CAREER FOCUS
A Resume with Impact
For professions such as mechanical engineering, conveying depth of skill on paper can be tricky, but several key strategies can help.
Written by Robin Flanigan
MECHANICAL ENGINEERS ARE DETAIL-ORIENTED, analytical, and adept at solving problems—all helpful attributes when trying to do a job to perfection.
Their resumes also need to reach that level of perfection, especially when technology is being used to help find the right candidate, said Mark A. Nelson, an executive professional recruiter at Actalent, based in Columbia, Md.
“Our proprietary internal software is able to filter and parse out information and give me the exact results I’m looking for,” he explained. “So, it takes 50 million resumes down to about 100 within a matter of seconds.”
Those numbers may appear daunting, but Nelson offered several strategies to make sure your resume reaches the right hands.
Grab attention immediately
First and foremost, make sure the visual presentation looks good.
“If you don't have the same format all the way through on your resume—something that sounds very elementary—that’s a concern,” Nelson said. “Bullets are an easy way to separate the density of a resume. They let it breathe a little bit and make it easier to consume. Otherwise, it’s like the world’s longest text message and is hard to read.”
Avoid errors such as multiple fonts, different margins, or overlapping dates.
Have a clear objective
Objectives are the first thing Nelson reads closely. Make sure yours is in line with the job you’re applying for.
Simply stating you’re interested in a mechanical engineering position is too vague.
“Does that mean design? Quality? Manufacturing? Testing? There are hundreds of different jobs within mechanical engineering,” Nelson said, adding that when candidates are more nebulous than explicit, they come across as lacking attention to detail or desperate.
“Sometimes less is more. I want to see more of the right stuff instead of a lot of stuff that just isn’t applicable to me. I want people to be very concise and specific and focused and intentional.”
—Mark A. Nelson, executive professional recruiter, Actalent
Repeat critical words
Nelson recently reviewed resumes for a mechanical design engineer position, where the candidate would be designing and developing components for military tanks. Out of the 540 resumes that came up in his search, the one that landed at the top of the heap belonged to a woman who had mentioned using Creo—an in-demand CAD software in the defense space—on every single job she’d listed.
“Our system works off an AI-type platform that looks at how many times a word hits on the resume—and the more times it hits, the higher up the resume will be when I search results in our database,” Nelson continued. “If she’d mentioned it once in a list of software skills, which most people do, she would’ve fallen to the bottom of the list.” Instead, she scored an interview.
Highlight tangible results
Prove you’ve been responsible for successful outcomes, such as saving money, increasing quality, and lowering downtime.
“I want to see numbers that pop out that show someone is going to be a good return on our investment,” Nelson said.
Saying you created a new process improvement for your previous company is great, but what’s even better would be stating that the improvement resulted in $20 million worth of cost savings, a 50 percent reduction in downtime, and increased quality by 70 percent, for example.
“Just take one more step,” Nelson said. “Anyone can say they implemented a process, but if no one ever uses it, it doesn’t matter.”
Keep it concise
Some resumes can look like novellas, but Nelson prefers a resume that fits on one page. “These are engineers—if they can solve a complex problem, they can probably solve how to get a resume on one page,” he explained.
Include the extras
Rather than just listing past roles and responsibilities, also be sure to include certifications, memberships, and even hobbies that showcase passions and interests.
“If you’re into woodworking, you never know if a manager reading your resume just happens to be into woodworking,” Nelson said. “Anything that can help with a connection, keep it on there as long as there’s room.”
Avoid common mistakes
Trying to come off as a jack-of-all-trades will often make an employer believe you’re a master of none.
“It’s like this person can do literally every job in the world,” Nelson said. “Sometimes less is more. I want to see more of the right stuff instead of a lot of stuff that just isn’t applicable to me. I want people to be very concise and specific and focused and intentional.”
Write it yourself
Artificial intelligence tools can be helpful, but companies have teams that validate what’s on resumes, so using AI to do the writing for you “is not recommended and may have negative impacts on your ability to find employment,” Nelson said.
“I could technically go into Copilot right now and say, ‘Write me a resume for someone using Creo to design military tanks’ and I would have a well-written resume,” he continued. “It doesn’t mean I can do the job.”
Robin Flanigan is an independent writer in Rochester, N.Y.
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