprentice or improver, target adverts that specifically welcome those, not the qualified-electrician roles.
• PAT testing, IPAF, PASMA. Each in under 5%. Nice to have, not screen-level. List in a brief certifications block, do not lead with them.

Before and after

A time-served electrician applying for a commercial maintenance role had this summary.

“Hard-working and reliable electrician with over 6 years of experience in domestic and commercial installations. Strong work ethic and great team player. Looking for a new role with progression.”

Tailored against a real advert, with the patterns from 125 real adverts applied.

“Time-served electrician, NVQ Level 3, 18th Edition (BS 7671), City and Guilds 2391 inspection and testing, ECS Gold Card. 6 years across commercial maintenance and light industrial installation. Full UK driving licence, own tools, available for callouts.”

Same person, same experience. The difference is that every screening keyword a recruiter searches for is in the first two lines. The vague version asked the recruiter to do the work. The tailored version handed them the answer.