Ultimate Engineering Student Resume Guide: Examples [+Pro Tips]

After hundreds of sleepless nights, coursework, presentations, reports, and vivas for 45+ subjects later, you finally pulled it off – or at least you’re almost there.

Before celebrating your success as a graduate engineer, there’s one more thing – you need to find a job that pays – to pay back your student loan – to return the favor to your parents – to have the life you always dreamt of.

You need to create a solid engineering student resume to land your first job.

If you’re an engineering student trying to land a job before you graduate or you just graduated and looking to apply for your first job, this guide will take you through the steps to create a perfect engineering resume.

This includes:

• A guide to choosing the best resume format, layout, and templates for engineering students
• A complete Engineering Student resume example
• A step-by-step guide to writing each section of your resume
• To DOs and DON’Ts in writing your engineering resume

With Pro Tips to make yourself stand out from the rest of the applications.

If your university career day is close by and you want to create well-targeted resumes and cover letters for the potential recruiters, here’s a quick tip. Use our ready-to-fill resume templates to make your resumes and cover letters within minutes.

Let’s dive into the complete resume writing guide👇

We thought you were an engineering student. If you have completed your degree and looking for a more experienced engineering resume, have a look at these👇

• Software engineer resume
• Civil engineer resume
• Mechanical engineer resume
• Aeronautical engineer resume
• Data engineer resume
• Electrical engineer resume
• Robotics engineer resume

The Formula to Write a Winning Engineering Student Resume

We know for the last four years you didn't have time to think about writing your resume as you were busy solving the most complex engineering problems.

When you step out into the real world and start looking for your first career opportunity, you’ll realize it’s much harder than solving a mathematical problem because it involves real people – they judge you for everything you do – the way you’ve written your resume – the way you walk and talk in an interview.

The field of resume writing always evolves – it’s not what it was 5 years ago. New writing standards – templates – best practices – and that’s why it’s important to look at a complete resume writing guide before starting yours.

Let’s start from scratch.

Read through to the end and you’ll find a step-by-step guide guide to writing your engineering student resume for any field. We have also highlighted the DOs and DON’Ts in writing your student resume.

We’ll start with general guidelines for writing resumes. These apply to most beginner and experienced resumes and we will give you the most up-to-date standard practices in HR.

First, we should define the layout, format, and a template for the resume.

Engineering Student Resume Layout

The resume layout consists of the headings and subheadings you’re going to put on your resume. Defining them at the beginning saves you hours and makes sure you don’t miss any important information.

We recommend the following layout for an Engineering Student resume:

• Header: name and contact information.
• Resume objective summary.
• Work history.
• Project experience.
• Education.
• Engineering skills.
• Additional sections (certificates, languages, and publications).

You could change the order of this information based on your strengths.

Professional resume format for Engineering Students

The format of a resume determines the way the information in each section is written – the order in which the information is presented.

What experience should you be writing about first?

Which academic qualification should you include first?

As an engineering student, we know you don’t possess much experience, but adhering to the standard resume writing norms will reward you. Remember, your resume is read by an expert hiring manager at the end. So use their language!

There are three standard resume formats named functional resume format, reverse-chronological format, and hybrid format. From these, we suggest you use the reverse chronological format as it’s the most popular among many recruiters.

In a reverse chronological resume format, you should write your most recent experience first – in your projects section, start with the most recent projects you completed – same for the education section as you should list your latest education qualifications first.

Employers are more concerned about the candidate’s latest experience at a time, the industry standards – tools & techniques – and engineering best practices are rapidly changing.

The right layout and the format will help the hiring manager to read your resume faster. You indeed spent four years to become an engineer but the recruiters don’t spend more than 5 seconds on your resume. Make it as easy as humanly possible for them to read and understand your resume – you’ll see plenty of interview calls coming your way.

Engineering Student Resume Template

The template defines the overall look and feel of your resume. Choosing the right template is half your resume writing – because the template makes the first impression – like the suit you wear for the interview.

You engineers are pro users of Microsoft Office. You can create your own resume template. Consider the following points while creating yours:

• Define the color theme that matches your personality.
• Determine the fonts type , sizes, and colors for headings, subheadings, and text.
• Keep margins from all sides – about one inch
• Try to present information in two or three columns for efficient utilization of space

If you’re looking for a perfect resume template created by professionals, check out our resume builder – we have plenty of modern resume templates suited for all industries. These templates are easy to fill up and tailor to your requirements – and guess what, recruiters love these!

Start Your Engineering Student Resume with the Header

Your resume starts with the header – it contains your name and contact information. Though this sounds straightforward, there are many ways candidates make deadly mistakes in the header which we have highlighted.

A good & a bad header

CORRECT

Martin Luther

Trainee Mechanical Engineer

mluther@gmail.com

(234)675-2351

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mluther

INCORRECT

Martin Luther

Engineering Student

mluther@gmail.com

(234)675-2351

13, main street, University apt 4,

Washington DC

USA

Consider the following points while writing your header:

• Start your resume with your first and last names
• Put the job title
• Include your personal email address and a mobile number
• Put the link to your LinkedIn profile or the portfolio – make sure they’re updated
• Do not include your physical address

Demonstrate Your Experience as an Engineer: Though You Don’t Have Much

From a hiring manager’s perspective, whether they’re recruiting an experienced candidate or an entry-level candidate, they’re hiring an engineer – for a critical, technical position in the organization.

Therefore, their main concern would be your relevant experience. If you say you don’t have experience as you’re applying for your first proper job, that wouldn’t be an excuse.

The best experience you could put on your engineer resume is what you acquired in your internship. Most engineering internships focus on providing the candidates with the basic field experience, technical skills, and research skills while developing their teamwork, leadership, and communication – the skill combination that most recruiters are seeking.

Creating a killer experience section is all about your writing. Analyze the following examples to see the difference between a boring experience section and an exceptional one.

Example Experience section for an Engineering Student

INCORRECT

Aug 2021 to Present

Mechanical engineering student

Aluco Manufacturers

• Proposed a new aluminum cutting process
• Designed machine parts using CAD
• Work closely with management and technical teams
• Proposed continuous improvement project
• Designed a new factory layout
• Machine downtime analysis

CORRECT

Aug 2021 to Present

Mechanical Engineer (Intern)

Aluco Manufacturers

• Carried out a feasibility analysis of a state of the art aluminum cutting process reducing the raw material wastage by 4%
• Introduced 5S in the factory premises – planned and implemented the project
• Played a major role in the company’s adaptation to Just In Time manufacturing – worked closely with the change management team
• Analyzed the current factory layout and presented the management with suggestions to improve the capacity based on industrial engineering principles
• Carried out a machine downtime analysis project that highlighted 3 key suggestions to reduce downtime by 7%

Most trainee engineer work involves carrying out analysis of existing organizational methodologies and presenting them to the management for decision making.

In your engineering experience, you should let your personality shine – use numbers to add credibility – write experience based on the actions – state the outcomes of each action.

Demonstrate the skills you developed:

• Communication skills through presenting your findings to the management.
• Teamwork through the projects you were involved in with other members.
• Leadership skills with the project initiatives you took.

Writing a list of roles and responsibilities on your job is what everybody else does – stand out from the rest and you’ll have a better chance of getting shortlisted for an interview.

Start each sentence with action verbs such as developed, designed, demonstrated, installed, carried out, and created.

Get Recruiters' Attention with Your Projects Experience

The essence of an engineering bachelor’s is the project experience the candidate acquires throughout the years. As an engineering student, you should have been involved in multiple group projects and individual projects as part of your studies.

This project experience is a great way to attract recruiters and communicate that you have the required expertise to carry out the tasks on the job. If the project data is not confidential, you could include some of them as well.

Project example:

CORRECT

Brand changeover analysis project for Coca Cola

Semester 6 Group project:

• Developed a brand changeover time analysis chart for the factory covering over 24 Coca cola brands
• Presented the findings to the management and highlighted the suggestions to reduce brand changeover time
• Proposed a demand-based data-driven methodology to reduce the number of brand changeovers by 12%

Write up the Mandatory Education Section

Your education plays a key role in your engineering student resume. In most cases, recruiters would mention the academic qualifications they are after based on the job description.

Certain jobs expect candidates from multiple engineering disciplines such as Civil, Mechanical, Electrical, or Material engineering, whereas, some other jobs require candidates specialized in a specific engineering field such as computer engineering.

Check the job advertisement to find out more about the academic requirements.

Place your education section just after or before your experience section based on the priority the recruiter has given to your academics.

Use a consistent format to list your education – start with the name of the degree, name of the university, graduation timeline, and key learning outcomes of your course. If you’ve got any academic achievements such as being selected to Dean’s list, you may mention them here.

Education

The Most In-Demand Skills for Engineering Students

Engineering student skills vary based on the discipline they specialize in – the technical skills of a civil engineer would be different from that of an electronic engineer.

Said that most soft skills expected from an engineer remain almost the same for all engineers.

Your resume needs a mix of both these skills. You should identify the hard skills required to perform the job and the soft skills required to stand out at your workplace.

Hard skills are technical skills: they are easy to measure. You could acquire hard skills through your studies, certification courses, and classes.

Soft skills are personality traits that anybody can claim they have – these are difficult to measure – your task here is to find the right skills the hiring manager expects from the ideal candidate.

Soft Skills for Engineering Students

• Teamwork
• Communication skills
• Interpersonal skills
• Leadership skills
• Analytical skills
• Attention to detail
• Time management
• Presentation skills
• Organizational skills
• Problem-solving

Hard Skills for Engineering Students

The hard skills of an engineer depend on their specialized fields. There’re hundreds of technical skills related to different engineering disciplines and we’ve listed down few of them:

Hook the Reader with a Winning Professional Objective

The professional objective is the sales pitch on your resume. Make it so enticing that the hiring manager can’t wait to meet you in an interview.

This is a two-sentence statement – the first sentence emphasizes your key skills and your passion to join the new company – the second sentence describes your performance in the internship, your academic and professional achievements, and how that helped the industry, and society, or a particular employer.

An extraordinary professional objective is the most efficient tool to make sure the hiring manager spends more than average time reading your resume.

Examples

CORRECT

A dedicated chemical & process engineer specializing in manufacturing process design seeks to join a process design team to further my career. In my internship at BIL Food processing, involved in developing their chocolate cookie production plant

INCORRECT

A chemical & process engineer with no previous experience seeks to join a manufacturing organization to provide my engineering expertise

What makes the first example exceptionally good compared to the second?

In the first professional objective, the candidate has clearly demonstrated their key skills – the type of job they’re looking for – and what they've been involved in in the internship. The information makes it clear to the hiring manager, whether the candidate is a fit for their requirement.

Additional sections for your Engineering Student Resume

Additional resume sections could act as key information for an engineering student’s resume. There’re a couple of benefits of using additional sections on a student resume:

• Small sections easily get the hiring manager’s attention.
• Candidates can include a variety of information under different headings.
• Easily to fill the resume space for a student who does not possess a strong experience section.

The trick here is to pick the right sections for your resume. Remember, anything that does not add value to your candidate profile or the job specifications should be avoided.

Here’re some of the additional sections you can include on your resume:

• Computer skills & certifications
• Extracurricular activities
• Publications and patents
• Languages
• Interests

Computing Skills & Certifications

The skills certifications are the most employable information you could include on your resume. Relevant skill certifications would depend upon the field of engineering you’ve specialized in. Do research, talk to your lecturers, and refer to the job advertisements to find out the certifications in demand.

Some of these certifications are free and most of them you can get online. Here are a few popular skill certifications for engineers:

• Six Sigma Green Belt Certification
• Business Process Reengineering (BPR) Certification
• Project Management Professional (PMP)
• CAD/ CAM certification

Your IT skills would be given special priority by the recruiters, especially in entry-level jobs. Technical engineering jobs involve working with many software tools. Your experience in computer programming, Microsoft Office Suite, ERP systems, CRMs, and MRPs would add value regardless of the field of engineering you’ve specialized in.

Extracurricular Activities

Your first job would be the only time you will be including your extracurricular activities on the resume.

The sports you were involved in – volunteer work – work in recreational clubs – the memberships and posts you held would demonstrate your soft skills. Some sports, clubs, and volunteer activities develop candidates’ leadership, communication, and teamwork skills.

Interests

Most candidates write their interests as a filler on the resume. Recruiters often find resumes with interest sections that include information such as reading books, cycling, collecting dried flowers, etc that does not add any value to your job as an engineer – you should avoid them at all costs.

If you’re looking for a perfect cv template to include all these additional sections and still want to keep it to ONE PAGE resume standard, check out our ready-to-fill resume templates.

Tips to Improve Your Engineering Student Resume

We’ve already shared plenty of tips and guidelines to create a perfect engineering student resume. As a last note, consider the following pro resume tips as well.

• Get your friend to proofread your resume – also use Grammarly to check accuracy.
• Study the job advertisements and develop the skills they’re looking for – acquire relevant skill certifications.
• During the resume writing process, focus most of your attention on the professional experience section.
• Tailor your resume summary to different jobs – make it as captivating as possible to catch the reader's attention.
• Structure your resume sections effectively by using a professional resume template with multiple columns.

Key Takeaways: Writing a Winning Engineering Resume

• Your engineering student resume should start with the header.
• Write an objective summary describing your key skills and interest in the job.
• Be specific in your experience section – use numbers to add credibility – avoid writing roles and responsibilities.
• Use a clear format to showcase your academic qualifications – be descriptive of your academic qualifications and achievements.
• Write a mix of soft and hard skills.
• Use additional sections to give a pleasant surprise to the hiring manager.

Complement Your Resume with A Cover Letter

A cover letter explains why you are interested in the company and how you will be a great fit for the job. It is sent along with your resume. Even if the employer does not ask for one, as you’re applying for an entry-level engineering job with minimum experience, a cover letter would be a great way to get their attention.

Contrary to sending the same resume to multiple jobs, you should tailor your cover letter to each of the jobs you apply for – include specific details about the company – deliver targeted content based on the position.

Writing cover letters would be time-consuming when you’re actively applying for multiple jobs. It could be a daunting task if you are parallel doing your studies with exams and submissions. The solution is to create a structure for your cover letter and tailor it to different jobs.

Our resume & cover letter builder would be a great tool to try here. It enables you to create hundreds of cover letters with the same template as your resume – you just have to change the company, position, and body text on your cover letter.

Keep your cover letter to one page – body text to about 3 to 4 paragraphs. Describe the most important issues you could solve for the employer in your first paragraph – use the second paragraph to explain how you used your expertise and academic knowledge in your internship – in the last paragraph, state any particular interest in joining the organization.

FAQ