Research and development (R&D) covers a vast area—from food and pharmaceuticals to new applications for the oil and gas industry—and may require chemists, biologists, analysts, engineers, and IT personnel. Those who lead R&D departments need the scientific background to keep the respect of the people they work for and the financial acumen to keep their departments contributing to the bottom line of the company.
Your Resume Structure
As a current or future R&D executive, you may have acquired an advanced degree, belong to professional societies, and have risen through the ranks in R&D departments. Your resume’s summary should stress your skills in team and talent development, communication, project management, and idea generation, as well as any reputation you have developed among your peers. You should explain your role in inaugurating, developing, or improving any known products or concepts.
Your resume should also mention up front if you have received industry or company awards, including patents, and if you have contributed to industry publications or presented before industry associations. Specific details may be listed on a separate page at the end of your resume.
The body of your resume should expand upon your summary, showing your:
- Experience, especially the type and breadth of products you worked on
- Collaboration with other departments, institutions, or teams
- Ability to read the market and industry demand
- Analytical and technical skills
- Written and in-person communication with the C-suite and regulatory agencies
- Efforts in regulatory, quality, and financial control
- Certifications in, for example, Six Sigma or project management
- Leadership in team development and productivity, including the size of teams you have led and your efforts in developing individual and group skills.
The Importance of Results
Above all, you must show results. An R&D department that never delivers, delivers late, or delivers products that are not profitable is a failure. Your leadership should have resulted in an increased market share, a profitable new direction for the company that brought in new revenue, or an increase in potential customers (say, by appealing to an entirely new geographic area). Profitability can also be marked by, for example, a reduction in costs or streamlining of methodology.
Results can be shown in individual bullets in this form:
- <Accomplished what> by <describe what you did> by using <include keywords in the job announcement>.
As a graduate of MIT, I am well-aware of the many roles that a leader in research and development brings to a company and am ready to help you to the next stage of your career. Contact Robin’s Resumes® today.