Carpenters and joiners make, install and repair timber components ranging from doors and flooring to roof structures, staircases, cabinets and furniture.
Different kinds of work
Work may take place on construction sites, in workshops, at customer premises or within estates and facilities teams. Site carpentry, bench joinery and specialist work can involve different skills and equipment.
Progression
Experienced carpenters can move into supervision, project management, estimating, contracts, heritage work, facilities maintenance, training or self-employment.
Compare vacancies carefully
Check whether an advert is seeking a qualified tradesperson, improver, mate, apprentice or specialist joiner, because the expected competence and pay can be very different.
Search carpenter and joiner jobs
Source
National Careers Service — Carpenter job profile, accessed October 2026.
Site carpentry and bench joinery
These jobs overlap, but the work can feel different. Site carpentry often means measuring, cutting and fitting components on a live building project. Bench joinery commonly involves making or preparing items in a workshop before installation. Some employers combine both. When you read an advert, identify where most work happens and which tools, drawings and materials you will use.
Show what you can actually make or fit
For each relevant project, note the item or task, your role, the tools or drawings involved, how you checked measurements and how you finished or checked the work. A useful CV bullet might read: “Measured and fitted [doors/skirting/kitchen units] on [type of project], checking dimensions against [drawing or site measure] and raising discrepancies with [supervisor] before cutting.” Replace the brackets with true details; do not claim work you only observed.
If you are new to the trade
Look at college taster courses, apprenticeships and trainee roles. Ask whether a course provides hands-on practice and how it connects to a recognised qualification or workplace experience. The National Careers Service lists routes including college courses and apprenticeships; entry criteria differ by route and provider.
Check the working conditions
Ask whether the role is workshop, site or customer-home based; whether travel between sites is expected; what equipment is supplied; how work is supervised; and whether the vacancy is for an apprentice, improver or experienced tradesperson. Those details matter as much as the job title.
Use the National Careers Service carpenter profile to compare typical tasks, training routes and progression options.