My degree is from MIT, I worked for many years as a software and systems engineer, and I have been writing resumes for engineers since the very beginning of my career. So this blog post aims directly at the resume information that engineers need most.
- Hiring managers and recruiters may not understand what you do in the depth that you understand it. Instead of filling your engineering resume with long streams of acronyms, program names, and highly technical terms, focus on what you accomplished with your knowledge and skills. You increased productivity, reduced costs, fixed critical components, or met a compromised schedule by applying certain technologies and engineering processes. At the end of your resume, you can list all your technical know-how; but first, focus on results.
- Make sure you include soft skills such as teamwork, leadership, talent development, mentoring, and working across geographies and business units. Many engineers have an undeserved reputation for difficulty in communicating. Make it clear that you have communication skills. If you are interested in transitioning to management, highlight your leadership experience.
- Read job descriptions closely—and with a grain of salt. The job description will tell you what technical and nontechnical skills, experience, and education are most important to a company. Unfortunately, some companies ask for impossible combinations of skills and talents in their job postings and advertisements; they search for a super-engineer who does not exist and never has. Your engineering resume should show them that you are capable of quickly learning and applying new technical skills.
- Be conservative when formatting your resume. You may know how to embed elaborate graphs and images and link your resume to multiple online sites and videos, but your engineering resume will probably have to pass through an applicant tracking system (ATS). Those systems are notorious for choking on high-tech formatting. Instead, concentrate on making your resume content clear, concise, and powerful.
Engineers in every field from mining to aerospace, from basic software to the internet of things, whether domestic or global, turn to Robin’s Resumes® when they want to impress hiring managers and recruiters. I look forward to hearing from you. Contact Robin’s Resumes® today.