How to make a resume which both reflects personal goals and is attractive to recruiters? Engineering schools allow student to come up with a precise career objective throughout the years. Here are a few tips for creating a strong resume.
Studying in an undergrad engineering school gives students time to ponder over their career objectives, their favorite classes, internships and projects, etc.
Discovering and acquiring competences
During the two first years of engineering school, students have access to a wide range of classes. An occasion to acquire scientific and technical fundamentals essential for the pursuit of engineering studies. Freshmen and sophomores must also work on practical projects, whether alone or in team.
Students may then get an idea of the subjects they like the most, meet engineers of all sectors and decide in what area they would like to major in.
Think before acting
In order to define a clear career objective, it is essential to take some time to think: what are my strengths? what would I like to do for a living? what are my values? what scientific and social subjects are important to me?
In what are would I like to work? In what type of business: multinational, SME, startup? Do I want to start my own business? What skills should I acquire to reach my goals?
These are some of the questions you may ask yourself before choosing a path that will be right for you.
Build a tailor-made curriculum thanks to electives, majors, specializations, dual degrees…
Recruiters will look into your personalized educational path to see if your profile and skills do match with the position you apply to.
Study abroad experiences are not be overlooked. If you wish to work in a specific area like aeronautics for instance, spending a semester in a renowned international university will far more useful than a few months in a random country you felt like discovering.
Last but not least, work placements during the school curriculum will be of great help to define your career objective.
Being an intern if the area, company or position you are aiming at is precious for your future engineer career. Most important of all is the final year internship: 5 to 6 months to put your skills into practice and set the bases of your first job as engineering school graduate.
Bringing out one’s personality to stand out from the crowd
Some resumes, especially in France, mention extra-curricular activities. These allow recruiters to get a clearer idea of a candidate. Whatever your mad skills are, do not hide them! If you do sport, tell about the competitions you attended, the prizes you have won…
Do not forget to talk about the student associations you belong too, emphasizing on the soft skills developed on this occasion: social skills, reactivity, leadership, persistence…
Budget monitoring, event planning are also skills that may make a difference for recruiters if they are unable to decide between several engineering school graduates.
In order to make a good resume, the most important thing to do is to find its underlying theme. The latter must help you answer the following question: “when reading my resume, can a recruiter find a logic between my project, my first job and my career objective?”
Find this guiding light so you can share it with your future employers!
Would you like to study abroad in a French engineering school? Learn more about the Master’s Programme at ESILV, engineering school in Paris.
