Create an Engineering Resume
in 5 Simple Steps

  • Step 1: Add Contact Info

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  • Step 2: Include Work Experience Details

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  • Step 3: Provide Education Details

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  • Step 4: Select Your Skills

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  • Step 5: Fill in Your Background

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Get Expert Writing Recommendations for Your Engineering Resume

Using industry-specific details when building your resume is a must if you want to land the interview. Effective engineering resumes should convey knowledge of concepts such as quality control, production quotas, standardization, process validation, regulatory compliance, iterative protocol and measurement repeatability.

To help add the right words and phrases to your resume, our resume builder offers suggestions for custom content written by our certified resume writers. Use our prewritten text suggestions as is or as inspiration to write your own. Here are some suggestions our resume builder might make for your engineering resume:

  • Devised overall strategy for process documentation.
  • Generated internal standards for regulatory compliance.
  • Adhered to established standardized reporting protocol.
  • Evaluated design requirements for feasibility and cost-effectiveness.
  • Implemented repeatable quality control initiatives.
  • Eliminated wasteful and dangerous practices to maximize safety.

8 Do’s and Don’ts for Writing an Engineering Resume

  • Do include education information. The majority of engineering jobs require candidates to hold a bachelor’s degree in engineering from a certified university program. Use the Education section of your resume to list your college degree and major.
  • Do list any specializations, licenses or awards. Details communicate your expertise. List the specialty programs, certifications and qualifying exams you have successfully completed. If you hold a Professional Engineer license, note that. Awards and micro-credentials can help you land the interview, so list those prominently.
  • Do list quantifiable skills. When it comes to landing the engineering interview, the more specific your resume is, the better. Demonstrate your suitability for the job in measurable terms. Instead of noting that you “generated design documents,” for example, explain that you “generated design documents from marked-up drawings, sketches and vendor information provided by project engineers.”
  • Do keep your professional summary information brief. Your Professional Summary section should provide an engaging overview of your proficiencies, experience and fit for the desired position. Keep it tight and descriptive, for example: “Service-oriented Field Technician skilled at equipment and troubleshooting, repair and maintenance. Strong knowledge of safe equipment operation and experience managing documents, inventory and reporting.”
  • Don’t forget to write about accomplishments. Many entry-level job seekers worry about a lack of work experience. However, you likely have already gathered transferable skills through your volunteer work, internships or college education. If you don’t have much experience, use your resume to target other accomplishments, such as a culminating design capstone project you completed for your degree. This will communicate that you already have a proven track record working under a supervisor.
  • Don’t forget data and metrics. “Completed chemical waste audit to improve energy efficiency by 29 percent in 3 months” is a much better attention-grabber than “Reduced barriers to resource optimization.” The more concrete details you provide, the easier it is for a hiring manager to see the value you would bring to their organization.
  • Don’t focus on unrelated career experiences. Previous work experiences in retail, restaurants, babysitting, landscaping or volunteering should be omitted if not directly related to the position you seek. If you lack an engineering work history, you can however polish up the Skills section of your resume to include transferable skills from those earlier jobs, such as customer service, problem-solving and communication.
  • Don’t make careless mistakes. Be sure to double- and-triple-check your resume for spelling errors and formatting inconsistencies. In the world of engineering, a simple typo can mean the difference between the bridge collapsing or standing. Ask a trusted person to give you detailed proofreading and feedback before you submit. The details matter.

Beat the ATS With These Engineering Resume Skills

Recruiters often use an applicant tracking system (ATS) to reduce their heavy workload. An ATS saves recruiters valuable time by efficiently finding relevant keywords in a resume that match keywords in the open job postings. Those resumes that don’t contain the right keywords can end up in the discard pile, which means that including the right words could be the difference between getting an interview or not.

LiveCareer’s Resume Builder helps engineering candidates secure an interview by suggesting industry-specific words and phrases to include in resumes to make an ATS match stronger. Here are a few keywords that our resume builder may suggest for engineering resumes:

  • Bachelor’s degree in Engineering
  • Experience with quality measurement
  • Process control methods
  • AutoCAD
  • Manufacturing and scheduling
  • Programming quality
  • Schematics interpretation
  • Geometric dimensioning
  • 3D solid, surface and assembly modeling
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Engineering Resumes for Every Professional Level

Entry-Level

Engineering Assistant

Entry-level engineering candidates with little to no work experience may encounter difficulty in landing the job. A functional resume can help candidates in this situation. In the example above, this resume is formatted to highlight recent education, certifications and transferable skills the applicant has acquired, even without having formal workplace experience.

Even though the job seeker’s work experience is limited, she provides examples of her ability to interpret blueprints, research solutions and implement procedures. She then uses her experience as an engineering intern to show she’s ready to work.

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Mid-Career

Engineering Technician

This mid-career engineering applicant is using a combination resume, both to highlight his strengths and to chart several years of successful employment. The candidate uses the top of the resume to summarize his skills as a project manager, and then he provides a detailed overview of his successful work history while including key competencies such as problem-solving and structural evaluation.

By clearly featuring his professional strengths as an engineer and documenting his years of service, he’s making a persuasive argument for a recruiter to call him in for an interview.

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Executive-Level

Safety Director

Outlining a career trajectory is crucial to landing an engineering job at the executive level. Job titles such as Safety Directory and Chief of Operations require evidence of dependability, judgment and proven experience.

The candidate above thoroughly details her multiple responsibilities as a specialist, manager, and director by using a chronological format. She demonstrates her expertise by including executive-level engineering terminology: action planning, procedures development and situation management. She concludes the resume with her relevant education as a college graduate in the field of occupational safety and health.

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More Engineering Resume Samples

Find resume examples for your desired engineering career. Get access to expert writing recommendations, do’s and don’ts and everything you need to write a perfect resume.

Resume Success Stories

Statistics and Facts About Engineering Jobs

Engineering Degree Facts

  • Total number of degrees awarded annually: 180,651
  • Median in-state public tuition cost: $8,040
  • Median out-of-state private tuition cost: $40,940

Source: DataUSA

The “Big Four” Engineering Specialties

  • Civil engineering

    Civil engineering:

    planning highways, sewage treatment, urban development

  • Electrical engineering

    Electrical engineering:

    especially cameras and cell phones

  • Mechanical engineering

    Mechanical engineering:

    especially seatbelts and airbags

  • Chemical engineering

    Chemical engineering:

    especially clothing and medicine

Source: U.S. News

Frequently Required Education for Engineers

  • Bachelor’s degree

    Bachelor’s degree (B.S. in Engineering):

    Typically required for most jobs

  • Additional licensure

    Additional licensure:

    Recommended for specialized skill sets (i.e., mechanical, civil and electrical engineering)

  • Internship or cooperative engineering program

    Internship or cooperative engineering program:

    Completed while in college

  • Completed high school coursework

    Completed high school coursework

    in physics, calculus and trigonometry

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics

Top 4 Growing Engineer Job Markets with Median Pay by Job Title (2016–2026)

Job
Civil Engineer
Growth

32,200

6% (average growth)

Wage
$83,540
Job
Mechanical Engineer
Growth

25,300

4% (average growth)

Wage
$84,190
Job
Industrial Engineer
Growth

25,100

8% faster than average growth)

Wage
$83,310
Job
Electrical Engineer
Growth

16,200

2% (slower than average growth)

Wage
$94,210

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics

Top 5 Highest-Paying Cities for Engineers (median salary adjusted)

Bakersfield, CA$110,494
Knoxville, TN$109,77
Albuquerque, NM$109,601
Augusta-Richmond County, GA$108,932
Chattanooga, TN$107,389
0K 60K 120K

Source: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Bureau of Labor Statistics

Top 5 Lowest-Paying Cities for Engineers (median salary adjusted)

Worcester, MA$61,984
Honolulu, HI$70,170
Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach, FL$71,330
Lakeland-Winter Haven, FL$71,904
Miami-Ft. Lauderdale-West Palm, FL$72,831
0K 50K 100K

Source: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Bureau of Labor Statistics

Top 3 Degree-Granting Institutions for Engineers

  • Georgia Institute of Technology
  • University of Michigan
  • Purdue University

Source: DataUSA

Overlooked Engineering Fields That Pay Well and Their Median Pay

  • $92,250

    Mining and minerals engineer mines and occupational safety

  • $92,390

    Materials science engineer solar cells and composite metals

  • $107,600

    Nuclear engineer power supply, cooling capacity, and safety

Source: U.S. News

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