Chemistry Resume

Chemistry Resume Template

Your resume format should be chronological if you have experience or functional if you’re starting out and want to highlight your skills.

Average chemistry salaries in the US

The following table includes information from O*NET Resource Center by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license, this data is pulled from the most recent US Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Employment & Earnings report (as of 10/16/2024), featuring the top states by use.

How to write a chemistry resume

You may know how to conduct lab work, but do you also know how to elaborate on your research skills in a professional resume?

Show employers you’re capable of performing complex research tasks and supporting their business goals with your resume, and you’ll soon land fulfilling work as a chemist or in a chemistry-related position.

Follow these three tips to write a chemistry resume that proves to employers you’re the chemistry expert they’re looking for:

1. Highlight your chemistry skills

Because the technical nature of chemistry jobs call for someone who has a strong scientific background, your resume should highlight your ability to prepare and analyze various substances, along with the technical know-how required to create, interpret, and report data.

But first, list key chemistry skills in your resume’s skills section to show employers you have the right training and expertise for the job. Then further align your ability to handle the role by showcasing the hard and soft skills tied to chemistry in your work experience section.

For example, if you’re applying to be a chemist at a pharmaceutical company, emphasize your experience working on drug formulations while maintaining quality control standards in the lab.

Here are some key chemistry skills to include in your resume:

• Mathematics
• Physics
• Chemistry (Organic, analytical, and process chemistry)
• Formulation
• Testing and analyzing chemical or physical properties of compounds
• Documentation
• Interpreting test results
• Maintaining laboratory instruments
• Safety procedures
• Quality control procedures
• Analytical software (Minitab)
• SAP
• Document management software (ChemSW Laboratory Document Control System)
• CAD software (ChemInnovation Software Chem 4-D)
• Microsoft Access
• SQL

Though your technical skill-set will be prioritized by employers looking for chemists, your hard skills aren’t all that matters. When narrowing down the candidate pool, employers will also take a look at your soft skills to determine if you’re someone they want to hire.

To show employers you have the soft skills necessary to thrive in the workplace, include important chemistry soft skills throughout the content of your resume to make you appear as a more well-rounded candidate.

Here are some soft skills employers seek in a chemist:

• Accuracy
• Attention to detail
• Communication skills
• Organizational skills
• Time management skills
• Analytical skills
• Active listening
• Problem-solving skills
• Adaptability
• Critical thinking skills
• Decision-making skills
• Project management skills
• Collaboration

Here are two examples of how to incorporate these skills into your resume’s bullet points:

Developed analytical methods to research the chemical properties of drug substances and formulations, thus ensuring quality and efficacy of products

Created and implemented SOPs and research parameters, including the qualification and validation of generic drugs in line with FDA regulations

2. Use strong chemistry action verbs

Hiring managers are busy people, and your resume could easily be overlooked if you don’t seem qualified right away. To ensure your application gets a full review (and hopefully earns you an interview), highlight your qualifications concisely with action verbs.

Descriptive action verbs are much better at conveying your past contributions to companies, and are a lot less boring too. Knowing how to effectively promote yourself with the language in your resume helps you better elaborate on your past job experiences, and further emphasizes how employers would directly benefit from hiring you.

Here are some strong chemistry action verbs to include in your resume:

• Accelerated
• Analyzed
• Advised
• Administered
• Coordinated
• Delivered
• Devised
• Directed
• Documented
• Established
• Evaluated
• Examined
• Facilitated
• Formulated
• Improved
• Increased
• Maximized
• Oversaw
• Pinpointed
• Streamlined
• Supervised
• Transformed

And here are a couple of examples that illustrate how to use powerful chemistry action verbs in the bullet points of your work experience section:

Directed technical leadership in plant setup and facility-wide process restructuring, resulting in a 3% increase in production output, in addition to $200K in cost reduction

Established design concepts to optimize the technology transfer process for drugs, facilitating a 100% success rate in the transformation of drugs from the lab to the manufacturing facility

3. Add hard numbers to your achievements

Employers seek chemists who can facilitate research projects to create or improve existing products. With several applicants to consider for the same role, hiring managers will be most interested in those who can clearly express how their skills align with the business’s needs.

To reassure employers there’s no better person for the job, use hard numbers in your resume’s bullet points to show them how you made a direct impact on the success of your former companies.

Here are two examples of how to use hard numbers in a chemistry resume:

Worked closely with outside vendors to transfer and execute established methods for product development and QA, saving over $110K in production costs

Reduced chemical problems in the synthesis, analysis, and development of chemical substances by 23% by employing research best practices

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