Commercial diver resume: the format contractors actually read

Most resume advice is written for office jobs, with a personal summary, soft skills and a list of employers. In commercial diving that layout hides the things the reader actually needs. A diving supervisor or agency coordinator is trying to answer a few practical questions. Can we legally put this person in the water on this job? Have they done this kind of work, at this depth, recently? Can we prove it if the client or an auditor asks?

This guide shows a layout built around those questions, with examples for three career stages and the differences between US, UK and agency formats. A free plain-text template you can copy is at the end. It's based on the rules of the bodies whose cards and logbooks you'll be listing (ADCI, IMCA, HSE, OPITO and TWI) and on what the vacancies in our saturation diving jobs guide screen for. We don't use made-up names or employers.

What a diving contractor checks first

A reviewer in this industry mainly looks for disqualifiers. An expired medical, missing offshore survival training or a certificate that doesn't apply to the job's location will all end the application, however good the rest is. After that they look at recent logged experience. Vacancies for experienced divers usually ask for hours and bell runs within a set period, not years of employment. The Boskalis saturation supervisor advert in our jobs guide, for example, asks for 400 lockout hours in the last 12 months.

The rules themselves explain why recent experience matters. ADCI requires all dives used to support a certification card to have been done in the 24 months before the card is issued. Its cards (except entry level) are valid for five years. ADCI member companies need their divers to hold a card matching their tasks within 90 days of being hired. A resume that shows only lifetime totals, with no recent figure, leaves the reader guessing.

Diagram: satdiver.com. The highlighted blocks are the ones that decide whether the rest gets read.

The tickets table

What is a tickets table on a diving resume? It's a table listing every certificate you need to work, one per row, with the issuing body, certificate number, issue date and expiry date. Agencies need to check these before putting you forward. A table lets them do it in seconds and see straight away whether anything runs out before the job ends. Put it near the top of page one, under your contact details.

Which tickets you list depends on where you want to work. These are the common ones and what to write for each.

Sources: ADCI certification pages; UK Diving at Work Regulations 1997, reg. 15; OPITO BOSIET (CA-EBS) standard; CSWIP-DIV-7-95 Part 1 (June 2024); OSHA 29 CFR 1910.410; TSA TWIC page. Checked 28 September 2026.

The logbook summary

How do you show diving experience on a resume? Use a short summary block of numbers taken from your logbook: total working dives, total bottom time, maximum depth worked, and the same figures for the last 12 months. Add the techniques you've used (surface-supplied air, wet bell, nitrox, mixed gas, bell runs) and the tasks you've done. State which logbook the figures come from and the date they're counted to, so anyone can check.

The logbook is the source for these figures, and it has to agree with the resume. IMCA's Professional Diver's Logbook, for example, has sections for medical certificates, qualifications, training, competence assessments, the dive record and cumulative diving experience. IMCA says it should be filled in according to its competence guidance (IMCA C 003). If your resume says 180 working dives, your logbook's running total should say 180. How to keep the logbook itself is covered in what a dive logbook is and how to keep one properly.

A good summary block looks like this. All values here are placeholders:

Keep training dives separate. ADCI's Air Diver card counts only surface-supplied working dives in the field, so a reviewer will want to know which of your dives were at school. Mixing them in doesn't make you look more experienced. It makes it look as if you don't know the difference.

Resume layouts for three career stages

The order of the blocks stays the same. What goes in them changes as your career moves on.

New graduate or tender

You have little field experience, so make your training and your previous trade do the work. List your school program with its hours and dates, the certificate it gave you, and the skills you practised, such as wet welding, cutting and rigging. Include any trade background: welding, mechanics, rigging, electrical, construction, military. A tender who can weld or fix a compressor is useful on deck from day one. One page is enough. For what the tender job involves, see what a diver tender does.

Air diver

By now the logbook summary is the main block. Under each job in your work history, add one or two lines with numbers: type of project, depth range, number of dives, main tasks, and the vessel or site. Write "Installed anodes on jacket legs, 14 dives, 18–32 m" rather than "responsible for underwater tasks". Include your supervisors' names as references only if they've agreed. Two pages is fine.

Saturation diver

At this level readers look for bell runs, lockout hours, system depth ratings and the names of DSVs. Add a short "Vessels and systems" list (vessel, bell type, system rating) and your clients and regions. Those tell a supervisor whether you've worked to their standards. Put supervisor gradings and IMCA CPD status in the tickets table if you have them. The jobs guide lists what saturation vacancies currently ask for.

US resume vs UK/European CV vs agency profiles

The content is the same everywhere. The conventions change.

• US resume. It's usual to leave out a photo, date of birth and marital status. Give depths in feet, or in feet and metres if you want international work. List TWIC, your ADCI card and any AWS welding tests. Inland and Gulf of Mexico contractors often recruit locally, so give your home base and whether you'll relocate.
• UK and European CV. Called a CV, not a resume. Give depths in metres. Show your HSE or other approved qualification, BOSIET with CA-EBS and, for UK continental shelf work, any other offshore tickets the vacancy names. Conventions on photos and personal details vary by country, so follow the employer's application instructions.
• Crewing agency profiles. Most agencies use online forms and document uploads, not your layout. Keep one master document with every certificate number and date, and a folder of scans named clearly (for example "BOSIET-CAEBS_exp-2029-03.pdf"). Update each profile whenever a ticket is renewed. Agencies can only put forward divers whose documents are in date. How agencies work, and why many first jobs come through them, is explained in how offshore crewing agencies work.

Whichever market you're aiming at, the certificate has to match it. A US school certificate on its own doesn't meet the UK requirement for offshore work, so list the qualification that applies to where you're applying. The BOSIET guide for divers covers the offshore survival tickets.

Mistakes that get a diving resume rejected

1. Expired or missing expiry dates. If the date isn't there, the reader assumes it's expired. If it's about to expire, say when you're booked on the renewal.
2. Numbers that don't match the logbook. Rounding 146 dives up to "150+" is enough to make a reviewer doubt everything else.
3. Recreational dives counted as experience. ADCI says recreational certification cards don't qualify anyone for commercial diving without further formal commercial training. You can list your recreational certification in a single line, but don't add those dives to your commercial totals.
4. Vague duties. "Various subsea tasks" tells the reader nothing. Give tasks, depths and numbers.
5. Unexplained gaps. Diving is seasonal and project-based, so gaps are normal. A one-line reason ("off season, topside fabrication work") answers the question before it's asked.
6. Claims you can't back up. Supervisor experience without a card or grading, or "mixed gas" with no mixed-gas entries in the logbook, will be checked against your records.
7. Hard-to-open files. Send a PDF named with your name and role. Many coordinators read on a phone, so a one-column layout works better than a designed template with side bars.

Free commercial diver resume template

This plain-text template follows the layout above. Every value is a placeholder in square brackets, with no example names, companies or figures to copy. Paste it into any word processor, fill it in from your logbook and certificates, delete the lines that don't apply, and export it as a PDF.

Download the template (.txt)

[FULL NAME]
Commercial Diver / Diver Tender  |  [Home base city, country]  |  [Phone with country code]  |  [Email]
Passport: [nationality], valid to [MM/YYYY]  |  Available: [date or "immediately"]  |  Travel: [e.g. can mobilise within 48 h]

PROFILE (2-3 lines)
[Certificate level] commercial diver with [X] logged working dives and [X] hours bottom time, [surface-supplied air / wet bell / mixed gas]. Main tasks: [e.g. inspection, rigging, hot work]. Looking for [tender / diver] work in [region or sector].

CERTIFICATES AND TICKETS
Certificate                      | Issued by            | Number      | Issued     | Expires
[Diving qualification]           | [HSE / ADCI / DCBC / ADAS / school]   | [no.] | [MM/YYYY] | [MM/YYYY or n/a]
[Diving medical]                 | [Examiner / scheme]  | [no.]       | [MM/YYYY]  | [MM/YYYY]
[Offshore survival, e.g. BOSIET with CA-EBS] | [training centre, OPITO code] | [no.] | [MM/YYYY] | [MM/YYYY]
[First aid / DMT]                | [provider]           | [no.]       | [MM/YYYY]  | [MM/YYYY]
[Inspection, e.g. CSWIP 3.1U]    | [TWI Certification]  | [no.]       | [MM/YYYY]  | [MM/YYYY]
[Welding test, e.g. AWS D3.6M class/position] | [test body] | [no.] | [MM/YYYY] | [as stated]
[Site access, e.g. TWIC]         | [TSA]                | [no.]       | [MM/YYYY]  | [MM/YYYY]

LOGBOOK SUMMARY (matches logbook [type/number], totals to [DD/MM/YYYY])
Working dives: [X] (training dives: [X], listed separately)
Bottom time: [X] h  |  Max depth worked: [X] m / [X] ft  |  Last 12 months: [X] dives, [X] h
Techniques: [surface-supplied air] [wet bell] [nitrox] [mixed gas] [closed bell / bell runs: X]
Tasks: [visual inspection] [NDT/CP readings] [rigging] [cutting] [wet welding] [jetting/airlifting] [pile/structure work]
Equipment used: [helmet models] [hot water suit] [hydraulic tools] [broco / thermal cutting]

WORK HISTORY (most recent first)
[MM/YYYY - MM/YYYY]  [Company]  |  [Role: tender / diver]  |  [Project type, location, water depth]
- [What you did, with numbers: e.g. "X dives, max X m, installed X anodes"]
- [Vessel / site, system type]
[MM/YYYY - MM/YYYY]  [Company]  |  [Role]  |  [Project]
- [...]

TRAINING
[School name], [city, country] - [program name], [hours] h, [start MM/YYYY - end MM/YYYY]
Previous trade / military service: [trade, years, relevant skills: welding, mechanics, rigging, electrical]

REFERENCES
[Supervisor name, company, phone/email] - only with their permission
[Supervisor name, company, phone/email]

Once it's done, send it to the contractors most likely to hire at your level in your region, as well as to agencies. The guide to getting your first offshore job explains how to combine direct applications, agencies and word of mouth.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• ADCI, Commercial Diver Certification Program (five-year validity, 24-month rule, 90-day rule, recreational cards) and Classification Requirements.
• IMCA, Professional Diver's Logbook (sections, IMCA C 003 guidance); Verify a diver training certificate.
• UK, Diving at Work Regulations 1997, regulation 15 (medical certificate, maximum 12 months); HSE certificate of fitness to dive.
• OPITO, BOSIET with CA-EBS standard (5750).
• TWI Certification, CSWIP-DIV-7-95 Part 1, Underwater Diver Inspectors, 7th edition (June 2024).
• OSHA, 29 CFR 1910.410 Qualifications of dive team; TSA, TWIC.
• Vacancy requirements as documented in our saturation diving jobs guide (checked 2026).

Published 28 September 2026. Figures checked on 28 September 2026 against the sources above. Found an error or a newer figure? Tell us.