For both early-career and established civil engineers, a resume is a stepping stone toward new opportunities.
A job search begins with a resume refresh, requiring job seekers to carefully evaluate what they have learned, what they have accomplished, and where they hope to go in the future. But making yourself stand out in a sea of fellow professionals takes considerable thought and effort.
Last month’s Thursdays@3 discussion brought together top civil engineers to share their insights on what makes a resume shine. Find out what they want to see when hiring:
Daniel Bressler, P.E., M.ASCE
Structural Engineer, Brooklyn, New York
“My main takeaway when I look at a resume is: would I hire this person? And when I'm writing my own resume, would I hire me if I saw this come to my desk? If the answer's no, there’s something to be fixed.”
“This does boil down to a bunch of different ideas, but mostly I would say organization, how you relate that information. So, you want to keep your top selling points to the top … you want to make sure that you have things that are relevant to the actual job that you're applying for.”
“When starting your resume, it's kind of difficult to get this perfect sentence. When you have a job, whatever it is, list everything you have. It could be half a page. List every single little thing you did, and then you can start grouping them. Slowly, they’ll become five bullet points, four, and then you could get your perfect two or three or whatever amount of bullet points you're looking for from each item.”
Melany Alliston, P.E., M.ASCE
Civil Engineering Practice Director, North America at Toole Design Group, Pittsburgh
“Keep in mind, the whole point of writing a resume is not just to list your jobs and your duties at those jobs … The keyword here is to demonstrate that you are the type of person that they want to hire, who is perfect for that job opening, so you need to put the personal touch on that resume to demonstrate to me that you are a proactive communicator, that you are a hard worker.”
“Even if you're very early in your career and you all you've done is worked in fast food or a retail store, there are still things that you did to help out that might have been over and above your job description. Those are things that you can apply to your new job in engineering, so relating that material and your skills to the position at hand and telling us what you've accomplished and what you want to accomplish is really important.”
Michael Wallace, P.E., M.ASCE
Senior Vice President, The Liro Group, Edison, New Jersey
“[A resume blurb] is definitely beneficial … you have to do something to stand out. Everybody's going to have that they go to an engineering school. Everybody's going to have the same kind of classes you went to. If you make a statement that you're motivated and driven, what else in the resume will prove that other than you just writing it?”
“So just remember, we're putting a lot of effort today on the resume, but writing resumes is half the battle. A resume gets you in the door, but you still have to prove everything that's on that resume. You still have to prove you're the right candidate they want to hire, and I will tell you … know the job you're going for, know the company that you will be interviewing with – that is extremely important – and be able to have a conversation.”
For more career tips, register to attend this month’s Thursdays@3 discussion on social justice, equity, and more.
