Agricultural Engineer Resume Guide and Writing Tips

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:

• Geotechnical engineer resume
• Electrical engineer resume
• Resume for student engineers
• Mechanical engineer resume
• Network engineer resume

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.

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:

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