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8 Mechanical Engineer Resume Examples...

8 Mechanical Engineer Resume Examples & Guide for 2024

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When you write your mechanical engineer resume and send it across for a job.

Don’t you wish that the Hagen-Poiseuille equation applied here?

Job applications are just like a turbulent flow, sometimes you land an interview, sometimes you don’t.

And it isn’t uncommon to think that you weren’t selected because you were unqualified. But, there are more factors at play than you think.

Just how viscosity acts in fluid dynamics, there’s a variable that impacts your job applications too - your resume!

Especially if you are a mechanical engineer, because the industry has been experiencing limited growth since last two decades.

So, when you see a job, your goal is to send across a mechanical engineering resume that wins without fail.

Now, let’s see how we can create that winning resume.

Here is what we’ll uncover:

  • Resume samples that will get an interview 99.999% of the time
  • Resume mistakes that’ll get you a hard rejection and how you can avoid them
  • Must have resume sections with how to create that hard to beat first impression
  • Things you probably would underestimate, but often can be the difference between an interview call and a rejection

How to write a mechanical engineering resume?

As jobs are limited and most hiring managers are a bit conservative about the way they shortlist candidates - the first thing you need to know is what will get you rejected.

The list for “what-gets-you-rejected” is big. But, we cherry picked ones that we saw across 90% rejected resumes:

  • No personalization and context to the role displayed in the candidate’s resume
  • Bad design that looked inconsistent and incoherent
  • Wrong elements highlighted that focused on candidate’s weakness more than their achievements
  • Bad resume layout that no one bothered to read through
  • Resumes that were too long
  • Resume experience that displayed severe vagueness
  • Lack of impact throughout the resume

Let’s take a closer look at each of the above causes of rejection of a mechanical engineering resume.

Mistake #1 - No personalization and no context Most believe that landing an interview is a numbers game, so, they craft generic resumes and send it to 100s of job applications.

It isn’t uncommon to receive a mechanical design engineer’s application for a mechanical maintenance engineer role, and without any context.

To avoid this there has to be a context and motivation for a career change/transition in your resume.

Mistake #2 - Bad design, inconsistency Reading through bullets with inconsistent margins along with sections that overlap and have no clarity are too hard for anyone. Your resume design should be as clean as your engineering drawings.

Recruiters gravitate towards well designed resume and tend to avoid resumes with poor resume design.

Mistake #3 - Highlighting your weakness Your resume has to sell you as the best candidate. But, if the highlighted element in your resume is your 2.4 GPA, it’s not going to sell you.

Mistake #4 - Resume layout More than 95% applicants get this wrong. Get your resume layout right. Make sure to have the right padding, margin, and whitespaces. On top of that, focus on delivering contextual information first, then everything else.

Mistake #5 - Multiple page resumes Write a resume that’s more than 2 pages, and you’re prepping up for high degree of rejections.

Mistake #6 - Vague resumes When recruiters see a vague resume, they perceive that the candidate isn’t knowledgeable and even years of experience won’t likely undo that first impression. This is a graduate level mistake that plagues 99% of bad resumes we see in the job market.

Mistake #7 - Lack of impact Most resumes are just a listicle of duties and some skills. They are written as if someone had a gun to a candidate’s head.

Gear up, time to attend the workshop and turn that lathe machine on. No more mistakes in the resume! The action starts now!

What should be on a mechanical engineering resume

  • A precise, short and well thought resume header
  • A resume summary that is highly impactful and creates a memorable experience
  • Professional experience crafted specifically for the role you’re applying to
  • A list of your certifications
  • A resume skills section
  • Your achievements or most proud moments
  • Educational qualifications

Adding more sections would reduce the impact and clutters resume design. Any information that is not as impactful as the rest of your resume isn’t worth adding.

Now, how would you arrange these sections in your resume?

Mechanical engineering resume layout and length

We ran two different studies on resume layout and resume length with hiring managers to see their preferences.

To maintain consistency within these tests, all resumes had the same level of skills and experience. But, were tuned to fit different layouts.

Here’s what we found after running our test:

  • Functional resume layout: 90% recruiters rejected candidates that used these layouts
  • Reverse chronological 1 page layout: Only 13% displayed a preference for other type of resume layouts *
  • Reverse chronological 2 page layout: 30% rejected candidates with this layout**
  • Reverse chronological 2+ pages: 80% of the candidates faced rejection
  • Creative resume layout: 100 % of candidates who created aesthetically bad resumes faced straight rejections, 55% of candidates who had considerably good resume design got rejected too.
  • Hybrid resume layout: Only 4% of the candidates faced a rejection with a Hybrid resume layout
  • The preference was displayed in favor of graduate level mechanical engineering resumes ** Recruiters expressed that the resume could’ve been shortened to one page
pro tip icon
Pro tip

Choose a hybrid resume layout to land more interviews.

Now that you’ve a resume format, let’s start filling the “blank paper”.

Add a header to your mechanical engineer resume.

While it’s just a tiny section on your resume, not doing it right can hand you a straightforward rejection.

And a good vs bad resume header is just like how you’d judge an isometric views vs a 3D drawing. One projects the truth and provides the right information at a mere glance, the other forces you to think through and leverage your imagination.

Bad resume headers and 3D drawings share the following in common:

  • Difficult to find the right information at a glance (too cluttered to pick the right thing)
  • Easily mess-up important details (e.g. get the contact number or email wrong)

Getting rejected just because a hiring manager couldn’t find the right contact is the worst thing you can do. Keep the header neat. And when you do, make sure your email looks professional too (no cooldude1990@yahoo.com).

Here is a good and a bad example of resume header

JAMES B KISER
Mechanical Design Engineer
Phone
Email
1902Delaware Avenue, San Francisco, CA, 94143
WRONG
JAMES B KISER
Six Sigma Certified Mechanical Design Engineer
Phone
Email
San Francisco, CA
RIGHT

How to write a mechanical engineering resume objective?

First of all, know that a resume objective has a very specific purpose:

  • Either it shows that you are an entry level graduate and what you want to achieve after joining an organization
  • Or, it shows that you are an experienced professional seeking a new role that you’ve certain skills and motivation for

However, for experience mechanical engineer resumes it is preferable to keep a resume summary in place of resume objective.

2 mechanical engineering intern resume sample objective

Summary
Seeking an opportunity to work with a team in the field of engineering in order to develop my skills as an engineer, learn new information about the occupation, and to put my current skills to good use.
WRONG
Summary
Mechanical Engineering graduate, demonstrating leadership and communication skills within a team. Proficient in engineering design, specializing in aerodynamics, material selection, and project management. Previous experience as a summer intern with a multi-disciplinary consulting engineering firm, working heavily in CAD design and surveying.
RIGHT

Entry level mechanical engineering intern resume objective examples.

Summary
Seeking the opportunity to work with a team in the field of engineering in order to develop my skills as an engineer, learn new information about the occupation, and to put my current skills to good use.
WRONG
Summary
ABET-accredited BSME graduate seeking an entry-level mechanical engineering position. Highly skilled at engineering design with a specialization in Vehicular dynamics seeking an entry level position at Tesla.
RIGHT

Writing a professional mechanical engineer resume summary (with examples)

Writing a resume summary can be hard.

Especially when you’ve a ton of experience, achievements and skills to show.

And, that’s where writing your resume summary and experience gets extremely complicated.

Our goal is to make sure that you aren’t limited by your creativity when you write these sections.

We will follow the STAR Method to write these resume sections.

STAR stands for Situation, Task, Action, and Results. When put in context to a resume summary or experience, they demand you’ve the following:

  • Situation - What was the situation you/ your previous employer faced?
  • Task - What tasks were involved in that situation?
  • Action - What actions did you take?
  • Results - What were the results of these actions?

Let’s go through a couple of mechanical engineer resume summary examples to see STAR framework in action.

Mechanical design engineer resume summary examples

Summary
Experienced Mechanical Engineering professional with diverse skills into manufacturing systems. A quick problem solver helping companies translate their business goals to reality.
WRONG
Summary
Mechanical design engineer with 10+ years of experience in design and manufacturing of sheet metal, plastic injection molding, die casting and extrusion. Skilled in geometric dimensioning, CAD designs, Solidworks, ANSYS and PTC Creo.
RIGHT

2 Entry Level Mechanical Engineer Resume Summary Samples

Summary
Mechanical engineer looking for opportunities where I can utilize the knowledge I've acquired as a student. With a goal to develop technical as well as personal skills that would help get established as an experienced professional.
WRONG
Summary
Graduate mechanical engineer who can provide a detailed analysis and creative insight for development of engineering projects. Skilled in using computer aided design software to create 2D and 3D models. Has a strong background in mechanical concepts such as GD&T and FEA. Familiar with manufacturing processes and production concepts such as lean manufacturing and JIT.
RIGHT

Senior mechanical engineer resume example [summary]

Summary
Seeking a position where I can continue to develop and foster myself as a mechanical engineer. Looking to utilize latest technology and innovation to help semiconductor manufacturing companies.
WRONG
Summary
Senior mechanical engineer with a 6+ years of demonstrated experience of subject matter expertise in Semiconductor industry. Implemented Patent pending problem solution process to product design and lean manufacturing operations.
RIGHT

Notice how following STAR method dramatically increases the impact that your resume summary delivers.

The next most important thing on your resume is your experience.

Impactfully writing your mechanical engineering resume experience.

A good way to start writing your working experience is by embedding STAR deep into it.

Don’t simply listing your duties as a bullet list under work experience.

Make sure every bullet in your experience demonstrate an impact.

That way, you won’t list what you did, you’ll rather list what you accomplished.

We’ve a few examples below that’ll show you the difference between good and bad resume experiences for a range of Mechanical engineering resumes.

Carefully notice the difference STAR framework makes.

Mechanical quality engineer resume experience

Experience
Mechanical Quality Engineer
BOSCH
Waltham, MA
  • Responsible for product inspections for a range of instruments and equipments
  • In charge of quality management for large production line
  • Performed root cause analysis and Corrective/Preventive actions
  • Supported new project ideas and participated in tolerance studies
WRONG
Experience
Mechanical Quality Engineer
BOSCH
Waltham, MA
  • Responsible for running complicated product inspections for a variety of mission critical instruments and equipments, effectively applying GD & T.
  • In charge of quality management via design, development and calibration of mechanical fixtures to diagnose Manufacturing issues in BOSCH assembly line with a 10M metric ton/day production.
  • Drove engineering teams, duplicated failures and evaluated significant number of NCs via root cause analysis and Corrective/Preventive actions.
  • Contributed to design changes and tolerances studies for over new projects and initiatives>$50M.
RIGHT

Mechanical design engineer resume experience samples

Experience
Mechanical Design Engineer
Jords International
St Leonards, New South Wales
  • Responsible for 3D models, 2D drawings, BOM, etc.
  • Perform tolerance analysis for critical areas
  • Created MDVT (Mechanical Design Validate Test) plan and conducted the test
  • Worked with thermal, hardware, acoustic, and manufacturing team
WRONG
Experience
Mechanical Design Engineer
Jords International
St Leonards, New South Wales
  • Chief Design Engineer for Jords’ top product line that generates over $190Million in annual revenue.
  • Innovated and designed 3D models, 2D drawings, BOM, job details and assembly docs for Switches, cameras, video services and automated system control boxes.
  • Worked with a team of 5 engineers in pilot unit and filed 20 new design patents for Jords.
  • Collaborate, educated and led thermal, hardware, acoustic, and manufacturing teams distributed across the world.
RIGHT

Senior mechanical engineer resume experience

Experience
Sr. Mechanical Engineer
Philips
Andover, MA
  • Engineering and design development for parts and assemblies
  • Supervised construction of tooling for new parts
  • Facilitated domestic and foreign manufacturing
  • Coordinated product launch details with multiple teams
  • Resolved Quality Control issues related to suppliers
WRONG
Experience
Sr. Mechanical Engineer
Philips
Andover, MA
  • Lead engineer for Philips kitchenware products, delivered 15% improvement over manufacturing quality and lifted production capacity by 23%.
  • SME for plastic injection moulding, reduced the cost and delivered high quality aesthetics.
  • Acted as a liaison between international teams to reduce lead cycles by 8%, 3 hours of troubleshooting and fast design iteration cycles.
  • Supported marketing teams, technical teams and other business units with 13 new product launches.
  • Supported R&D and design teams for NPI to deliver a high volume manufacturing line.
RIGHT

2 Mechanical Maintenance engineer resume samples [Experience]

Experience
Maintenance engineer
BASF
Sparks, GA
  • Provided field technical support to operating units
  • Ensured adherence to all SOPs and KPIs
  • Participate in HPA reviews
  • Created new working procedures and trained maintenance crew
WRONG
Experience
Maintenance engineer
BASF
Sparks, GA
  • Provided field technical support to heat exchangers, boilers, cooling towers and other thermal units.
  • Implemented proactive and preventive maintenance procedures that led to a 10% increase in equipment life and saved BASF over $1M in annual maintenance spend.
  • Drove KPIs to achieve a reduction of over 50% in unplanned machine downtime for thermal units.
  • Led 9 ambitious Condition monitoring programs that exceeded all expectations and inspired 10 other large business units to adopt it.
RIGHT

Percentages, how you solved a problem, and revenue are the type of signals that hiring managers want to see in your resume.

Also, if you have any experience of implementing or managing predictive maintenance - put that on your experience too.

The next thing to go on your resume is your skill section.

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Common skills of mechanical engineers

  • CAD skills: AutoCAD, Solidworks
  • Technical Reporting and Presentation
  • Fluid Flow Analysis
  • Production Planning
  • Maintenance Management
  • Prototyping, Project costing and analysis
  • Machining and Welding: CNC, Lathe, mills,etc
  • Computer Simulation and modelling
  • Programming skills: Matlab, C++, Python
  • Data Analysis

Most of these skills are for mechanical engineer resume with experience.

Now, what would you do if you are writing a mechanical engineering resume without any experience?

Here are some skills that employers in North America are scouting in entry level mechanical engineer resumes.

An example entry level mechanical engineering resume's skills

Skills
Computer Languages
Java
C
Python
SolidWorks
ANSYS
Hard Skills
Mill and Lathe
Drafting
3D printing
Laser cutting
Languages
Java
Spanish
Cantonese
RIGHT

Research and projects section on a mechanical engineering resume

If you’ve very little experience (or none) to show, you should leverage your projects and research work to make an impact.

This also applies if you are a mechanical engineer aiming to get into R&D positions - research work and projects are a must have. Let’s put your publications, fellowships and projects to work.

Here’s an example:

Projects
SURF Research Fellow
Berkeley, CA
Supervisor: Dr Brian Blafiour
  • Researched seismic sensor response to sedimentary discharge, fitted experimental data to parametrized research model and analyzed for statistical adherence
  • Developed automated data processing tree to store, manipulate, and perform regression analysis between USGS seismometer and rainfall sensor data
  • Published findings of the experiment in Nature, Jan 2020 Issue
RIGHT

List your achievements on your resume

Won an IMR Manufacturing award? Ramped up manufacturing production from 120 cars/day to 400?

These achievements are not only important within your resume experience, but you need to repeat them just a bit more within your resume.

But exercise caution on adding anything that you won’t list on a wall.

How to Show Your Education on Your Mechanical Engineering Resume

Adding education section in your resume can be a double edged sword. We’ll talk about it later, but let’s first look at what most people typically do. It isn’t uncommon to see a highly experienced candidates list their education like this

Education
BS in Mechanical Engineering
California Institute of Technology
  • Relevant CourseworkACM95ab - Introductory Methods of Applied Mathematics Ae105a - Aerospace EngineeringMe103 - Management of TechnologyMe105 - Design for Freedom from Disability Me118 - Classical Thermodynamics Me11abc - Thermal Science/Fluid Mechanics
WRONG

We’ve heard arguments from both sides. Candidates felt that adding educational details make them more relevant to the job. Which while brings one solution, creates ground for other problems.

First, after numerous years of experience, education has little relevance which fades over time and it therefore wastes hiring manager’s time.

Second, it takes up too much of space, which clutter your resume design. Both of them reduces the impact your resume would create.

GPA of 2.4 is negative point to have here, and might reflect negatively on your resume despite having a professional working experience.

The right way to add your education is to be precise and only add more details if you are writing a mechanical engineering resume with no experience.

The right way to list education on an experienced mechanical engineering resume is

Education
BS in Mechanical Engineering
California Institute of Technology
GPA
3.8
/
4.0
RIGHT

That was the final thing you needed to learn in order to perfect your resume.

But, before we end, let’s summarize.

Key takeaways

  • Pick a hybrid resume layout
  • Make sure to add the right contact details to your resume header
  • Write a summary that displays competence and engineering passion
  • Adjust your resume experience for relevance and tune it to deliver an impact
  • Don’t forget to list your engineering skills in your resume
  • Mention projects and research work to your resume
  • Place your achievements in a separate section
  • Add your education in the right way

Our hopes are high on you creating your best resume with us!

Mechanical Engineer resume examples

Explore additional mechanical engineer resume samples and guides and see what works for your level of experience or role.

By Experience

Senior Mechanical Engineer

Senior Mechanical Engineer job applications must highlight leadership, strategic thinking and technical prowess. Follow these tips:

  1. Highlight your experience in overseeing complex mechanical projects from initiation to closure.
  2. Detail your strategic skills, like conducting feasibility analysis, planning, and risk evaluation.
  3. Communicate your proficiency in software tools and your ability to apply industry standards.
  4. Illustrate impact, such as 'increased equipment lifecycle by…' or 'improved efficiency by…'
  5. Assert your mentorship or leadership roles as they demonstrate your soft skills that complement your technical abilities.
View Senior Mechanical Engineer Resume

By Role

Mechanical Project Engineer

If you're going for a Mechanical Project Engineer position, remember to highlight your broad technical knowledge in fundamental subjects like statics, dynamics, thermodynamics, material science, structural analysis, and electricity. Include your experience in project management methodologies like PMP, Agile, or PRINCE2, and illustrate how they've helped in your previous projects. Explain how your technical skills have directly influenced past projects, drawing a clear picture of your capabilities. Rather than just listing your skills, try to present their impact. For example, stating you introduced a new production method leading to a 20% efficiencies improvement. Aim for a 'skill-action-results' presentation for ultimate effect.

Mechanical Service Engineer

Applying for a Mechanical Service Engineer role requires emphasizing key skills such as mechanical knowledge, including welding, hydraulics, pneumatics, and PLC troubleshooting. It's also integral to demonstrate strong problem-solving abilities, particularly in diagnosing mechanical faults. Furthermore, illustrating the direct impact your technical skills have had on service delivery is beneficial. Don't just list these skills, but show the results you achieved because of them. For instance, you could mention if you've diagnosed and fixed production equipment, resulting in a 15% decrease in downtime.

Associate Mechanical Engineer

An Associate Mechanical Engineer should highlight key elements of their mechanical engineering education like fluid mechanics, kinematics, dynamics, and thermodynamics on their resume. Enumerate proficiency in relevant software like AutoCAD, SolidWorks, and Inventor, showing their practical use in completing specific engineering tasks. Detail your technical background by presenting real-world applications of your skills and their impact on project outcomes. Instead of merely listing skills, emphasize their effects, like 'designed a new thermo-fluid system using AutoCAD, leading to a 25% improvement in energy utilization'. Using a 'skill-action-results' formula is advised.

HVAC

Much like Product Managers, HVAC technicians and engineers have a bank of skills they need to highlight while applying for jobs. Being familiar with specific HVAC systems – commercial, residential – is key. Mention specific systems you have worked on, and detail how you improved their efficiency or resolved complex technical issues. Evidence of compliance with HVAC standards and regulations should also feature strongly on your resume. List your technical skills not in isolation, but in context, showing how they contributed to the project: 'Managed ABC HVAC system upgrade, improving energy efficiency by XX%', for example. Never underestimate the importance of physical endurance and problem-solving skills in this field. Showcase any relevant experiences that demonstrate these abilities.
View HVAC Resume

Mechanical Design Engineer

Mechanical Design Engineering field evolves with product design and manufacturing technology. Here's what to emphasize when applying:

  1. Elucidate your familiarity with CAD tools, FEA software, and other design software.
  2. Specify your skills in draft specification, prototyping and design validation.
  3. Show how your technical expertise has made a difference, e.g. 'reduced manufacturing cost by 30% with optimized design…'
  4. Stating hands-on skills such as prototyping, manufacturing processes, or validation testing will enhance your resume value.
View Mechanical Design Engineer Resume

Mechanical Designer

In Mechanical Designer roles, hands-on practical skills and creativity are valued. Here’s how to make your application more appealing:

  1. Showcase your abilities in utilizing CAD/CAE software and manual drafting techniques.
  2. Highlight experience with creating detailed mechanical designs and schematics.
  3. Illustrate how your design skills improved functionality of machinery or products, e.g. 'enhanced durability by 15% using…'
  4. Emphasize your knowledge of design standards and safety regulations, as these are crucial to effective design execution.
View Mechanical Designer Resume
mechanical engineer resume example

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