

You care about nature, the environment, our planet. But to get that job, you have to also show them a stunning environmental science resume.
In a few scrolls, you’ll learn how to take your environmental science resume to the stratosphere of quality. On top of that, you’ll see a resume sample (and not in a test tube!) that’ll give your competition a run for their money.
With environmental science being an ever more popular and relevant topic, you have a mountain to climb if you want to carve a career for yourself.
And we have the hiking gear.
This guide will show you:
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Environmental science resume made with our builder—See more resume templates here.
Looking to help the planet in other science-y ways? See below:
Richard Hutchinson
Environmental Scientist
570-544-4133
richhutchinson@zmail.com
Linkednin.com/in/richardcghutchinson
Summary of Qualifications
Safety- and ethics-oriented environmental scientist with 3+ years of experience, specializing in compliance monitoring and water quality assessments. Spearheaded transition to new methods of water sample purification at Stantec that cut spending and rollout time by 20%. Seeking to employ site analysis skills and scientific expertise at Otak Springs Ltd.
Work Experience
Environmental Scientist
Stantec, Tucson, AZ
Sept 2016–Oct 2019
Research Assistant
TerraTech, Tucson, AZ
June 2014–Sept 2016
Education
Master’s Degree in Soil, Water and Environmental Science
University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
2013–2015
Relevant Coursework: Soil Resources and Land Use, Water Resources, Applied Limnology, Ecology and Agroecosystems, Water Management
GPA: 3.8
Skills
Certificates
The time is now. Here’s how you write a job-winning environmental science resume:
Environmental scientists operate within the natural environment to analyze samples and data sets to create prognoses and prevent damage to both human and wildlife habitats. Your environmental science resume needs to show you have the right expertise, but also the people skills required to collaborate with others.
Now—
Be it geology, atmospheric science, or hazardous material handling—you need a proper attack plan to minimize harm.
When writing a resume, you need just the same to maximize potential gain.
As mentioned, environmental science is on the rise, with a predicted growth of over 7 000 new positions in the field projected by 2030.
Get ahead of them with a resume that turns heads, and follow our resume writing basics:
Also, in case you’d want to know how many pages should a resume be in total—
One page is ideal, unless your work history is like an IPCC report in itself. Submit a two-page resume only if you can actually fill the second page with relevant information that’s likely to impress the reader.
Read more: 18+ Modern Resume Templates to Use
All reputable research papers start with an abstract.
Resume-writing comes with an abstract of its own—the resume profile.
It’s a succinct way to describe yourself and your past results, but you have to do it right. Fill it with fluff and irrelevant experience, and that experiment will certainly flop.
So, to break it down to the elemental level, if your experience in environmental science goes back a couple of years, you’ll write a resume summary. Focus your lens on the biggest achievements of your career, and be sure to include numbers. Without them, your research results look dubious at best.
And if your lab coat still looks brand new, writing a resume objective is the way to go. Center the recruiter’s attention on your existing knowledge, transferable skills, and ways you could use both to bring success to the company or organization you’re applying for.
Read more: How to Start a Resume: Tips & Examples
Environmental science as a field is so vast, it’s not really possible to lump it all into one basket and provide 100% interchangeable advice.
But—
All subsets in the industry need a great work experience section, no matter your background and specialization.
Get it synthesized successfully by following this advice:
Lastly, have you noticed how “Resume” looks a bit like an anagram of “Reuse me”? While recycling is very environmentally friendly and all, sending generic resumes will surely earn you the ire of every recruiter. It’s always better to target your resume!
Read more: What Counts as Relevant Experience for a Resume?
No doubt the education you obtained will be of interest to the people potentially going to hire you. Ensuring your resume education section is crafted well should be your top priority.
What you put in here depends on how long you’ve been in the professional industry. If that number is >5 years, go ahead and list just the basics. School name, location, highest degree, and graduation year.
With less experience, you’ll want to elaborate. For entry-level environmental science resumes, add more elements, like:
Pro Tip: If you’re writing an entry level environmental science resume, it might be a good idea to change up the order and put the education section first, ahead of your work experience.
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.
When you’re done, Zety’s resume builder will score your resume and tell you exactly how to make it better.
By far the worst thing you can do to hurt your chances is to pollute your resume with a poorly-written skills section.
And yet, swaths of candidates trip over their own feet here. Their intentions may be good, buuuut…
Let’s get this straight:
If your skills section currently has 15 skills, with half of them being a stretch, and 2–3 being outright lies—
You’re doing it wrong. Very wrong.
There are alternative solutions. Try this approach:
And just like that, you have a tailored skills section. You’ve trimmed some of the fat, it looks sleeker, and it passes ruthless Applicant Tracking System checks. Just remember that it’s not entirely evergreen: you’ll need to tailor it to the company requirements every time you apply for a different job.
Check out the example list of skills below if you’re still feeling uninspired:
Read more: Key Skills to Put on a Resume: 99+ Examples
One of the key factors that separate you from the rest of the crowd is… you.
It’s always preferential, in the employer’s eyes, to hire someone with enthusiasm for the position, rather than a person who has no color, no fire, no passion.
That’s where extra resume sections come in. And even that’s not all! Reports show that beginning with minor things, such as volunteering experience, or completing courses and mentorships is an effective way to get into the environment industry.
So, let’s get to it:
Think about elements that you had to skip thus far. Whatever didn’t quite fit before, like language skills, volunteer work or freelance work, certifications and licenses, etc., can be inserted here. Hobbies on a resume can be a good idea, too, provided they’re somehow relevant to the job.
The point is: you want to show energy and conviction. This helps nail in the impression that you’re the right choice for the job.
Wondering how you can turn your side-projects into an advantage? Read more: The Right Way to Put Projects on a Resume
Done? Excellent—
Then there’s just one thing left to do: writing a great cover letter to match your new resume.
Though sometimes less is more, that’s not the case here. You simply need a cover letter if you want to maximize your chances of success.
Luckily, it’s easier than you think—just follow these cover letter tips:
That’s it. No tricks, no overly complicated 4D strategies. Just a one-page-long cover letter to hand in and get that job.
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:
See more cover letter templates and start writing.
That’s all!
A well-rounded environmental science resume that checks all the boxes.
Thanks for reading. Are there any questions you’d like to ask? Maybe you’re not so sure about what to include in the environmental science job description? Comments, questions, and feedback are all welcome!
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