Skilled trades
Industrial Machinery Mechanic in the United States
29 postings read · sampled 2026-10-01 · source ats · 17 employers · largest 24% of it
What employers actually ask for
Credentials named in the 29 postings we read, ranked by how many mentioned each one.
- Associate DegreeAccredited institution10%3 of 29 postingsAccredited institution →
What the official taxonomy says
O*NET surveys people already doing this job. That describes who got hired over a long window, not what employers are asking for now — where it disagrees with the counts above, the counts are the more current answer.
- Post-secondary certificate47%
- High school diploma or equivalent39%
- Associate’s degree or other 2-year degree14%
Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed. Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.
O*NET 49-9041.00 · pulled 2026-10-01 · percentages are of surveyed workers, each rounded separately, so they need not total 100
This sample is small enough that one posting moves any percentage by more than a couple of points, so we are not calling anything low-signal here. Read the numbers above as a direction, not a measurement.
What it pays
BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. A different survey from the postings above, so the two do not share a sample.
Who was hiring
Employers with at least one matching posting in this sample.
McWane Inc · Innophos · SpaceX · J&J Snack Foods · The Mural Group · Able Services (ABM) · Atlas Energy Solutions · Bosch · GILLIG · Integrated Resources Inc · Latitude Inc · Luminis Health · O-I (Owens-Illinois) · Phoenix Stamping Group · SkillSource · Steel Fabricators LLC · Tomra
Next
- Roast and Resolve — Now aim your résumé at this target. Free roast, paid rewrite.
- Synap — Two-minute daily lessons to drill the skills underneath the credential.