Engineering Student Resume Example (Civil & Electrical)

What to highlight in an engineering student resume

As an engineering student, you are learning important skills that you’ll use in your chosen job field. Even if you have the education and skills necessary to get a job, you need to write a resume that best reflects your qualifications. Here’s how you can craft an engineering resume that shows off everything you’ve been learning.

The skills and experience you should highlight in your resume will depend on what engineering niche you’re part of. Your options may include mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, computer engineering, civil engineering, software engineering, biomedical engineering or others. On your resume, be sure to highlight technical skills and knowledge that are related to the specific engineering job you’re applying to.

How to write an engineering student resume

A student resume can have different formats. There are typically three resume formats: chronological resume, functional resume and combination resume. These highlight your work history, skills, and both work history and skills, respectively. As a student with less specific work experience, you may find that the functional resume works best. Regardless of the resume format you choose, your resume will include the following sections.

Header

A resume header includes your name, phone number, email address and any job networking profiles such as LinkedIn. In most resume templates, the header will include a bit of extra design to draw attention to your contact information.

Resume summary or objective

Your resume summary or resume objective is a short two-to-three-sentence paragraph that gives a general overview of your best work experience, certifications and achievements. For an engineering student, this may include engineering projects you’ve worked on or other achievements that would convince a recruiter to hire you.

Skills

Because there are so many engineering niches out there, the skills to include in your resume skills section will depend mainly on the particular job you’re applying to. Here are a few major skills you should consider including:

• Software (AutoCAD, SolidWorks)
• Extensive Microsoft Office knowledge
• Programming languages (MATLAB, HTML, Java, Python, CSS)
• Creating prototypes
• Project management
• Problem-solving skills

Note that you should include both soft skills and hard skills on your engineering student resume. Both types of skills are important, especially in engineering fields where you’ll regularly work with or lead a team.

Work history

As an engineering student, you probably don’t have many years of experience. If you’re looking for an entry-level job, you need to include any engineering internships, personal projects you’ve completed, relevant coursework and volunteer work.

Education

In your education section, list your college education; if you haven’t graduated yet, list your expected date of completion. Do not include your GPA unless requested. Remember to add any specialized coursework you’ve had that applies to the job you want, as well as graduation honors like cum laude or making the Dean’s List.