Adapted from a real OPS Staffing article originally posted by Mitchell Riley (Sep 2026).
A restoration recruiter is not hunting for team player. They are hunting for loss types, tools, and a job you can walk them through. What they hate seeing on your resume is a construction-generic document that hides IICRC, Xactimate, and whether you have actually run water, fire, mold, or storm work.
Vague adjectives, a duties dump from a job description, and no proof you have been on a live loss. Soft-skill poetry does not get you the estimator or PM call. A short, specific file story does.
OPS Staffing places restoration and construction talent nationwide. Candidates pay nothing. Start at career opportunities or send a resume through contact. More format help lives on resume tips.
| What they hate seeing | What it reads as | Put this instead |
|---|---|---|
| Results-driven / team player / hard worker | You did not name a job | A water or fire file: what you ran, what you documented, who you updated |
| Duties copied from a posting | You held a title, not a book of work | Loss types, file volume or crew size, your seat on those jobs |
| IICRC with no year or no recent use | A 2014 card, not a current technician or estimator | Credential, year, and the last job you used it on |
| Construction years with no rebuild story | New-build GC, not insurance restoration | Reconstruction vs ground-up, carriers if you had them, contents if you ran them |
| Software left off (or every tool you have ever clicked) | You cannot live in Xactimate, dry logs, or the shop stack | The two or three systems you used last year, named |
A joke email address still looks like you are not ready for a homeowner or an adjuster. Use firstname.lastname on a current account. Name the file like a professional: Lastname-Firstname-Estimator-Resume.pdf, not FINAL2.
If you email a resume, write a subject and two sentences: the seat you want, the market you will work, and one proof line (IICRC + last loss type). A blank body with an attachment gets ignored the same way a blank estimate does.
Do not hide on-call, storm travel, or overnight hotel work if that is how the job runs. Recruiters would rather see you opt out of the wrong seat than accept and quit in week three.
If you want the positive version of this page — what to add so you stand out — use 5 ways to make your resume stand out.
List current, relevant credentials. A long graveyard of expired classes without recent water or fire work is noise.
No. Clean type, one column, no text boxes that break when a recruiter copies the file. Substance over design.
Send it through contact or call (888) 482-6019. No fee to candidates. Your resume stays confidential until you say a company can see it.
Updated September 2026 by the OPS Staffing recruiting team. Employee-owned. Based in Pasadena, TX. Placing restoration and construction talent nationwide since December 2015.