Manufacturing Engineer Resume

As a manufacturing engineer, you’ve probably accumulated a mix of creative and technical design skills over the course of your career. But translating those skills on a resume can be a challenge.

Show employers you’ve got the manufacturing engineering qualifications to excel by writing a resume with a clear objective. The following four tips will help you create an organized and cohesive manufacturing engineer resume.

1. Highlight your manufacturing engineer resume skills

Employers want manufacturing engineers with a unique mix of technical know-how and creative thinking. From designing prototypes to incorporating technical edits on the factory floor, successful manufacturing engineers also exhibit flexibility and independence.

Use the resume skills section to highlight your most impressive professional abilities. Include a mix of software competencies, design specialties, and soft skills.

Your resume skills section should ensure that your strongest manufacturing engineer skills are easy to find. Here’s a list of the top manufacturing engineer resume skills to give you an idea of what employers are looking for:

• CAD software (Autodesk AutoCAD, Solidworks, Shapr3D)
• CAM software (CNC Mastercam, Siemens NX, CAMWorks)
• ERP software (SAP, product lifecycle management)
• Troubleshooting product design
• Knowledge of manufacturing materials and processes
• Independent and creative thinking
• Analytical skills
• Prototyping
• Communication skills
• 3D printing
• Technical support in manufacturing

2. Write a thorough projects section

An important aspect of manufacturing engineering is the ability to design and prototype models of parts. The projects section, distinct from your experience section, will give you the opportunity to discuss impressive projects in more detail.

Here are the basic elements to include in a projects section entry:

• Date of project
• Company
• Brief description of design
• Unique takeaway (time it took to design, innovative aspect of design, team members managed, etc.)

If you only have one large-scale project to speak of, don’t create a projects section.

But, if you’re fresh out of college or university, feel free to include projects completed from relevant coursework. A lack of professional experience can be made up from by demonstrating your abilities taking on school projects.

The resume projects section is further evidence to the employer of what you can bring to their team. So keep in mind that if you’re unable to discuss the projects listed in detail, it’s best to leave them off.

3. Include strong manufacturing engineer action verbs

As an engineer, you may prefer computer languages to written English. But when writing a resume, the written word is your greatest tool. Writing up your projects, experience, and skills sections all call for a thoughtful use of wording to avoid repetitive and boring sentences.

The best way to write impactful bullet points in your manufacturing engineer resume is to use strong action verbs. Resume action verbs make your content stand out by virtue of simply being more readable and interesting. Plus starting sentences with active verbs makes you sound more confident and productive.

It’s also a good idea to look over your resume and be sure you aren’t repeating the same words over and over. Even if they’re strong action verbs, readers notice the repetition, and will begin to think you’re not very creative.

Here’s a list of relevant action verbs for a manufacturing engineer resume to get you started:

• Develop
• Design
• Troubleshoot
• Improve
• Integrate
• Refine
• Edit
• Produce
• Analyze
• Research
• Evaluate
• Support
• Determine
• Resolve
• Implement

4. Open with a strong manufacturing engineer resume summary

A resume summary is a short, introductory paragraph at the top of your resume. When written well, your resume summary concisely highlights your most impressive achievements and skills. Manufacturing engineers need strong starts to their resumes to quickly tell hiring managers they’re the best fit for the role. A strong start shows you’re results-driven and a good communicator.

On a fundamental level, a resume summary provides a recruiter a quick look at your relevant manufacturing engineer experience and skill-set. Showcasing this critical information fast is necessary because recruiters can spend as little as 6 seconds reading your resume.

To write your own resume summary, think about your career trajectory, your most impressive product designs, and any specialty skills you have related to the role, like 3D prototype printing or designing for injection molding.

By putting all your best skills and experience front and center, you create a better opportunity for employers to form a positive and accurate impression of you from the beginning.

Here’s an example of what your resume summary could include:

Driven manufacturing engineer with 6+ years of experience executing cutting-edge engineering solutions with a wide range of materials. Able to leverage design expertise to build interactive and user-centered prototypes to scale.