Engineering Student Resume: Examples and Guide [10+ Tips]

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Tom Gerencer, CPRW

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Updated 11/24/2023

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It’s a long, rough road from Physics 101 to that hard-won engineering degree in your back pocket. But you still don’t have the dreaded e-word. Experience. Ugh. How will you get hired? The answer?

With a first-rate engineering student resume. It sounds impossible to prove you’re hirable with a sheet of dried, pressed tree pulp 0.1 millimeters thick. But do it right, and you’ll be more hirable than Tony Stark.

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Are you seeking jobs that use engineering student skills? See these resume guides:

Sample Engineering Student Resume Template

Kelly Parkos

kellyzparkos@gmail.com

847-630-6838

linkedin.com/in/kellyzparkos

Resume Summary

Detail-oriented engineering student and Six Sigma Black Belt with 2 years of internships at manufacturing facilities. Seeking to improve efficiency and lower costs at ASML. At Illinois Centerless, led setup reduction project that cut setup times by 21% in the metal fab cell. At Accubars Global, contributed to 15% cost reduction through Kanban implementation.

Education

Illinois Institute of Technology

Graduation Date: June 2020

BS in Mechanical Engineering

GPA: 3.5/3.9

Extracurricular Activities

Received Lean / Six Sigma Black Belt 2019
Treasurer, Student Engineering Club
Wrote popular monthly articles about robotics for the student paper

School Projects

Led a team of 5 engineering students to design a nuclear engine for Cislunar transport that received the Arthur L. Chan Award for Student Design.
Collaborated with a team of 7 students that won the 2018 Engineering Olympics.
Used MATLAB to figure standard deviations of error for a CEDAC problem in the mechanical engineering lab.

Relevant Experience

Engineering Intern

Illinois Centerless, Chicago, IL

June–August 2019

Led a setup reduction project in the Metal Fab cell that slashed setup times by 21%. The project saved an estimated $80,000 per year.
Collaborated with 20+ team members to write 5 standardized work instructions that were adopted throughout the facility.

Engineering Intern

Accubars Global, Chicago, IL

June–August 2018

Helped implement a new Kanban system in the parts warehouse that created a 15% cost savings.
Collaborated with a team of 7 mechanical and process engineers to help redesign the U-shaped flow of the medical equipment supplies line.

Personal Projects

Laser River Level Gage. Used low-powered laser diode, Raspberry Pi, and 3G LTE Base HAT to construct an inexpensive river-level gauge. Sold and deployed 50+.
Exercise Gage. Created an exercise counter 50% more accurate than Fitbit at measuring uncommon exercise like paddling or rowing machine.
Improved Supermarket Checkout Reader. Redesigned supermarket checkout chip card reader with slot on top so shoppers don’t have to bend over to insert their cards.

Skills

Software: MATLAB, AutoCAD, Microsoft Office, SolidWorks
Machines: CNC, Lathes
Languages: English, Spanish (fluent)

Additional Activities

Member, American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
Monthly volunteer builder, Habitat for Humanity

Here’s how to write your own job-winning engineering student resume:

1. Format Your Engineering Student Resume Correctly

Engineering students graduate from college with high-level skills in chemical, biological, mechanical, electrical, civil, geotechnical, or computer engineering. They face an uphill battle to get hired for entry-level engineering jobs in a field of 70,000 new graduates each year in the U.S. An engineering student resume needs a standout format.

The perfect resume for engineering students has to show you pay attention to detail. To win over your next employer from the first glance, follow these resume formatting rules:

Decide on which of the three resume types will get you hired fastest. For most engineering students, that’s a modified reverse-chronological order resume.
Don’t reinvent the wheel. Start with a minimalist resume template to get you to your goal faster.
Select a modern resume font like Arial, Cambria, or Helvetica.
Set common one inch resume margins on the bottom, left, right, and top.
It’s vital for your resume to fit on one page—and make sure it fills the page.
How should you name your resume file? “Name-Job Title-Resume.pdf” works best.

Read more: Parts of a Resume

2. Get Attention With a Resume Profile Statement

You need a professional resume introduction to make sure they read your resume. That’s just a quick summary that shows off the key features of your resume.

For entry-level engineering jobs, you’ll write a resume objective statement. In the horse-and-buggy days, that meant you talked about your personal career goals. That’s a no-no in the modern world. Today, talk about your goal to help the company. But show you can help the company by adding your best 2–3 engineering achievements.

What about resume summary statements? Those are basically the same thing, but they’re for more experienced job candidates. Steer clear of those unless you’ve got 15 internships in your rearview.

3. Write a Winning Engineering Student Resume Education Section

Education on your resume has a special job to do. It has to fill up extra space you can’t fill with work experience.

Put your current educational institution at the top. Skip adding high school to your resume.
Include your degree, the name of your institution, graduation date (or a prospective graduation date if you’re still in this school), your major and minors (if applicable).
Break your education section up to add length. You can add sections to it like relevant coursework or school projects to show how you’ve used engineering skills.
You can also add activities, clubs, groups, and list accomplishments in each. Think hard. Did you write articles? Belong to clubs? Lead teams of students?
Add your GPA to your resume. You can list both weighted and unweighted GPAs.

4. Design an Expert Engineering Student Resume Job Description

Got internships? Even one engineering internship? Then show it in a Relevant Experience section. But there’s a special way to do it to get hired. Take a peek first at the employer’s job description online. What skills do they need that you have?

Show those skills off through engineering accomplishments from classes or projects. Add those to a few bullet points under each internship.

The best resume experience section imaginable is designed to wow employers:

Start with your most recent internship and then add older ones lower down.
Customize your resume by showing how you used MATLAB, chemical engineering skills, or helped create the budget for a new public works project.
List the job title, organization name, the dates you were employed, and 3–6 bullet points that show how you made a Thomas Edison sized impact.
Start every bullet point with a resume action verb like collaborated or designed.
Make every one of your bullet points show something Elon-Musk-level that you did. Achievements on a resume carry more weight than a list of responsibilities.

5. Showcase Your Best Engineering Student Skills

Yikes. As many as 75% of engineering majors don’t get jobs in their field. That’s terrifying, but you can easily rise above that stat. It works by listing out the engineering skills in the job offer, then proving them out in your bullet points.

Here's how to show your engineering skills are SME-worthy:

Write up a master list of your best resume job skills. This will take some time, but it’ll make your life so much easier later.
In your list, put all your hard skills, soft skills, technical skills, computer skills, and anything else an employer could conceivably be interested in.
Find the most important 7–10 skills in the employer’s job description. Pull from your master list to build your list of resume skills.

Pro Tip: Prove every skill you list with an accomplishment in your education or experience sections. A skills list without proof is like a car without a drive shaft.

Engineering Student Resume Skills

Organizational skills
MATLAB
Prototyping
Time management
Troubleshooting
Communication skills (verbal and written)
Testing
CAD
Lean
IT skills
Workflow development
Problem solving
Computer skills
Customer service
Project management skills
Attention to detail
Conceptual skills
Interpersonal skills
Teamwork skills
Decision making
MS Office skills

Pro Tip: When you custom-fit your resume to the job posting, take some time to find the right resume keywords. They’ll help you go from a generic part to looking like an OEM replacement.

When making a resume in our builder, drag & drop bullet points, skills, and auto-fill the boring stuff. Spell check? Check. Start building a professional resume template here for free.

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When you’re done, our online resume builder will score your resume and our resume checker will tell you exactly how to make it better.

6. Consider Additional Sections for Your Engineering Student Resume

You don’t have to add “other” sections to your resume, but it can fill space and add skills:

Add sections for professional associations you belong to, as well as licenses and certifications.
Include volunteer work if you’ve done some that proves you’ve got the right skills.
Also add projects on your resume and foreign languages.
Struggling to fill the space? You can even add a hobbies section, though that should be your last resort unless it proves your engineering skills somehow.

7. Write a Cover Letter for Your Engineering Student Resume

When your resume is done, you’ve still got a little work to do. See—most employers think resumes without cover letters are just job spam. That is, they think you sent a million resumes and you don’t care about this job.

Prove them wrong.

What is a cover letter for? It’s to show this entry-level engineering job matters more to you than most. You hand-picked it and aren’t just clicking auto-apply and hoping for a win.

Here’s how to cover the right parts of a cover letter:

Begin with a modern cover letter template.
Don’t write a Dear Hiring Manager cover letter. Go on LinkedIn or call the company to learn the hiring manager’s name. Then use it in your letter.
Write a cover letter introduction that hooks them fast, to make sure they read every word.
Use the second paragraph to tease the best bits of your engineering student resume.
In your cover letter ending, say what you like about their company. Then ask for the interview.

Why are most cover letters one page in length? Because nobody will read a two-page cover letter. Keep yours brief and to the point. Three paragraphs is plenty.

Read more: College Student Cover Letter

Plus, a great cover letter that matches your resume will give you an advantage over other candidates. You can write it in our cover letter builder here. Here's what it may look like:

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See more cover letter templates and start writing.

That’s all—

Now you know everything you need to write a great engineering student resume!

Thanks for reading! Do you have another question on how to make a great engineering student resume? Give us a shout in the comments section!

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This article has been reviewed by our editorial team to make sure it follows Zety's editorial guidelines. We’re committed to sharing our expertise and giving you trustworthy career advice tailored to your needs. High-quality content is what brings over 40 million readers to our site every year. But we don't stop there. Our team conducts original research to understand the job market better, and we pride ourselves on being quoted by top universities and prime media outlets from around the world.

Sources

https://ira.asee.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/2017-Engineering-by-the-Numbers-3.pdf

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Engineering Student Resume: Examples and Guide [10+ Tips]

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