What does a Prepress Technicians and Worker do?

Format and proof text and images submitted by designers and clients into finished pages that can be printed. Day to day that includes work like generate prepress proofs in digital or other format to approximate the appearance of the final printed piece and Proofread and perform quality control of text and images.

What skills should a Prepress Technicians and Worker put on a resume?

O*NET rates Active Listening, Critical Thinking, Monitoring, Speaking, and Time Management among the most important skills for this occupation. Name the ones that are genuinely yours and show where you used them. A resume that lists skills you do not have is weaker than one that lists fewer.

What software should a Prepress Technicians and Worker list?

Software recorded for this occupation includes Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Creative Cloud software, Adobe Director, Adobe FrameMaker, and Adobe FreeHand MX. Applicant tracking systems match on the exact product name, so write the tool as the posting writes it rather than describing it in general terms.

What other job titles cover Prepress Technicians and Worker work?

O*NET records 40 titles for this occupation, including Electronic Prepress Operator, EPP Operator, Plate Maker, and Prepress Operator. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.

What qualifications does a Prepress Technicians and Worker need?

In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 39% reported their level of education as "High School Diploma, or the equivalent". That is what current postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.

Will this resume pass an ATS for a Prepress Technicians and Worker role?

No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer's system is configured, including ours. What you can control is that the resume parses cleanly, names the work in the words the posting uses, and does not claim anything you cannot back up.

Prepress Technicians and Worker resume example

A resume for a Prepress Technicians and Worker needs to show the work itself: format and proof text and images submitted by designers and clients into finished pages that can be printed. Day to day that means work like this: generate prepress proofs in digital or other format to approximate the appearance of the final printed piece; proofread and perform quality control of text and images. Recruiters and applicant tracking systems both read for the tasks and tools this role actually involves, so the strongest resume names them in your own experience rather than describing the job in the abstract. Below are the tasks O*NET records for this occupation, the software and tools it uses, the titles it is advertised under, and the skills worth naming if they are genuinely yours.

Also advertised as

The same job is posted under many titles. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.

Electronic Prepress Operator
EPP Operator
Plate Maker
Prepress Operator
Prepress Technician
Desktop Operator
Electronic Prepress Technician
EPP Tech
Plate Mounter
Pre-Press Proofer
Prepress Specialist
Prepress Stripper
Digital Prepress Tech
Graphics Tech
Print Tech
Ad Compositor
Ad Setter
Advertisement Compositor

O*NET records 40 titles for this occupation in total.

What this work actually involves

Tasks recorded for this occupation, in O*NET's words. If your experience covers one of these, it belongs on your resume in your own words.

Generate prepress proofs in digital or other format to approximate the appearance of the final printed piece.
Proofread and perform quality control of text and images.
Enter, position, and alter text size, using computers, to make up and arrange pages so that printed materials can be produced.
Perform "preflight" check of required font, graphic, text and image files to ensure completeness prior to delivery to printer.
Operate and maintain laser plate-making equipment that converts electronic data to plates without the use of film.
Enter, store, and retrieve information on computer-aided equipment.
Maintain, adjust, and clean equipment, and perform minor repairs.
Operate presses to print proofs of plates, monitoring printing quality to ensure that it is adequate.
Select proper types of plates according to press run lengths.
Examine finished plates to detect flaws, verify conformity with master plates, and measure dot sizes and centers, using light boxes and microscopes.
Examine unexposed photographic plates to detect flaws or foreign particles prior to printing.
Examine photographic images for obvious imperfections prior to plate making.

15 tasks are recorded in total; these are the most central.

Example bullets for this role

Built from this occupation's own tasks. The brackets stay empty on purpose: we will not invent a number for you, and a fabricated metric is the fastest way to lose an interview you had already won.

Generate prepress proofs in digital or other format to approximate the appearance of the final printed piece, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Proofread and perform quality control of text and images, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Enter, position, and alter text size, using computers, to make up and arrange pages so that printed materials can be produced, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Perform "preflight" check of required font, graphic, text and image files to ensure completeness prior to delivery to printer, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].

Software used in this role

Recorded for this occupation by O*NET. An applicant tracking system matches the exact product name, so write the tool the way the posting writes it.

Adobe Acrobat
Adobe Creative Cloud software
Adobe Director
Adobe FrameMaker
Adobe FreeHand MX
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe InDesign
Adobe LifeCycle Enterprise Suite
Adobe PageMaker
Adobe Photoshop
Corel CorelDraw Graphics Suite
Corel Painter
Esko ArtPro
File transfer protocol FTP software

27 software entries are recorded in total.

Tools and equipment

The physical equipment this occupation is recorded as using. Worth naming when a posting asks for it by name.

Automated film processors
Commercial digital plotters
Commercial digital printers
Compact disk CD duplicators
Desktop computers
Digital printing presses
Digital still cameras
Digital video disk DVD duplicators
Drum scanners
Flat bed scanners
Flexographic plate processors
Gravure cylinder engravers

Skills an ATS reads for

Worth naming only if they are genuinely yours. Keyword overlap is one input to a resume's score, not a verdict.

Adobe Director
Adobe FrameMaker

What this job rates as most important

O*NET rates every skill for importance to this occupation. These are the highest rated, in order.

01Active Listening
02Critical Thinking
03Monitoring
04Speaking
05Time Management
06Complex Problem Solving
07Coordination
08Judgment and Decision Making
09Operations Monitoring
10Reading Comprehension

Knowledge areas

The subject knowledge this occupation draws on, rated by importance.

Computers and Electronics
English Language
Design
Mathematics
Production and Processing
Customer and Personal Service

What qualifications people in this job have

From O*NET's survey of people doing this work. This is what postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.

39%High School Diploma, or the equivalent
23%Associate's Degree
21%Some College Courses

What level this role is pitched at

O*NET places this occupation in “Medium Preparation Needed”. Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.

Previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is required for these occupations. For example, an electrician must have completed three or four years of apprenticeship or several years of vocational training, and often must have passed a licensing exam, in order to perform the job.

Common questions

What does a Prepress Technicians and Worker do?: Format and proof text and images submitted by designers and clients into finished pages that can be printed. Day to day that includes work like generate prepress proofs in digital or other format to approximate the appearance of the final printed piece and Proofread and perform quality control of text and images.
What skills should a Prepress Technicians and Worker put on a resume?: O*NET rates Active Listening, Critical Thinking, Monitoring, Speaking, and Time Management among the most important skills for this occupation. Name the ones that are genuinely yours and show where you used them. A resume that lists skills you do not have is weaker than one that lists fewer.
What software should a Prepress Technicians and Worker list?: Software recorded for this occupation includes Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Creative Cloud software, Adobe Director, Adobe FrameMaker, and Adobe FreeHand MX. Applicant tracking systems match on the exact product name, so write the tool as the posting writes it rather than describing it in general terms.
What other job titles cover Prepress Technicians and Worker work?: O*NET records 40 titles for this occupation, including Electronic Prepress Operator, EPP Operator, Plate Maker, and Prepress Operator. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.
What qualifications does a Prepress Technicians and Worker need?: In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 39% reported their level of education as "High School Diploma, or the equivalent". That is what current postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.
Will this resume pass an ATS for a Prepress Technicians and Worker role?: No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer's system is configured, including ours. What you can control is that the resume parses cleanly, names the work in the words the posting uses, and does not claim anything you cannot back up.

Related roles

Occupations O*NET records as closest to this one, and worth looking at if this search is not moving.

What this page cannot tell you

No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer’s ATS is configured, including ours.
This page makes no claim about pay, demand or how many people hold this job. O*NET does not publish that here and we will not estimate it.
Keyword overlap is one input to a resume’s score, not a verdict on you. A resume that names skills you do not have is worse than one that names fewer.

If this is the job you are aiming at, the guide to tailoring a resume covers how to aim one posting properly, and building and exporting a resume here is free.

Occupation data from the O*NET 29.1 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under CC BY 4.0. O*NET is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. SpartanResume is not endorsed by USDOL/ETA.