Civil Engineering Resume Example

Civil engineering is a broad category with many sub-disciplines, including:

• Materials science and engineering
• Coastal engineering
• Construction engineering
• Earthquake engineering
• Environmental engineering
• Geotechnical engineering
• Water resources engineering
• Structural engineering
• Surveying
• Transportation engineering
• Municipal or urban engineering
• Forensic engineering
• Control engineering

The median salary for civil engineers in 2020 was $88,570. However, the field is projected to grow by only 2% by 2029, which means competition for civil engineering positions is intense.

Here are five tips to help you design a civil engineering resume that maximizes your chances of landing the civil engineering position you want:

1. Pick an appropriate resume introduction

In a competitive field like civil engineering, hiring managers sometimes review hundreds of applications for a single position. Writing a resume that stands out is difficult, so solve that problem by choosing the correct introduction for your resume.

Summarizing your most marketable skills at the top of your resume elevates your chances of catching the attention of hiring managers as they skim through resumes. But how you start your resume depends on your experience level:

Entry-level civil engineers: If you’re a recent graduate or engineer-in-training, begin your resume with a resume objective, which is a 2–3 sentence paragraph about your job-relevant skills and career goals.

Experienced civil engineers: If you’re already a professional engineer, use a resume summary or a summary of qualifications. A resume summary is a 1–5 sentence paragraph while a summary of qualifications is a bulleted list, but both introduction types give you enough space to highlight your best achievements.

2. List your most relevant civil engineering skills

Hard skills like software, tools, and the technical knowledge you use to design and construct infrastructure are essential to fit into your civil engineer resume. But don’t forget to include soft skills like teamwork and communication skills, which are necessary to coordinate with architects, construction crews, and government organizations.

Here are more key hard and soft skills that look great on civil engineering resumes:

• Engineering programs: AutoCAD, MATLAB, GIS software, Bentley infrastructure software
• Industry credentials: Professional Engineer (PE) license, Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) membership
• Analytical skills
• Management skills
• Organizational skills
• Research skills
• Active listening
• Written communication
• Computer skills
• Problem solving
• Constructive feedback
• Negotiating
• Delegating
• Creativity
• Adaptability
• Math skills

3. Quantify your experience

Don’t simply fill your resume with lists of your civil engineering job responsibilities. To impress the hiring manager, put your experience in context with specific examples and hard numbers that prove you’re an accomplished engineer.

For instance, list how much money you stayed under budget through strong negotiation skills, intelligent use of resources, finding cheaper materials, or eliminating unnecessary labor.

Here are three examples of quantified civil engineering skills and achievements:

Management/supervision:

• Supervise 18 project employees, including in-house, external contractors, and sub-contractors

Training:

• Trained 3 new employees to take over similar projects and aid company expansion

Budgeting:

• Inspect inventories and prepare orders for civil projects and refractory materials in line with budgeted figures averaging $2 million

4. Target the civil engineering job you want

Write the best resume possible by carefully reading the job ad and including skills-based keywords from the position requirements. For instance, if the job posting emphasizes attention to safety, then the following bullet point would be highly effective:

• Received 9 safety awards for attention and adherence to all safety procedures, resulting in an ongoing record of 0 OSHA recordable accidents

Also, many hiring managers use applicant tracking systems (ATS) to filter applications based on resume keywords they write in their job ads. The more civil engineering–related keywords you can use, the higher the chances your resume gets past the ATS and onto the hiring manager’s shortlist of applications.

5. Select engineering-related action words

Think carefully about what verbs you’re using to begin the bullet points in your resume’s work experience section. The first words that come to mind when you write your resume will likely be generic verbs the hiring manager sees far too often, such as “help” and “handle.” Such overused words make your qualifications appear mediocre.

Here are some weak verbs used too often on civil engineering resumes followed by strong action verbs you can use instead:

Weak Verbs

Help

Handle

Manage

Change

Communicate

Save

Strong Action Verbs

Collaborate

Facilitate

Guide

Adapt

Explain

Minimize

And here’s a list with more resume words you can use to bolster your application for a civil engineering job:

• Cultivate
• Inspire
• Coach
• Upgrade
• Diminish
• Augment
• Illustrate
• Brainstorm
• Design
• Anticipate
• Mitigate
• Assess