Upholsterers Career Opportunities

Career as upholsterers is the best career option for those individuals who are deft with their hands and has great creative skills. The creative and logical skills are necessary for the upholsterers as the main job of these workers is to make, fix and restore the furniture, that is typically made of fabrics and related materials. They provide a variety of furnishings with padding, webbing, springs, leather and fabric covers. Manual dexterity, patience, good coordination between eyes and hands, and ability to perform monotonous work are typical skills that are observed in upholsterers.

Tasks:-

Career as upholsterers is a highly skilled career. The tasks that are carried out in the upholstery industries are as follows:

• Upholsterers make, repair, and restore the furnishings that are covered with fabric
• They use hammers and tack pullers and other tools, and remove the old fabric of the furniture and repair the broken parts or wooden frames
• They deal with a variety of furniture with padding, webbing, springs, and other fabric covers
• They often reattach the loose parts of frame and refinish the wood
• While creating new furniture, the upholsterers begin with a bare wooden frame, and install the springs, webbing, filling and fabric
• They cover the springs with fillers like foam and fibrous batting material to form a smooth comfortable surface
• With the help of measurements and cuttings, they make sure that the wooden frames fit properly and create a well-crafted piece of furniture

Qualification:-

Career as upholsterers is a competitive career. The candidates should be therefore acquainted with good qualification background. They are as follows:

• A high school diploma or courses in upholstery is the basic qualification that is needed
• Most of the employers provide apprenticeship and the candidates learn through on-job training
• Knowledge of basic computers and electronics will be an additional asset

Other necessary skills:-

Career as upholsterers is a demanding career, where individuals who have manual dexterity can easily acquire upholstery jobs. However, there are many other skills that they need to possess, which are stated below:

• Excellent interpersonal and written skills
• Exceptional observation skills, and detail-orientation in work
• Highly creative, analytical and logical skills
• Good organizational and time management skills

Place of work:-

Career as upholsterers is a physically challenging career, as most of the times, the upholsterers might have to work on their feet. The place of work differs in different industries.

Most of the upholstery workers work for 35-40 hours a week. However working for longer hours is common in this profession.

Job Opportunities:-

There are tremendous job opportunities in this career as upholsterers. The upholsterers can specialize in following areas:

• Aircraft upholsterers
• Automobile upholsters
• Inside furniture upholsters
• Outside furniture upholsterers

Remuneration:-

Career as upholsterers is a prosperous career. The salary for the upholsterers is comparatively good, but it might differ as per the type of work, industries and level of skilled operation. The salary for the entry-level workers is comparatively less. The salary goes on increasing with years of experience with high degree of skilled operations. Those who have their own shops can earn good profits. The benefits that are offered by reputed organizations include paid holidays, vacation, health plan, and pension plans.

Job Progress:-

There are tremendous chances of promotion in the career as upholsterers. The highly skilled upholstery workers may advance to supervisory levels. Some of them may even become sample makers in large shops and factories. Some of them may even start their own shops. However, upholstery businesses are competitive. Therefore, starting a shop independently is bit risky in this career.

Employment forecast:-

The employment in the career as upholsterers is expected to decline in the future. The increased automation of work in the upholstery industries is making the work easier with high degree of efficiency. The increased competition has forced the industries to cut down on money, and so many industries will try to downsize the number of workers. Therefore, less number of upholsterers is needed by most of the industries. Thus, the employment is expected to lower down. However, the number of employees that will retire or will have an employment change will bring some employment chances for the newcomers.