General worker CVs are the hardest to make distinctive, because the role is broad and most applicants describe it in the same few words. This page gives you two worked examples, one for a first job and one with experience, and shows exactly where the differentiation comes from. Placeholders appear in square brackets and must all be replaced.
Example One: General Worker CV With No Formal Experience
Personal Details
[Full name]
[City, province]
[Phone number]
[Email address, if you have one]
[Driver licence code, if you hold one]
Professional Summary
Physically fit and reliable [twenty-two] year old seeking general worker employment in [city]. Available immediately for shifts, weekends and overtime. Comfortable with manual work, able to follow instructions accurately and eager to learn. [Holds a valid forklift certificate.]
Key Skills
- Manual handling and safe lifting technique
- Loading and offloading vehicles
- Physical stamina for full-shift work
- Following verbal and written instructions
- Teamwork and flexibility across tasks
- Health and safety awareness
- Reliability and punctuality
- Availability for shifts, weekends and overtime
- Languages: [English, isiZulu, Sesotho]
Experience
Casual General Worker
[Employer or labour broker], [City] | [various periods, 2023 to 2024]
- Offloaded delivery vehicles and moved stock to designated storage areas.
- Assisted with cleaning and preparing work areas.
- Worked as part of a team under supervision across several placements.
- Maintained full attendance across each assignment.
Assistant, [Family Business]
[City] | [2022] to [2023]
- Assisted with loading, deliveries and general labour.
- Helped with stock counting and packing.
Education and Certifications
[Highest grade completed], [School name], [year]
[Forklift operator certificate, class, expiry], [Provider], [year]
[First aid level one], [Provider], [year]
Example Two: General Worker CV With Experience
Professional Summary
General worker with [four] years of warehouse and distribution experience, certified on [counterbalance and reach truck] forklifts. Experienced across receiving, picking, packing and dispatch in a [chilled] environment, with a full attendance record on a rotating shift pattern.
Key Skills
- Counterbalance and reach truck forklift operation [certificate current to date]
- Electric pallet truck operation
- Offloading containers and loading outbound vehicles
- Picking and packing using RF scanning
- Stock putaway and pick face replenishment
- Stock counting and cycle counts
- Manual handling and safe lifting technique
- Working in chilled and frozen environments
- Health and safety awareness and hazard reporting
- Languages: [English, isiXhosa, Afrikaans]
Work Experience
General Worker
[Employer name], [City] | [March 2022] to [present]
[Distribution centre handling around four hundred outbound orders daily]
- Offloaded and loaded an average of [twelve] vehicles per shift against fixed dispatch cut-offs.
- Operated counterbalance and reach truck forklifts under valid certification in a [twelve-metre] racking warehouse.
- Picked and packed customer orders using RF scanning with a consistently low error rate.
- Replenished pick faces from bulk storage to maintain picking flow during peak trading.
- Assisted with monthly cycle counts and the annual stock take.
- Reported racking damage and hazards, contributing to an incident-free area record.
- Maintained full attendance across a rotating three-shift pattern.
General Worker
[Employer name], [City] | [August 2020] to [February 2022]
[Food production facility]
- Loaded and offloaded goods and moved materials between production areas.
- Maintained hygiene standards required in a food production environment.
- Assisted production staff during changeovers and cleaning.
Education and Certifications
[National Senior Certificate], [School name], [year]
[Forklift operator certificate, counterbalance and reach truck, expiry date], [Provider], [year]
[First aid level one], [Provider], [year]
Where the Differentiation Comes From
Certifications
This is the single biggest differentiator available to a general worker, and it appears in both examples near the top for that reason. A forklift certificate widens the tasks you can be allocated and frequently moves you into better-paid work immediately. State the machine class and the expiry date, since certification on a counterbalance truck does not cover a reach truck.
Naming the Environment
Warehouse, food production, chilled, construction and factory work all demand different things. Naming the environment lets an employer judge whether your experience transfers, and specialised environments such as cold storage or food production are treated as valuable.
Attendance
Absenteeism is the largest cost an employer carries in this kind of role, which makes a full attendance record genuinely persuasive. Say it plainly if it is true, and mention the shift pattern you kept.
Including Casual and Broker Work
Many general workers leave out labour broker placements and casual assignments because they were short. Include them, grouped if necessary. They demonstrate exactly the willingness and reliability employers are screening for.
How to Adapt These
- Replace every bracketed placeholder with your own detail.
- Put certifications near the top with machine class and expiry date.
- Name every environment you have worked in.
- Use your real figures for vehicles, orders or shifts.
- Group short casual placements rather than omitting them.
- State your availability for shifts, weekends and overtime.
- Mention your attendance record if it is strong.
- Add a driver licence code if you hold one, since it widens the roles available.
Common Mistakes on General Worker CVs
- Writing three generic lines that could describe any applicant.
- Burying or omitting a forklift certificate.
- Claiming machine classes you are not certified for, which is verified before employment.
- Leaving out casual, seasonal or labour broker work.
- Omitting the environments you have worked in.
- Not stating availability, which many employers screen on.
- Failing to mention attendance when it is a genuine strength.
- Leaving out languages.
Related Pages
For fuller duty wording to draw from, see General Worker Duties for CV.
FAQs
Can I use this general worker CV example directly?
Use the structure and replace all the content with your own. The layout and the knowledge of what to include are what matter; the specific wording should describe your own work.
What is the most useful thing to put on a general worker CV?
A forklift certificate, if you hold one, stated near the top with the machine class and expiry date. It immediately widens the roles you can be allocated and distinguishes you from most other applicants. A driver licence has a similar effect.
Should I include labour broker or casual work?
Yes. Group short placements under a single entry if there were many. They demonstrate willingness, reliability and real experience, and leaving them out creates unexplained gaps that raise more questions than the short assignments would.
What if I have never had a formal job?
Use the first example. Include family business help, casual work, volunteering and any physical work you have done, described with dates and duties. Lead with availability, physical capability and any certification. Employers at this level select on attitude and reliability.
How do I make a general worker CV stand out?
Certifications, named environments, real figures and a stated attendance record. Those four things are available to most applicants and used by very few, which is exactly why they work.