The agricultural sector has endless benefits, and there is nothing better than knowing that your job positively impacts the environment and the community. It's an industry that's constantly evolving and always looking for new talent and, therefore, has many high-paying opportunities.
Billy Howell Agricultural Engineer 986-245-336 billyhowell@gmail.com Westbury, NY linkedin.com/in/billyhowell
Professional summary
Agricultural Engineer with an analytical and meticulous approach to addressing agricultural problems with biological science. Ten-year background in managing complex agricultural systems and supervising food processing plants. Strong computer science skill set with expertise in water and waste treatment plant operations.
Work experience
Enviro Designs Agricultural engineer March 2015-August 2018
Responsible for designing and implementing cost-effective irrigation systems and electrical equipment for commercial construction projects.
Cooperated with mechanical engineers to design solutions for agricultural issues involving product development and maintenance.
Responsible for preparing project updates on land reclamation projects and advising staff of program changes and changes to task requirements.
Block Reserve Limited Assistant Agricultural Engineer October 2013-December 2014
Joined engineers and customers to review existing projects, identify agricultural issues and make plans to increase agricultural productivity.
Designed engineering change orders to boost production operations and submitted those orders for management's review.
Communicated with vendors to determine and purchase the needed agricultural equipment and tools required to complete projects successfully.
Education
Bachelor's degree in Agricultural Engineering University of Wisconsin December 2012
Skills
Statistical analysis
Lead Development
Project management
Product Development
3D design and simulation software
Autodesk Inventor
Land reclamation
Customer Service
Quality Control
Additional Information
Member of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers.
While there are many opportunities available, you still need an exceptional agricultural engineer resume to progress in your career.
If you need some help crafting your resume, you've come to the right place. We have some excellent resume examples to help you get started and resume templates that allow you to structure your resume without leaving any vital information.
In this article, we'll also give you tips on the following:
How to write an exceptional agricultural engineering resume
How to structure your professional experience and achievements
What to add to your resume to stand out.
Facts About The Agricultural Engineering Job Market
According to the U.S Bureau of Statistics, employment of agricultural engineers is projected to grow 5% from 2020 to 2030.
The industries with the highest levels of employment in Agricultural Engineers include:
Federal Executive Branch(OEWS Designation)
Architectural Engineering and Related Services
State Government, excluding schools and hospitals(OEWS Designation)
Management, Scientific and Technical Consulting Services
Colleges, Universities and Professional Schools
The average yearly salary for an agricultural engineer will vary depending on the level of education, professional experience, tips, and bonuses as follows:
0-2 years $65,000
2-4 years $66,000
4-7 years $68,000
7+ years $70,000
10+ years $72,000
How to Make a Good Resume for Agricultural Engineering
Highlight your relevant experience, skills, and top achievements.
You can also personalize your resume using these tips:
Review the job description and add the keywords and action verbs that have been highlighted in your resume. This helps ensure that the applicant tracking systems do not filter out your resume.
Have an additional section and add some of the unique qualities that make you the best candidate.
Create a new resume for each job because hiring managers tend to know when you've used a generic resume.
The layout of the Resume
The layout will determine whether a hiring manager reads your resume or not. The font should be easy to read, and some of the fonts you can consider include Helvetica, Georgia, Times New Roman, and Garamond.
Format and structure of the Resume
There are three different ways you can format your resume. The reverse-chronological format is the most commonly used format that highlights your experience. While anyone can use this format, it's best suited for candidates with years of relevant experience in the field of agricultural engineering.
If you're a recent graduate or career changer, the functional resume format is your best bet. This format allows you to highlight your skills and education. The last format is the combination resume which blends the best features of both and is another excellent option for candidates with experience and relevant skills.
If you need other resume guides in other fields of engineering you can check them out below:
The structure of your agricultural resume should have the following:
The header section
Resume summary/resume objective
Work experience
Education section
Skills section
An additional section (interests, certifications, computer skills, awards/honors, and volunteer work)
Start with the Header Section
The first section of your resume is the header, and it has your full name, contact details, job title and a link to your website or LinkedIn profile. This section is critical and should be accurate because the recruiter uses this information to reach out to you.
Your email address should also be professional, neither with funny nicknames nor symbols.
Let's see how to write this section correctly:
CORRECT
Thomas Weston
Agricultural Engineer
423-880-467
thomasweston@gmail.com
Derry, NH
linkedin.com/in/thomasweston
INCORRECT
Thomas Weston
Agricultural Engineer
423-880-467
thomasweston@gmail.com
1983 Elliott Street
House number 23
Derry, NH
Date of birth 06/04/1995
linkedin.com/in/thomasweston
It's always better to keep your header short and avoid adding too many personal details.
A photo is not a requirement on your resume. It's better to leave it out because it can cause unconscious bias and discrimination.
Work experience and How to Showcase It On Your Resume
Agricultural engineers need to show expertise and familiarity with agricultural processes. With engineering being a technical field, it's essential that you show the hiring manager you have hands-on experience in a similar position.
If you don't have this experience, don't give up just yet. Highlight your experience and show the transferable skills that will still be useful in the new position.
When listing your work experience, you'll start with your most recent position and go backward, and two to three previous positions are okay.
The information you'll add here includes the company's name, job title and the dates you worked at each workplace. Remember that every employer wants to see results, so when listing your duties and responsibilities under each workplace, don't leave out those figures that will catch your potential employer's eye.
CORRECT
Poore Limited
Agricultural Engineer Intern
January 2017-August 2018
Provided design documentation every month using existing design technologies, increasing the projects done by 20%.
Performed consumer transformer load checks observing the best engineering practices, and submitted forms to management for approval.
Communicated with project team leaders openly and effectively on different soil and water conservation methods, increasing crop production by 15%.
This example describes the candidate's roles and responsibilities and uses figures to quantify the results.
INCORRECT
Used geospatial technology to address various problems.
Conducted product evaluations.
Communicated the soil conditions to farmers.
This example is vague and doesn't detail the results the candidate achieved as they performed their roles.
Education: include your academic background
Every agricultural engineering candidate requires a strong educational background, so don’t shy away from adding your best academic achievements. This is because this technical field requires adequate training, and most agricultural engineering jobs will require at least a bachelor’s degree. If you’re applying for a managerial role, you’ll probably need a Master’s degree to be a competitive candidate.
This section will have the name of the school, the name of the course and the graduation date. You don’t have to add your high school diploma if you have a master’s degree and your GPA is not mandatory. Of course, unless it’s impressive and will help your resume stand out.
CORRECT
MSc in Agricultural Engineering
Iowa State University
June 2019
Bachelor’s degree in Biological engineering
Western Kentucky University
October 2017
Skills for an agricultural engineer resume
Most hiring managers want a well-rounded candidate, and your skills will help show them you are one. The best way to present the skills is by listing them down using bullet points, making them more visible.
You’ve probably heard that the average recruiter takes less than ten seconds on each resume, so you’ll want to make everything easy to read and retain.
The skills consist of:
Hard skills, technical abilities acquired through training, studies, and experience.
Soft skills, the interpersonal attributes that help you relate well with people in the workplace.
Having the right skills in your resume can also help you progress in the recruitment process. When you check the job description, you’ll find multiple skills that the recruiter wants and adding them helps increase your chances of getting past the ATS systems. However, don’t lie or exaggerate your skills, especially if the recruiter can verify.
Here is a breakdown of some skills you can add to your agricultural engineer resume.
Hard skills
Data Collection and Analysis
Engineering Strategies
Knowledge of engineering plans
Preparing written reports
CAD software expert
Product Development
Developing compliance programs
Autodesk Inventor
Soft skills
Strong communication skills
Decision-making
Problem-solving
Customer Satisfaction
Critical thinking
Leadership skills
Detail-oriented
Organization skills
Professional Summary for an Agricultural Engineer
Once you have your personal details in the header section, you’ll need to make a proper introduction to your resume. A professional summary serves that purpose. It’s a short paragraph with two to four sentences summarizing your accomplishments, skills, and experience.
Be creative and engaging to ensure the manager keeps reading.
Let's check an example:
CORRECT
Agricultural Engineer with an eight-year background in implementing agricultural structures and formulating the best standards in supply production. Proven track record in increasing efficiency of crop facilities and improved crop production by 17% through frequent soil testing.
💡This example highlights the candidate’s experience and an achievement that shows the value they’ll bring to the company.
INCORRECT
Highly motivated agricultural engineer with experience in sustainable building design. Driven to achieve the best results for customers.
💡This example fails to detail the candidate’s experience and is too general, making it hard for the recruiter to know what they can do.
Professional Objective (and When to Include It)
If you’re starting your career or have recently changed jobs, you might not have the relevant experience, skills, and achievements to add to your professional summary. This is why you need the professional objective.
It serves the same purpose as the resume summary, but instead allows you to highlight your career goals and how they align with the company goals and express your interest in the job. Take this opportunity to highlight any leadership role or achievement that will help elevate your resume.
CORRECT
Recent graduate with a degree in Agricultural Engineering and a strong skillset in modelling and site assessment. Highly driven to produce quality work, address problems creatively, and design innovative solutions. Looking for an opportunity to progress my career in your organization.
💡This example mentions the areas the candidate is skilled in and expresses their interest to work in the company.
Additional Sections | Perfect To Boost Your Resume
The job market is very crowded, with many people looking for employment opportunities. Therefore, you cannot afford to do the bare minimum with your resume if you’re looking for your next job.
An additional section gives you a chance to reveal what else you can do to show the recruiter you are the best person for the position. It’s also perfect to highlight additional skills you want to expound on and ensure the recruiter doesn’t miss.
Let’s look at some of these sections below.
Computing Skills & Certifications
You might be wondering why you need to list your computer skills in a separate section instead of adding them to the skills section.
As we mentioned earlier, the recruiter will only take a glance at your resume, so it’s easy for them to miss it. Listing them in their section makes it easy for the recruiter to see them, and if it’s one of the main requirements, this will only increase your chances of landing an interview.
Certifications show that you have some additional training in your field, so you’ll want to highlight them in your resume by adding them in a different section. Here are some certifications that’ll help your agricultural engineering resume.
Certified Reliability Engineer
Accredited Agricultural Consultant
Certified Professional Agronomist
Languages
Most recruiters love a multilingual candidate, and this will definitely set you apart from other candidates. When listing your languages, use the official language reference and include your result if applicable as follows:
French DELF (70 percent or higher)
(60%) and higher Goethe Zertifikats in German
TOEFL for English
Publications
Having published work in a magazine or journal is an outstanding achievement that you don’t want the hiring manager to miss. Under this section, list the title of the publication, the name of the journal/magazine, the year of publication and don’t forget the link for the recruiter to check it out.
“Impact Damage to Selected Agricultural Produce and Evaluation of a Solar Crop Dryer,” Journal of Agricultural Engineering, June 2019.
Tips to Perfect Your Resume for Agricultural Engineering
The job title should be keyword-optimized and customized to suit the job you’re applying for. Using one title for more than one application is a mistake that will cost you the position.
Keep your resume short and let it be one page. You can push it to two in some instances, but it’s not advisable.
Read through the job description to get some of the keywords and action verbs you’ll use to optimize your resume.
Proofread your resume multiple times to ensure you don’t have any mistakes.
Summary: Writing a Flawless Resume for Jobs in Agricultural Engineering
Choose a resume layout and style that’s easy to read and understand.
The header section should have accurate information.
If you don’t have professional experience, you’ll use a resume objective instead of a resume summary to introduce your resume.
Your work experience section details your employment history, duties and responsibilities, and achievements.
You’ll list your skills using bullet points to make it easy for the recruiter to see them.
Use the additional information section to detail your extra qualifications.
Multiply Your Chances with a Cover Letter
Cover letters help you showcase your personality and writing skills. They are an excellent way of getting the hiring manager engaged and intrigued enough to review your resume.
Unless a job asks you not to send a cover letter, you should always send one; otherwise, your application will be incomplete. In your cover letter, you’ll briefly describe who you are, express your interest in the job and your significant achievements. You can check out our cover letter examples.
Frequently Asked Questions
What top companies are hiring agricultural engineers?
According to Glassdoor, the top companies hiring agricultural engineers include:
U.S Department of Agriculture
U.S Agricultural Research Service
California Department of Food and Agriculture
GEICO
Kroger
Target
U.S Army
Adobe
Safeway
Intel Corporation
What are some of the requirements for an entry-level agricultural engineering job?
A bachelor’s degree from an ABET-accredited engineering program
A passing score on the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) ex
Relevant work experience, even if it’s from a cooperative program in college.
A passing score on the Professional Engineering (PE) exam
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