After 5 years in my first job out of college, I’ve decided to start looking for a change. The field is Mechanical Engineering, and I have a few questions about what should be the focus of a resume that’s not for a new college graduate:
My resume out of college focused on what coursework I had completed, and what projects I had worked on in school. For this one, am I correct in assuming that the coursework is largely irrelevant? Should I just list the university name, what degree I earned, and when I graduated? How about scholarships awarded, does anyone care about that after your first job?
I’ve also completed grad school during this time. Same question about coursework/projects, does anyone care? How about listing a GPA, it’s 3.7/4.0 if that makes any difference.
I know the main focus should be my accomplishments at my current job. Should I list each title I’ve held (ME I, II and III), the date range for each, and the scope of projects I worked on?
Since the jobs I’m looking at are in a different industry, how much detail should I put in when describing projects? Can I assume that anyone reading it will be a competent googler and just list the project name so they can find a company press release?
Is one page really required?
What about buzz-words? I’ve always chuckled or rolled my eyes a bit when I see it in resumes for people I’ve interviewed. Do I need to say that I’m a “self-starter” and “fast-learner” just to get past an HR screening?
I’m sure there will be more to come, thanks in advance for the advice.
I am a software engineer with 5+ years experience and a CS degree.
Have you been working as a mechanical engineer (or a closely related field) for the past 5 years (ps: it seems that the answer is yes), and are you looking at another mechanical engineering or related field? By “different industry”, do you mean something like moving from the Auto industry to Petroleum, Aerospace, or Munitions, or are you talking about something like moving from being a Mechanical Engineer to being a Chemical Engineer, Project Manager, or HR Drone?
If so, your coursework is a lot less important now than it was. If so, GPA and electives are now mostly irrelevant, and even a senior project or thesis is optional (you can certainly put it there and emphasize it if it is extremely relevant, for example if you want to work for Ford and you did a major project related to cars, trucks, or factory automation equipment, but if your project was on mining drills, you can ignore it or put it in an out of the way location.) Right now, what matters is the fact that you have a relevant degree, and that you have 5 years of relevant experience.
You should only emphasize your schoolwork that was relevant to your new desired position.
List each job title separately, with the years you held each if you want. Describe the projects you worked on in simple, active-voice sentences. Include numbers whenever possible – saved, value of capital project, production volumes, number of people involved. Whatever gives an idea of scale.
If there is a company press release for the project, you could mention that. Otherwise, I’d add description for anything that wouldn’t have been talked about on the news.
It’s likely you’re going to be submitting your resume electronically, so one-page isn’t a hard limit, but be succinct. No one is going to spend a lot of time reading paragraphs-long resume descriptions; short lists and brief descriptions will serve you better.
HR will only be screening for “self-starter” and “fast-learner” if they’ve put those in the job description and if there’s little else in the job description. The buzzwords they’re looking for are in the ad or job description following the “required” or “preferred” experience stuff – if you’ve got something that matches those, make sure you put that in your resume.
Since you’re looking for a change, may be good to mention that. Might be a use for an “objective” statement. No need to explain why, just that you’re interested in the change; otherwise they might wonder why you applied at all if it seems too big a switch.
Absofreakinglutely not. Your resume needs to be self-contained and self-explanatory. Don’t get caught up in formalities like which project(s) you worked on; highlight your skills that are most relevant.
“5) Is one page really required?”
You should make every effort to fit your resume on one page. If you can’t do it, fine, but you should be able to.
I strongly suggest tailoring your resume to the wording of the job requirements. If it says “experience with C++” as the first qualification, then put that right at the top of your resume (even if you’ve spent tons of time coding assembly and not very much coding C++). If it says “good written communication skills required” then highlight your written communication skills in a way that’s easily noticed.
In general, assume that the person looking at your resume will take between 10 and 30 seconds to determine whether or not to throw it in the trash, or take a closer look. Focus on what’s important for the job, and truncate or omit irrelevant information. For example, at this point in your career there likely shouldn’t be anything on your resume about your undergrad degree except school and degree type (maybe year and/or GPA if it’s good.) As another example, no one cares about your high school job either, unless it’s directly relevant. (Or, you could list several “unimportant” jobs from HS/college all together without elaboration as to what you did.)
Right. If your GPA is mediocre to good, definitely omit it. If it is great, it’s your call, but after 5 years it’s relevance is much lower than it was 5 years ago.
For buzzwords, “self starter” and the like are rather meaningless. Certainly include relevant, applicable keywords from the job description, but don’t make it look like you’re keyword stuffing, or copy the job description wholesale.
E.g. if the description says “performance analysis”, find some way to put “performance analysis” in your resume.