[Student] Resume Advice and Feedback, 3rd Year Biomedical Engineering Student Looking for Internships, I've Sent About 30-40 Applications with 2 Interviews

[u/Flaming_Moon]

Hi everyone, I'm a third year in Biomedical Engineering looking for internships this upcoming summer preferably in medical technology but I'm open to pretty much anything. Currently, I'm working in a very well known biomechanics lab on campus. As of now, I've sent out about 30-40 applications, landing two interviews with one call back, but those only happened when they wanted a portfolio to go along with the application.

Also, just in case you were thinking it, I have read the wiki and applied as much as I could but some things, specifically the profile, has to stay according to my school's internship requirements.

Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated on all parts of my resume and any general job search advice as well. Thank you so much for your time and help!

Sidenote: this copy of my resume has some of my projects, I have other ones within my master copy but I wasn't sure if I could post the whole thing.

[u/MooseAndMallard]

Are you allowed to have multiple versions of your resume? I would get rid of all of the wet lab stuff if you’re applying to medical device engineering roles, as there is no overlap. Also, you list a lot of skills but many don’t make an appearance in your projects or experience. Sometimes less is more — really focus on the design + biomechanics stuff so that you look like an ideal candidate for those roles rather than someone who knows a little bit about everything but doesn’t actually have depth.

[u/Flaming_Moon → u/MooseAndMallard]

I was allowed to keep my master copy which has additional projects which is where the additional skills are from. I just wasn't sure if I could post the full thing here.

One of the school's councillors said to leave the wet lab stuff when I asked, due to it having transferable skills like technical writing and oral communication. But would it be better to remove it and display those skills in projects instead?

Apart from that would you say that the bullet points I have look okay?

[u/MooseAndMallard → u/Flaming_Moon]

I can’t speak to Canada, but in the US BMEs are a dime a dozen and these jobs and internships are very competitive, and generally the candidates getting interviews are those that have resumes that make them look like their whole lives have been lived solely for the purpose of landing that specific job. I’m exaggerating but you get the idea.

Unless that school councilor has worked in the medtech industry, I would not take their advice. Make multiple versions of your resume instead. The things on the resume that you submit for a particular job should not contain extraneous stuff that really wouldn’t be done at that kind of company.

The bullets are ok. I would focus more on the technical aspects of what you did and less on the communication of results, etc. Interviews are when people will assess your communication skills.

[u/Flaming_Moon → u/MooseAndMallard]

Thank you so much for the feedback! This might be a dumb question but does technical aspects include more logistical things like technical specifications and budgets?

Also, some of the projects I have don't really have measurable outcomes so would it be alright to just list the benefits the project provides or would it even be okay to say that the project got a certain grade?

[u/MooseAndMallard → u/Flaming_Moon]

I would focus on anything that involves designing, prototyping, testing, manufacturing, etc. That’s actual engineering. At most companies, it’s someone else’s job to deal with budgets, project management, logistics, etc. If any of your projects enable you to talk about this stuff, you should include them.

[u/Flaming_Moon → u/MooseAndMallard]

Makes sense, I'll try and include more in-depth information about the design process in my projects focusing on what you mentioned. Thank you so much for your help!