One of the most common questions engineers have about their resume is: “How long should my engineering resume be?”

Well… Let’s start with what your engineering resume should be. For an engineer a resume should be many things but what it must not be is a detailed summary of your career. Why? Because depending on your level of experience that would be a 5 to 30 page document!

What your resume should be is a brief summary of achievements and skills. It should be a document that is easy for the reader to digest quickly. All information must be integrated by the engineering manager in under 2 minutes. Quick, simple, direct and rich in content. So what does this mean to the length of your engineering resume?

Typically for an engineer with less than 3-5 years of experience a one page resume should be enough. There are exceptions where 2 pages are justified but this is a good rule of thumb.

Over 3-5 years usually requires 2 pages, especially if you have worked in many different organizations or have had more than one career path.

Finally if you are a senior technical expert or a senior consultant it may make sense to go to three pages.

Remember the reader is looking for a brief snapshot of you. Keep it to a one page resume if you can. Use two pages if you are very experienced and must use 2 pages. If the resume is properly written in most cases you not need more. In some special cases for engineers in the last quarter of their career a 3 page resume may be justifiable, if written well.

Try to stick to these guidelines for the length of your engineering resume. It really helps get interview calls.

Get a head start with our Very Best Engineering Resume Collection, a collection of the best engineering resumes and cover letters. Available to you in a simple download.

If you have any questions about this or any other topics please feel free to contact me directly. Good luck with your search!

Thanks for visiting!

Michael Brit
President & Chief Resume Writer
www.Engineer-Resume.com

Engineers are notorious for writing resumes that are filled with content. So filled with content in fact that they often read more like an engineering dictionary than a resume!

This is especially true for aerospace, mechanical, electrical, electronic, civil, software, petroleum and chemical engineers. Mostly due to the fact that acronyms are particularly common in these fields. Resumes that are filled with complex and sometime undecipherable listings of three and four letter combinations are not very effective and should be changed.

Bear in mind that the first person to read your resume is likely a non technical professional (most likely a recruiter) that may not be completely versed in the technical details of your experience.

So your resume should include enough technical detail to impress your skills on the engineering manager. But not so much detail that the HR manager or recruiter will not know what to make of it!

It is important to mention your critical skills and in particular those that are directly relevant to the job posting. But temper it with text, descriptions of your achievements and your roles. The acronyms should be the salt and pepper of your engineering resumes, not the main ingredient.

For example, instead of writing: “Parameters acquired included spectral characteristics, XTAL, VCO and PLL phase noise levels and subsystem s-parameters.”, consider instead: “Developed parameter acquisition methodology and software which was used to derive microwave system performance characteristics.”. You can expand on the detailed characteristics during an interview with a technically competent manager.

In summary don’t scare or bore the non technical reader of your resume. If they can’t understand it, your resume is going to end up at the bottom of the pile and with it go your chances of getting that job you want.

Get a head start with our Very Best Engineering Resume Collection, a collection of the best engineering resumes and cover letters. Available to you in a simple download.

If you have any questions about this or any other topics please feel free to contact me directly. Good luck with your search!

Thanks for visiting!

Michael Brit
President & Chief Resume Writer
www.Engineer-Resume.com

If you could chose one change and one change only in your engineering resume what would it be? The font? The format? The introduction? The job descriptions? The profile? While these are all important attributes, they are nowhere near the most important.

Filling an open engineering position is much like solving a problem. As an engineer looking for a  job you need to put yourself in the shoes of the employer. They have a need. If you can convince them you can fill their need you will get an interview call and a job offer.

So going back to the original question…

If you could chose one change and one change only in your engineering resume what would it be?

Customize your resume for the job posting!!!

This the most critical change that engineers can make to their resume to increase their effectiveness in delivering interview calls. It also works well for cover letters. Customization (tailoring the engineering resume and cover letter for the job posting) demonstrates to the employer that you are a match for THEIR opening, not just ANY opening.

So how exactly do you do this?

If you really want the job, take the job description and study it. Pick up on the needs, the requirements and the description of the job. Take advantage of the web to find out about the company and what they do. With that information in hand you can sprinkle your resume with keywords and experiences you have had that relate the most to the need.

It is not possible to capture all of your career in 1 or 2 pages. So focus what you chose to include in the resume and pick the most relevant accomplishments and skills that answer their specific need as listed in the job posting.

One way you can easily do this is to have a longer resume (say 3 or 4 pages) that you easily cut back into 1 or 2 pages before submitting it. You can keep what is relevant to the job posting (or more closely related) and erase the rest.

Every job will require some customization. It takes a little time and effort to do this but a customized engineering resume will deliver much better results than a generic one. Every time.

Get a head start with our Very Best Engineering Resume Collection, a collection of the best engineering resumes and cover letters. Available to you in a simple download.

If you have any questions about this or any other topics please feel free to contact me directly. Good luck with your search!

Thanks for visiting!

Michael Brit
President & Chief Resume Writer
www.Engineer-Resume.com

Something that has always surprised me is how little effort many engineers put in their resumes and cover letters. Business managers, sales people, lawyers, accountants and other professionals take the resume a little more seriously. Countless engineers consider content to be the only thing that matters and this often results in resumes that are hard to read, have content that does not help them or are just so flawed that they cost the candidate interview call after interview call.

A cover letter and resume are almost always your first opportunity to make an impression on the human resources or hiring manager. Of all the tasks involved in a job search nothing can make it or break it for an engineer quicker than a resume. The resume is your first calling card, and also the introduction that can lead to an interview call and a new job.

Hiring is sort of like dating. Nobody jumps from a first introduction to a marriage proposal… (well maybe in the movies) So hiring is like dating in that it is a multiple step process where confidence is built and doubts and skepticism are slowly erased until the employer is confident you can do 3 things:

1. Help his/her organization be better – bring value to the team.

2. Fit with the group – nobody hires someone they dislike.

3. Fill their current need.

…A job offer then follows.

On the way there you need to be completely focused on building 3 things:

1. Build Their Trust in You as a Professional – bring value to the team…

2. Build Your Credibility and a Personal Rapport – they don’t dislike you…

3. Build Their Confidence in Your Competence For the Job – Fit their current need…

Imagine what happens to these three critical factors if your first introduction is poor. Your resume is in most cases all the employer knows about you, so you have to make sure you get the best engineering resume possible. Why?

First… If you make a poor impression with your resume it will be almost impossible to erase it – even if you get called for an interview. In some cases you may still get a call but the hiring manager is going to attempt to find out more about something he or she didn’t like and wants you to explain away. This is a terrible place to be in an interview. It is a negative start that puts you on the defensive and will virtually ensure you will not get an offer. Most times a poorly written engineering resume simply ends up in the trash bin, you don’t get a call and someone else gets the job.

Second… You are in a competition for the job you just applied for. All it takes is two or three candidates with exceptionally well written resumes and you are out of an interview and consequently the job. When hiring managers scan a short document for information and have several others in line for their attention they are not going to give you much time. You need to nail it quickly, grab their attention and keep it. They will not have any patience for errors or lack of clarity, a poor format or resume that is hard to read or full of decorative graphics or jargon they can’t understand. It’s a competitive race, if you do not send in the best resume you will lose the race.

Over many years of evaluating engineering resumes both as an employer and a professional resume writer and career counselor I have seen so many resumes that have hurt rather than helped the candidate.

In some cases these poor resumes were written by an engineer trying to do it himself without guidance or reviews. In other cases the resumes were actually written by generic resume writing services that are not familiar with engineering and use generic business world templates that don’t work.

So in summary, be sure that your engineering resume and your cover letter are very well written, formatted, edited and reviewed. This is a critical set of documents, when well done they can help you immensely and get you the job you want. If done poorly they will stop your job search dead in its tracks. So get informed, use all resources you can use or get professional help. This is not something where you can afford to be “average”.

Get a head start with our Very Best Engineering Resume Collection, a collection of the best engineering resumes and cover letters. Available to you in a simple download.

If you have any questions about this or any other topics please feel free to contact me directly. Good luck with your search!

Thanks for visiting!

Michael Brit
President & Chief Resume Writer
www.Engineer-Resume.com