INDUSTRY STATS
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Scientist positions are at a 6% growth rate, which is as fast as average. With that said, there are currently 92,400 jobs in the market right now. The total number of jobs is expected to increase by 6,000 to 98,400 in the period of 2020-30.
What’s more, the median annual wage for the Scientist jobs was $80,680 in May 2020. The lowest 10% earned less than $54,810, and the highest 10% more than $165,290.
Our conclusion? The Scientist job market is wide open for candidates.
Top scientist sections that make the best resume
- Header
- Professional summary
- Experience (with numbers and results)
- Relevant skills
- Education
- Certifications
How to write a scientist resume experience section
Scientist resume experience: checklist
- Use either chronological or reverse-chronological format when listing your previous jobs;
- Mention only relevant positions that add value to your resume;
- Briefly state the challenges you’ve faced and how you’ve overcome them;
- Highlight the results from your efforts (for bonus points, add numbers, percentage rates, etc.);
- Forget about buzzwords! Use power verbs instead.
Use the examples below to build your own experience section!
- 15+ years of agrochemical R&D leading to patented commercial products and technologies (including synergistic combinations, chiral enantiomers and advanced microcapsule formulations).
- Responsible for the overall scientific conduct of in-house Crop Protection: Agrochemicals and microbial BioSolutions R&D.
- Regulatory and IP support, including Biological Assessment Dossier input and Reasoned Opinions; co-publication of 4 patents.
- Project manager for two major (1MUSD+) projects which lead to commercial product launches (the safener-based agricultural herbicides Foxtrot® and Castrate®).
- Management and development of a motivated R&D team (7+ laboratory staff).
- 15+ years of agrochemical R&D leading to patented commercial products and technologies (including synergistic combinations, chiral enantiomers and advanced microcapsule formulations).
- Project manager for two major (1MUSD+) projects which lead to commercial product launches (the safener-based agricultural herbicides Foxtrot® and Castrate®).
- Management and development of a motivated R&D team (7+ laboratory staff).
- Publication of 10+ international scientific articles and 3 patents.
- Developed different data science and machine learning algorithm to analyze and process seismic data,
- Worked as a part of the team specialized in multicomponent towed marine streamers: an innovative technology that has direct consequence in the technical and economic components of Oil & Gas projects from the earliest stages of their development,
- Invented and developed novel techniques in seismic data processing. Examples include interpolation, noise attenuation, velocity analysis and vector acoustic imaging.
- My primary health care experience on maternal and child health in my previous job inspired me to lead a team of 5 and re-engineer a fetoscope with the aim of reducing maternal morbidity and mortality in low resource setting economies.
- Field tested a pay as you go technology embedded on Philips solar lanterns and recommended leveraging onto existing pay as you go concepts for effective scale up.
- Initiated a community breast feeding solution for working mothers in base of the pyramid market segment.
- Build predictive models from start-to-finish (i.e. extract data, manipulate data, build model and validate model) and then deploy model on real data and track model performance/model accuracy
- Developed predictive models to identify the most significant behavioral patterns that lead to customer and employee churn
- Scheduling score model using big data platforms including Hadoop with R-Streaming, R on H2O, Autosys & Oozie
- Developing Crowd Estimation system for bus stop in Transjakarta case using Convolutional Neural Network
- Utilizing training data for custom object detection using YOLO framework
- Developing heatmap generation and people flow tracking from video camera from people detection using YOLO framework
- Developing text sentiment analysis using Keras
- Developing Gender Classification and Age Estimation from human face using Dlib and Keras-Tensorflow
- Research, Development and Consultancy in the fields of mineral exploration.
- Beneficiation and mine planning for cement raw materials.
- Development of mineral deposit evaluation and mine planning softwares.
- Develop methods to reclaim tungsten from various secondary or scrap sources
- Provide chemical cost estimates for alternative processing methods
- Aid the implementation of continuous improvement efforts to production
- Represent R&D on several collaborative efforts on strategic projects
- Evaluate secondary sources for target metal content and processing ability
- Provide laboratory support to tungsten and cobalt production chemical processes
- Assist the Environmental and Safety departments in maintaining a safe, environmentally friendly work place
- Supervise a small research group
- AAMI qualified and Green Belt trained with vast experience of working in compliance with quality system regulations and regulatory requirements. Working with Lean Sigma principles in a GMP and GLP environment.
- Planning, developing and executing Development trials on a pilot and production scale with product and process improvements and new material selection ideas within manufacturing.
- Appointed EHS representative for the Development department, developing skills in COSHH, Risk Assessments, and communication with a site-wide team to aid in increasing awareness and minimising risks/accidents.
- Developing machine learning classifiers for sentiment analysis, natural language processing for both Arabic and English languages for research purposes
- Developing hierarchical classifier for diabetes community social media interactions, identifying diabetes type, sentiment detection, emotion detection, and purpose detection
- Combining regression models with machine learning to develop sports prediction for NFL games results, for both winner identification and score predictions
- Developing machine learning model for financial stock market analysis and automating investment strategies, integrating with stock market APIs for automated order placement based on investment descision
- Deploying a multi-organization Blockchain network using Hyperledger Fabric and Composer including authentication system and REST API server, for secure private data transactions
- Research and development in Federated Learning algorithms and the newest methods in application
- Integration for federated learning methods in distributed systems, and testing on decision trees, deep learning image recognition and object detection
- Successfully optimizing communication cost in Federated averaging up to 90% saving without minimal impact on convergence target
- Successfully improving privacy against probing attacks in distributed learning systems through differential privacy
- Successfully developing a machine learning model based on time-series analysis for Vodafone's backhaul capacity per region, and providing predictions based on each region's behavior in the past years
- Correlating both transport and radio KPIs, and providing insights for deep performance analytics
- Clustering of transport network performance KPIs using various data science techniques to provide a customized performance assessment for radio sites behavior
- Correlating data from different sources of the network to develop a smart planning AI model optimizing performance and cost
- Researching new technologies in IP back haul routing and developing blueprints for planning teams to follow
- Working for a large Australian Insurance in an agile way to develop BI reports in Tableau which captures several metrics in Home Insurance
- Helped Client architect an analytics roadmap in Property Insurance prioritizing their business outcomes
- Worked in an Advanced Analytics team to carry out several high impact analyses in Banking and Insurance Sector
- Experience in working in different verticals
- Released six open source projects, and the leading one, SocialAuth downloaded over 50k+ times.
- Achieved major business wins by solving complex technology problems as proof of concepts
- Release two proprietary frameworks a) cloud based performance testing and b) trigger and action framework like Zapier
PRO TIP
Show off real numbers that display your accomplishments in past roles. Instead of listing out your responsibilities as Scientist, talk about the measurable impact you made to their business. Did you boost their revenue? Increase customer retention? Mention your proudest points on your resume.
Action verbs for your scientist resume
Recommended reads:
Scientist resume: the skills section!
How to write a strong scientist resume skills section?
- Make sure to include all types of skills - soft, hard, technical;
- Focus on skills that show your expertise in the field;
- Check the job description for keywords and make sure to add them to your resume – this will help you pass ATS;
- Leave room for discussion – elaborate on some of your strongest skills in other sections of your resume
Top skills for your scientist resume
Data Science
Soarian Scheduling (Cerner)
UDSmr (CMS Reimbursement)
Cadence Scheduling (EPIC)
Allscripts (Clinical Documentation)
SPSS
SAS/WPS
Critical thinking
Problem Solving
Creativity
Innovation
Organisation
Attention to details
Caution
PRO TIP
Add a Talent Section to your resume, where you can pick your top 3 soft skills and describe how you used them to complete a project or balance departmental communication.
Scientist resume header: Tips, red flags, and best practices
Checklist for your scientist resume header
- Your name and surname in a legible and larger resume font
- The job title you’re applying for or your current job title as a subheading to your name
- Link to your portfolio or online profile, such as LinkedIn
- Address (City and State for the US; just your city for rest of the world)
- Email address
- Headshot (required or welcomed in the EU; not required and sometimes frowned upon in the US)
Stick to popular email providers such as Gmail or Outlook. And use these professional formats to create your username:
- first.last@gmail.com
- last.first@gmail.com
- firstlast@gmail.com
- f.last@gmail.com
- first.l@gmail.com
Recommended reads:
PRO TIP
Include a link to your portfolio in your Scientist resume header. Most companies will require that you include one in your resume, and even if they don’t, it’s an excellent opportunity to directly show them your proudest projects.
A career summary for your scientist resume
Things to include in your scientist resume summary:
- Your total years of experience in the industry;
- 2-3 of your most remarkable achievements so far;
- How your experience relates to the position you’re applying for;
- A very brief description of your strengths.
Resume summary formula:
PRO TIP
Highlight specific past projects that you’re most proud of in your summary. It sets an excellent tone for the rest of your resume. You can talk about all of your former jobs in your work experience section later on.
Recommended Reads:
Scientist resume: the education section
Things to include in your resume's education section:
- Your highest education degree – including course, year of graduation, institution;
- Awards received as part of your education;
- Extracurricular activities that have helped you gain relevant skills;
- Certifications that have helped you master new skills and increase your expertise;
- Entry-level applicants only: relevant courses and projects.
Top Certifications for Your Scientist Resume
Introduction to Machine Learning for Data Science
A primer on Machine Learning for Data Science. Revealed for everyday people, by the Backyard Data Scientist.
Careers in Data Science A-Z™
How to Become a Top Level Data Scientist - Learn What to Expect, How to be Prepared, How to Stand Out and More...
Learn Python for Data Science & Machine Learning from A-Z
Become a professional Data Scientist and learn how to use NumPy, Pandas, Machine Learning and more!
PySpark Essentials for Data Scientists (Big Data + Python)
Learn how to wrangle Big Data for Machine Learning using Python in PySpark taught by an industry expert!
DP-100 Microsoft Azure Data Scientist Complete Exam Prep
Learn how to use Azure Machine Learning to add AI and ML to your own applications - APR 2021
Recommended reads:
PRO TIP
There are dozens of certifications that you can claim as a Scientist. But, some are more effective than others. That’s why you mustn’t include every certificate other applicants might have. Try instead to earn and list a few of the difficult ones.
Choosing the right format for your scientist resume
In general, there are three basic formats for your resume:
- Reverse-chronological resume format;
- Functional skills-based resume format;
- Combination (or Hybrid) resume format.
Some things to consider when choosing the right format for your Scientist resume include the stage of your career, whether you have all the right skills required for the job or are looking for an industry change, and what field you’re looking to grow in.
The reverse-chronological resume format is the most common one. It lets you describe your most recent job and then move backward. This makes it great for people who have around or less than 10 years of experience and are looking to highlight only their work-related skills and qualities.
If you’re just starting your career journey and reverse-chronological resumes sound too demanding, go for the functional resume format. It’s ideal for showcasing your strengths, personal qualities, skills, education, and the courses you’ve taken, without putting too much pressure on experience and expertise.
Don’t worry if neither of these sounds suitable for you – the hybrid or combination resume format will surely match your needs. It’s similar to the reverse-chronological, but with a catchy twist. Combination or hybrid resumes are great for showcasing both your experience and work-related skills and your personal qualities. Add a “What my day looks like” section for enhancing the jaw-dropping experience!
Here are some more things worth remembering when it comes to formatting your Scientist resume:
- Choose standard 1-inch resume margins;
- Go for traditional resume fonts sized 10-12p;
- Match the length of your Scientist resume with your experience – choose a one-page template if you have less than 10 years of experience, and be careful with two-page templates – use them only when applying for executive positions;
- Save your resume in PDF to avoid formatting issues and potential unauthorized editing.
Tired of getting rejected? Check out this article on how to craft a resume that stands out!
Recommended reads.":
PRO TIP
Sometimes you’ll want to go after a job which requires more experience than you have. Instead of using a typical Scientist resume layout, you can use a creative layout. Getting noticed is the most important challenge and a creative resume layout might help you get invited for an interview as most of other accountants have boring resume designs.
Other sections suitable for your scientist resume
Depending on the position and the industry, you can spice your resume up by adding some more sections. They will help the recruiter get a glimpse of who you are as a person, besides all your job-related skills and qualities.
Here are some examples:
How to add creativity to your scientist resume
Gone are the days when creative resumes were frowned upon by recruiters!
What’s more, the right amount of creativity will make recruiters remember you and want to learn more about who you are – both as an individual and as a professional.
There are two ways to build a creative resume - add creative sections or go for a more creative design approach in general. Go for whatever suits you, the position, and the industry most!
What makes a great scientist resume: key takeaways
- Choose a resume layout that sends the right message across and fits your current career situation;
- Create a resume header that shows your desired job title, and easy to find contact numbers;
- Be specific about your experience, accomplishments and future goals in your summary;
- Feature detailed metrics and specific examples that show the impact you made in your previous roles when describing your experience;
- List soft skills backed by examples;
- Add all of your technical skills and certifications that you have and match the job description;
- Show off a dash of personality in your resume that will demonstrate your culture fit and the right mix of hard and soft skills.
Scientist resume examples
Explore additional scientist resume samples and guides and see what works for your level of experience or role.
By Role
Biology
The Biology field carefully observes and interprets science. Highlighting your technical skills in biology is crucial.
Emphasize on your experience with biological research methods. Experience in microscopy, dissection, or culturing organisms is crucial. Do not just list these skills - demonstrate their practical uses, eg. 'Identified various species during field research using a microscope'.
Your holistic understanding of biological systems should be apparent from your previous work. Include successful projects and their impact.
Stand out by highlighting unique biological skills eg. 'Experienced in marine biology research' or 'Researched evolutionary patterns'.
Make sure to also showcase your problem-solving skills. Biology work often requires creative solutions to complex problems.
View Biology Resume
Chemist
As a chemist, your technical expertise in chemistry and analytical mindset is your stronghold.
Highlight your research experience. Make sure it illustrates your ability to design, conduct, and interpret experiments.
Concentrate on your expertise in cross-disciplinary areas e.g., 'Formulated industrial-grade detergent based on organic chemistry principles'.
Highlight complex tasks executed, explaining how they improved overall result, eg. 'Increased solution efficacy by 30%'.
Stress on your laboratory skills, maintaining safety at the forefront. Convey how you've maintained a safe work environment in the past.
View Chemist Resume
Lab Assistant
A Lab Assistant requires strong analytical skills and a thorough knowledge of laboratory procedures.
Emphasize on your practical lab skills. List lab techniques performed, along with their impact, eg. 'Assisted in X experiment, which led to formulation of Y'.
Detail your understanding of lab safety procedures. Indicate the specific safety courses attended or safety protocols you've ensured previously.
Mention your accuracy in record keeping and analytical skills.
Highlight teamwork and organizational skills. Regular duties need to be detailed to show how valuable your input was.
View Lab Assistant Resume
Lab Manager
Lab Managers leverage administrative and scientific skills to optimize lab work.
Highlight your managerial skills such as project coordination, staff supervision, budget handling.
Detail prior experience in ensuring an efficient and productive laboratory environment.
Discuss your ability to comply with safety regulations, maintain equipment, manage inventory, and reduce downtimes.
Show your technical skills by mentioning project coordination and outcomes, eg.'Increased lab efficiency by 25% through improved processes'.
View Lab Manager Resume
Lab Technician
A competent Lab Technician blends technical, analytical, and organizational skills.
Highlight hands-on experience in conducting and interpreting lab tests.
Focus on your expertise in lab technology including hardware and software.
Convey your understanding of lab safety protocols and ethical considerations.
Adept handling of samples, precise record keeping and delivering accurate results should be emphasized. Reference to instances of 'improved lab efficiency, reduced errors' will be valid.
View Lab Technician Resume
