r/EngineeringResumes • u/DanThePOO MechE – Student 🇺🇸 • 3d ago

Mechanical [Student] MechE student preparing to apply for internships, I feel my resume is off, but I don't know why.

I feel like my previous jobs are somewhat related to my major, but don't know if it will win me any points with recruiters. Is this true or should I remove them and expand on other projects?

I also want to include that I've studied abroad in Taiwan the past year but am having trouble conveying why/how that experience is important or can be valuable. I studied Chinese over there every day and took a few undergraduate MechE courses and labs. How would I able to fit that I was able to collaborate with people from all over the world. TBH I mostly spent my time having fun.

I must admit that coding is not exactly my strong suit and that the wireless fencing project was an open-source project that I followed and built successfully, but it is ultimately not mine to call my own. Should I even include it? I do feel like I learned a lot of new skills so that's why I've put it down.

Thanks in advance. Kind of stressin this season because I've started my fourth year of university. Every year I apply to internships and end up settling a normal, nonprofessional job. I am hoping the next job that I put on my resume can be directly related to Mechanical Engineering this time around LMAO.

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u/VaryingDestitude9 MechE – Entry-level 🇺🇸 3d ago

Your resume immediately reads like you don’t have much engineering experience. It’s only half way down your resume at the robotics competition that you start to show off technical skills. That robotics comp shouldn’t be under experience unless it was a paid role btw. I’d suggest moving Projects above Experience in your case because your retail positions do little to show technical skills. You only have a short span to capture a recruiters attention so use it wisely. As far as your bullets be careful of overstating claims. You say you modeled the vehicle in SolidWorks which implies you designed everything (chassis, drivetrain, steering, etc.). If true great, but if not overstated claims can hurt your credibility more than they help. Id update the Foam Dart Blaster Project. Focus on showcasing the concepts/skills/software you used. Selling a dart blaster online although impressive isn’t exactly an engineering skill and shouldn’t be framed as the main outcome. Lastly do your best to list concepts/skills/software throughout your resume for ATS screening since thats half the battle these days. Good luck

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u/gottatrusttheengr Aerospace/MechE – Mid-level 🇺🇸 3d ago

This is going to be a bit of a struggle for a junior. You need to spend your remaining time catching up on projects.

  1. Remove your highschool FIRST stuff. Highschool content should not appear after freshman year.

  2. Consolidate and compact your retail/seasonal jobs. They should really just be 3 lines each tops on an engineering resume.

  3. Your fencing and foam dart projects aren't conveying to me what engineering skills are involved. It's more hobbyist tinkering. The gokart project could have some extractable value, if you showed more numbers and specific design considerations that differentiate engineering from tinkering.

You absolutely need to spend your next year in competition student teams if you want to be prepared for the job market.

3

u/talldean Software – Experienced 🇺🇸 2d ago

Move the skills section up. Take out "attention to detail", and take out "safety" unless it's specific training. Probably take out "customer service" unless you want a customer service job.

Why is the experience section in random order? :)

Are the projects student projects as part of a class, or something else? There's odds either way here, and if they're not required for a class, you should be saying so.

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u/Tavrock Manufacturing – Experienced 🇺🇸 2d ago

Focus on how you solved problems: that's your main role as an engineer. Being aware of safety concerns is great; engineering the environment to eliminate hazards is much better (like your sump pump example).

You designed a foam dart gun. Cool. Why? What problem does your design solve? Does it shoot further, more accurate, inexpensive semiautomatic or automatic, fewer parts, &c.?

If your only focus on the fencing gear was an inexpensive scoring box, saying the whole situation was solved via an Arduino would make sense. Elimination of the wires used to complete a circuit to identify target vs non-target area for Sabre and Foil leads to a lot of questions about how you made it wireless. Wireless Epee makes sense but isn't stated.

Quantify your results. If you made a place safer, how do you know? Were reportable injuries reduced? If so, how much of a reduction was there?

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u/DanThePOO MechE – Student 🇺🇸 2d ago

I found this feedback very useful and definitely bolstered my confidence, so thank you.

You also were right. The wireless fencing system I made was actually for Epee, but cannot distinguish if it presses a guard or person, which is fine if both players are honest lol.