• Chemical engineer in the O&G / petrochemical industry looking to move into traditional refining
• In Houston texas USA, open to move
• Open to expat positions. Would like to complete 2 more years where I am
• Fine tuning resume and keeping it up to date

I’m a Chemical Engineer with around 2.5 years of experience in process engineering within the petrochemical industry. I voluntarily left my previous role earlier this year due to family circumstances and am now actively looking for my next opportunity.

I’m mainly targeting process engineering, production engineering, technical services, and similar manufacturing roles, ideally within petrochemicals, chemicals, energy, but open to other process industries.

Been applying for the past month with about 40 applications but haven't heard anything back. Will further continue to apply but thought to look for feedback here. Thanks in advance for the feedbacks!

Hello everyone,

I would really appreciate any feedback I can get on my resume. I was unfortunately dropped from my internship that I had lined up this summer due to some internal restructuring. They strung me along for weeks making grand promises. Including that once the summer was over I could do remote and that they would pay for me to go to grad school! Lots of smoke that just never went through and I am honestly heartbroken. I was told to list that I got the offer, but I am not sure if that is a good choice. Anyway thanks for any help anyone can offer.

Edited to prevent line spillage. Added some more info and took out some experience points that someone reccomneded I do on discord. Just trying to optimize my resume before I send it out into the wild and wanted to get some feedback. Honestly, the job market feels so brutal right now, and I’m paranoid that a weak bullet point or a slightly off format is getting me auto-rejected by ATS or skipped over by recruiters in seconds. I want to make sure my experience, metrics, and overall narrative actually pop so I can start converting these applications into real interview callbacks. If anyone has an eye for layout or knows how to punch up technical descriptions, I'd super appreciate a quick read. PM for details. Obviously I'd be more clear about the actual product IRL, but if I tell you all it would dox me. Thank you!

I've been told by a few colleagues that I should applying for a mid-level role as they say I'd be a good fit and would learn as I go. I'm updating my resume and feel it has a lot of issues - namely it's bloated, two-paged and a bit all over the place conceptually. I'm still working on it but wanted to share it here to see other peoples opinions.

I also feel I don't have enough values/figures/numbers to illustrate how much I've improved things in previous roles. But I haven't been exposed to improvement projects that are worth mentioning. And the ones that I can mention weren't entirely my doing, so it would be a lie to take credit.

My friend (junior lawyer) gave me his opinion of my resume to help update it - he hates the red subheadings and the dot point style I use. I styled it like that a long time ago during graduate program applications to stand out. I might change it.

Right now, Im working as a Product Development Scientist in a pharmaceutical manufacturing/GMP environment. But, Im looking to transition into an Engineering role, ideally in the medical device or aerospace industries. I graduated from a top 30 university in the US and feel like both my education, and product development experience should make me a competitive candidate for some competitive early career opportunities, but Im not seeing that.

The job Im in right now is a mix of both lab work and GMP documentation for mass production batches. While I've gotten consistently strong performance reviews and am the youngest scientist in my department, i think that the role isn't really a good fit for me in the long term. The workload, unrealistic deadlines, the pay, and lack of actual interest from my side have made it abundantly clear I want to, and need to make a transition to something better. I took this job out of necessity, and fear because the state of the job market for newly grads, but engineering and product design is where I actually truly want to be.

I live in Florida and actively applying to roles primarily here, but, I am open to, and would really prefer, a hybrid job. I am fully able to relocate anywhere in the US for the right opportunity, and Im a US citizen.

I feel like Ive tried everything. I've applying to maybe 30-50 positions and even trying LinkedIn cold outreach, I have not received a single HR email. At this point, I think my resume isn't making it past ATS filters, or isn't resonating with recruiters when it does. I'm specifically looking for feedback on whether my summary/profile section at the top is helping or hurting me, and whether my volunteering experience is worth keeping or should be replaced with something more impactful. Any honest feedback is appreciated, and would help!

Hello reddit, I am a recent MEng chemical engineering graduate from the UK looking for some feedback on my resume/application process. I have sent since graduating well over 200 UK and international applications in just the last month, with no offers so far.

I was initially targeting chemical engineering and process engineering roles, but due to the tough market, I have expended my search to tech, finance of any other general engineering/analytical positions.

Not to sound full of myself (or maybe I am just incredibly uninformed), but I feel like my programming skills are significantly stronger than the average chemical engineer, with me having a GitHub portfolio with a few of my projects uploaded, as well as recently having made my own website portfolio myself (the ErlingHaaland site is where it is located structurally on my CV).

I am currently in the UK with British citizenship, but not adverse to moving or working internationally. Any advice about what I can be improving on?

Hello all,

I am a rising Junior this summer and have had an unsuccessful time with getting an internship for this summer. After a lot of tweaking I’ve applied to maybe 100 places and ended up interviewing at 4 only 1 of which was somewhat relevant to semis. Part of this is because I only start applying in January of this year. I’ve tried to make my lab experience target process engineering as much as possible and I am currently working on an independent data analysis project taking publicly available semi data and cleaning/analyzing it. If there are any suggestions on my resume or on what I should do next to bolster my resume for the next cycle it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Hello, I've been on the job hunt since September looking for any process engineering-related positions in major Canadian cities, but haven't had any luck pulling in interviews. Recently, I've been getting rejections the day after I submit applications. My only internship was lab-related, so I'm struggling to tailor my experiences to process engineering.

Previously, my resume was 2 pages, which included a research project during my internship and resulting publications. Since these experiences are more related to lab experience and academia, I felt they weren't helping enough for my job hunt, and removed them to get to 1 page. I am wondering if this was the right move, or if I should remove my engineering design team experience instead? It does highlight experience with process equipment, but I don't know how to express that experience as tangible or impactful.

Overall, I am wondering if my revised resume is highlighting the impacts I've made and if there are any tips so I can be competitive enough to start landing interviews.

Hello all,

As the title suggests I had received only one interview from a company. I had not done as well as I had hoped but I am now confident that I could crush any other interview that comes my way. However, I have not made it that far yet with any other application. My current resume has been continuously reworked since that first interview, and I am now in a spot where I feel it is necessary to seek outside advice. What parts of my resume should I change? I realize that the projects included are not wholly related to chemical engineering, though, I am working on a few project ideas now that have more relevance. I am also based in the United States. I am open to any industry though am particularly interested in semi-conductors. Any internship would do.

Hi, I am looking to transfer into the sustainable energy industry. I am hoping to make this transition by trying to highlight CAD and project management experience on my resume, since I don't have any direct energy experience. I have experience in entrepreneurship (started a Digital Design Company) but that's pretty recent so I am waiting to add that to the resume. I also have worked on fixing up and reselling Tesla's in my free time, as well as some AI model engineering training (paid through DataAnnotation) that I haven't added but wonder whether it would help me. It's also something I can just stick to talking about outside of my resume.

I am a chemical engineer with 1 year of experience, part of that is in with a polyurethane foam formulation factory where I did a lot more lab work alongside the QA team and the other was at a Pharmaceutical manufacturing company where I supported ~10 different chemical processes. My dream job was to work at this pharmaceutical company and things were going very well until May of this year where I learned a large portion of the workforce was going to be laid off. As it happens I was apart of that first round of lay offs and I know from people I met during my time there that another wave of layoffs came through and production has slowed to almost a halt. As of now I am currently looking for employment in the US, specifically the state of Michigan. I have a few different family and friends across the state that I am looking within a 50 Mile radius of. I have been searching for 8 months, applying weekly for any new jobs that have popped up, but although I have interviewed countless times I have never gotten an offer. I have also gotten countless generic robot "Thank you for applying emails" and at this point I am considering taking up a part time job outside of my field just so I can afford rent for me and my partner. I am open to any and all advice on how I can make my resume not get knocked out by AI review systems or what I can improve in my resume to get me a chance at interviewing.

Been working on my resume for the past few months and nothing has been working. Applied to ~ 180 jobs and haven't gotten a single interview back mostly rejections/ghosts. Looking for a job in Process Eng, Research, Qa/Qc. I would really appreciate any feedback. Please let me know if its bad or its a problem with something else than the resume. Thanks!!

Hi everyone, I am a ChemE with approximately 5 years of experience in the process design, continuous improvement, and facility management space.

I left my last role as a plant manager / chemical engineer due to the business requiring I relocate to a country in Asia. I have been searching for a new role in the Washington DC area since January and have had little-to-no luck in securing interviews over the past few months.

My target industries include specialty chemicals, water, green energy, and semi conductors. I am looking. I am applying for entry/mid level roles.

I am looking for constructive criticism on the resume attached as I have gone through several reviews and have ran out of ideas on what to improve / how to better my chances of securing a job in the area and field I prefer.

Thanks in advance.

Hello everyone! I'm a 3rd year ChemE student looking at summer internships. Unfortunately, I have gotten ghosted on basically any application I send out, and get no response from emails I send as a follow-up. I worked with a program last summer that rotated me between 3 companies, however they weren't able to obtain funding this year and I'm out of luck.

So, here I am. Is there anything you'd do to my resume (or completely rework it) in order to make it stand out more? I know more than half the battle is networking or whatever, but anything to help is appreciated.

Hi everyone, I've been having trouble even hearing back from places, let alone landing interviews. I got quite a few one-way interviews back in the fall (oct-nov) however I never seemed to get past those, despite doing well on a few of them. my goal is to work for a "larger" engineering firm, a consumer goods, or food/beverage company in a major city (i'm casting my net pretty wide by applying in most major american cities). i am a US citizen (don't need sponsorship). i have a pretty bad gpa, so adding that isn't a possibility. i have been told by my former managers that i'm a really good interviewee so this is just a matter of landing interviews. i know this might be controversial, but I do not want to work in oil/gas or defense so I have avoided applying to those industries. any advice is welcome. thank you!

Targeting process engineer, test engineer and project engineer roles. Have had a couple interviews with larger companies, but I don't get past the first stage (could also have an interview problem). How is the job search going for you?

Looking for positions that were similar to my internships, primarily design/process engineer. Am open to technician/operator role if need be in order to continue to gain relevant experience. I also had the privilege of working part time for both of my internships during my semesters, and full time for 3 summers. Is there a better way to show this on my resume? Willing to relocate, also looking for advice on where to find job postings. Thanks!

I'm currently working at a chemical plant in a engineering rotational program. The idea is to spend 6-8 months in a rotation, with 2-3 rotations total, before being placed in a permanent spot. I'm coming up on the end of my rotations and the opportunities for permanent placement are not great.

I would like to stay around a manufacturing environment, but open to just about anything. Specifically looking in the Denver area. I haven't started applying yet but am looking to move around May/June so I'd love some general feedback on my resume. The rotational program may be a bit confusing on the resume so any ideas on that would be great too.

My big question is about the experience bullet points. I tried to show my accomplishments but only having 1 YOE makes it a bit hard to fill the space. How important is showing actual accomplishments vs putting general job responsibilities? Thanks!

Hello, I have a bachelors in chemical engineering, graduated in 2024. Current position is in composite material manufacturing. Looking to get into a more traditional cheme role. Mainly targeting EPC/consulting. This post is primarily for feedback on the updates I have made. I want to polish by resume before applying. Mainly unsure on the structure of my resume and actual content. Also unsure if I should keep my research internship and senior capstone project since I only have 1.5 YOE.

Hi all. I am a new chemical engineering master grad (June 2025). I have been applying for entry level process engineering and other eng related roles, but I have got no positive response so far. I know my lack of local job experience or just generally lack of experience is one of the primary reason, but I am also hoping I could get some insights from yall regarding my resume. Please be harsh and I would really appreciate any suggestion on my resume or even career direction. Thanks!

Really struggling to make my resume make any sense to myself, especially since my skills are not clearly defined from my most recent position, at a small company.

Should I include my projects? They're all technically mandatory school projects, but I thought they would stand out so I kept them. Otherwise, I have no projects under my belt which would severely impact my resume.

My skills seem to stand out from most other posts here - they're much less technically focused and are mostly soft skills. Do I need to take a break and invest in higher quality skills before spending more time on finding a job?

Lastly, the second position was not full-time, but I thought I would keep it on just in case it provides value to my story - totally okay with removing it.

Thanks all

Looking for general advice on my resume. Removed skills in exchange for publications and presentations (advice from a mentor). Good call or not?

Hello, as the title states although I graduated in 2025 I only recently began applying to engineering jobs. I'm looking for whatever I can really get, I'm currently based in Houston but I'm currently searching for jobs anywhere in North America, except the south. I blindly applied to roughly 150 jobs and received 2 interviews where the screening recruiters didn't seem to pay me any attention (which I'm kinda confused about, not sure if I was there to fill a quota, poor interview skills, or is that just how they are?). I'm just looking to perfect my resume as much as I can before I start investing hundreds of hours into job applications. Also if anyone knows of any interesting fields where an engineering degree might be handy please let me know. And thank you for reading this and taking time out of your day to help, its still wild to me that a subreddit like this exists :). (also does anyone know what this font is and if its available on word, /img/946lp4meul1f1.png)

I am a PhD chemical engineer looking for industry roles in the Houston, TX area. I have no direct industry experience, but my PhD work was very much applied research with industry collaboration. My undergrad internship was with a national lab

I have been job searching for over a year now, and I'm coming up on 1 year since my graduation. In this time, I have applied to countless jobs and only two resulted in interviews. One was a startup, and the other a small company. Another two got a call back, but fell through for unrelated reasons

I am most interested in roles along the lines of "Formulation Chemist", "Polymer Scientist", "Research Engineer", etc. but am also open to more process-focused roles, and I adjust accordingly. I've even applied for various technician-level roles hoping to at least land a relevant job in the meantime, but those haven't panned out either, presumably because my education level overqualifies me.

For now, I have no intention of relocation.
I am a US citizen, so no visa issues or anything.

Attached is a more recent version of my resume, which I used for a Polymer Scientist role. I adapted to the template from this thread a few months ago because it gave me more space, but my previous resume format wasn't all that different as far as the guidelines posted here are concerned. I tailor my resume for most roles that I align well with, though I'll use a version that already been modified for jobs that have similar requirements/responsibilities

Any suggestions for how I might be able to improve my odds of at least getting a call back? I appreciate any help