neoSprockets .. the next generation of engineers and tech professionals ..

The First Job: Resume

Let’s just be honest upfront, ok? Unless you’ve cured cancer or invented Facebook, your resume sucks. Seriously guy, it’s just plain rubbish. We all had great high-school GPAs and snagged a few Dean’s Lists. Really? You took Statics AND Dynamics?
Compared to every other Engineering resume in the bin, yours is probably plus or minus half a standard deviation away from the normal. The game is to set yourself apart from all the other bright-eyed NeoSprockets.

Side-Projects:

Side-projects are your opportunity to show that you’ve an interest in Engineering outside of the classroom. Club projects are fine, but stuff you do in your room on weekends (grow up) is better. iPhone apps, tech hacking, genetic algorithm horse racing; all good stuff. In my undergrad, prior to job fairs, I would occasionally throw references to my “Chuck E. Cheese Redemption Scam” — always a conversation starter. (Watch for future posts)

Reference the Position:

You should have multiple resumes, each one tailored to a specific job type. Many companies have pre-screening autonomous auto-bot programs that flag resumes with certain keywords. Read the position description a few times and try to work in some key phrases. Lab Software? Emphasise your MATLAB/LabVIEW interface experience. Modeling and Simulation Software? Emphasise your MATLAB/SIMULINK experience.

Tuck in your Resume’s Shirt:

For Pete’s sake, keep your resume clean. There is no tolerance today for spelling errors or grammarical mistakes on resumes. And take it easy on the formatting. I absolutely guarantee that at some point you will need to convert it into a plain text document. If you have tables, fields, or god-forbid formulas in your spunky Word document you’re only creating more work for yourself later. Keep it simple, but slick. Restrict yourself to keeping it under a page for the initial submit, but keep all the goopy run-off together for a supplement page to take with you on interviews.

Remember that this is your one chance to get a foot in the door. Make sure your laces are tied.