I took the SAT over 10 years ago and got a near perfect score on it. Should I try to recover it from the archives to put on my résumé? Or is that even a factor in decisions these days?

So with that.

I work in a tech field and get pulled in when we are hiring. I am the technical interview/assessment. I am unsure why I ended up getting flagged to this sub and will likely lose interest at some point . I work in high tech but not software fwiw. MEMS and such.

But…. What makes a resume catch my eye? Or more. What makes me lose interest.

Relevant work experience is a plus but nobody has experience in what I do. So if you have a lot of specific work experience in something with a bunch of jargon specific to that discipline it doesn’t not help me. And I don’t need a homework assignment to figure out what you actually did. Make it easy for me.

On that, nobody believes grandiose titles. I’m sorry. But I don’t believe that someone made a first year grad a program manager over anything important. It just doesn’t happen.

Listing your GPA is not a positive. I mean I guess I am not super interests in someone who barely passed. But listing a 4.0 is a negative to me. Just leave it off. It adds no value.

Other interests are a huge plus. Make yourself sound like someone who is interested in the world. People with diverse interests are generally people who are intelligent. Even if they do not have the best grades.

Buzzwords like ‘agile’ are garbage filler word. Say something unique about yourself (see having other interests…)

But on all of that, make it easy for me to know what you actually did. Don’t try to dazzle me with BS. The easiest way to FAIL my interview is to BS me. If you don’t know the answer that is fine. It is actually unlikely you will know all the answers. The right answer is to say what you don’t know and come up with some ideas about how one might figure out what is unknown. BSing me is a guaranteed fail. Because guess what? I know the answer! And I do not need people in my work environment that are just going to make stuff up to look good. Hard pass.

I am targeting more of a manufacturing role since I have experience in a plant setting. This includes process engineer, manufacturing engineer, robotics engineer, junior mechanical engineer, application engineer, test engineer, design engineer, etc. I am located in the SE region of the United States (around the Great Smoky mountains). I am willing to commute up to about an hour drive, but I am currently stuck where I am located since I bought a house in a more rural area. Is there something majorly wrong with my resume, or does it just need some tweaking?

I left my last position back in February due to a toxic workplace, but am eager to continue building a career in engineering. While my experience has recently helped me land some interviews for engineering roles, I only have a BA in Industrial Design (study of manufacturing processes and product design), and I need advice on how to strengthen my resume to be appealing for engineering positions in California. I am looking more at Engineering Technician and Design Engineer roles in the private and public sector (an Engineering Technician role in the public sector would be the dream for me).

Getting a second bachelor’s is something I'm on the fence about since it’s expensive and might not give me much more than I already have. I'm also not too keen on going to trade school either. I'm mainly considering pursuing engineering certificate programs or technical degrees at local community colleges/universities, but am open to any input you guys may have. Also, any advice on my resume in general would be appreciated as well. Thanks!

Suggest Improvement if any, and Also suggest any sort of Skill Upgrades If needed to bost my career. (Anything Rather Than Design)

I’m a DevOps Engineer with 2-3 years of experience.
I already hold a U.S. green card (DV-lottery winner) and will be in the US by next January, so sponsorship isn’t an issue.

Search stats so far

• 300+ U.S. applications (mostly entry-level DevOps/SRE and Linux SysAdmin, roles) over the last 8 weeks

• 1 initial recruiter screen, no follow-ups

What I’ve tried / feedback so far:

• Posted my old résumé on r/resumes – main critiques were:

  1. “Too long, make it one page.”

  2. “Four jobs in three years looks like job-hopping.”

What I’m hoping you can point out:

1. Resume issues I may be overlooking – formatting, buzzword overload, missing impact metrics, etc.

2. Job-hopping optics – best way to flag short stints + my relocation without cluttering the page.

3. Anything else that screams “skip” to a hiring manager or recruiter.

Here’s the latest résumé (no PII):

Brutal honesty is welcome—thanks in advance for any guidance on turning those apps into phone screens!

Jobs are sort of limited in my area, and I want to make sure I'm not going to close any doors by having a bad resume. I would appreciate some proof reading and criticism.

Unfortunately i dont have any relevant job history for engineering, and didnt get any internships, which im really kicking myself for not applying to more so i was that i should be putting relevant school projects, but there wasn't too many so i expanded it to include lab work which was basically a series of small projects anyways.

Questions:

In school we verbally referred to the NMRs as H1 or C13, and so did my specific textbook. But online references were more common to write out 1H or 13C. Does it just depend who youre talking to, or is there a right and wrong way to write them?

I was also told my resume shouldn't be longer than one page, any input on that? If it can/should be longer will engineering employers care that i worked fast food and restaurant jobs?

Do I need a cover letter? Should that be in the same file as my resume?

Have worked in mechanical engineering for 6 years, but am trying to transition to software engineering as my first choice. Also looking into things that blend the 2 fields a bit such as robotics, firmware, embedded systems, etc (I change out the first sentence in summary accordingly). Mainly trying to work around Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area in NC, but I am open to moving. Need some advice on the resume since there have been a lot of things I have applied for that I definitely feel qualified for, but don't get any response. Networking has not really gotten me much since the few people I know are not able to influence hiring nor have positions I am qualified for.

Howdy, I've been looking to completely redesign my CV.

I currently have about 4 years of experience in good companies. I am aiming to send my resume to either Canada or Europe. So I would like your opinions on these types of CV Designs, please let me know which one is more suitable/appealing. I am aware that design in subjective to the taste of everyone and no design is perfect, yet I would like to get an overall consensus or feel for which design seems more appropriate.

Obviously I would be applying to engineering positions as well. I just want to see which one would most likely land me better results or might have a chance to get me through HR. (I know it does not depend on the design yet the content but this is specifically a design-wise post.)

My Takes:

A: looks boring and has always looked generic/dull. No Character etc.

B: The upper part takes way too much space and ill be honest I don't think summaries are good once someone has enough experience.

C: Same thing I don't like summaries and I feel like you would need like two pages to fit everything while let's say design 1 could fit it into a single one.

Which one do you prefer? and why?

Graduated in May 2024, but honestly been very laid-back about the job search until the past couple months (took vacations over summer, mental health focus etc).

I've been applying to over 100 new grad SWE, Data Science, PM, QA engineer roles (basically anything CS degree related), so far not even a single interview.

My main point of concern is that maybe my resume's formatting is not ATS friendly? I made the formatting myself in Word because honestly I don't like the standard formatting that everyone else uses (with the black lines separating each section). Part of me wanted to stick with my guns on my formatting that I really like, but if it's getting me ATS filtered I might as well give it up. It also could very well be the content and I'm just blind to seeing that...

Appreciate any and all help and I will be your friend forever!

Hello everyone! I've just finished my junior year in mechanical engineering and want to prep my resume for this fall when I start applying to full-time positions.

This is my current resume which I've spent a lot of time on to squash into one page. I'd like to add another internship experience (that will be completed after this summer), my junior engineering design project, my club leadership experience, and section for my honor society.

I know the typical wisdom is to keep your resume, especially as a student, to one page, but this is my justification:

Internship:

Mechanical Engineering Intern III at my last company (May 2025 - August 2025). I've been working part-time there throughout my spring semester and will be transferring to a different location and team at the end of the month. I was planning on squishing these two experiences into one header since it's the same company with the same title.

Junior Engineering Design Project:

I was the mechanical lead on a team of three to design, build, and test a supercritical CO2 demonstrator. It demonstrates the phase changes of CO2 moving from a solid/gas mixture to liquid/gas to a uniform supercritical fluid. I had to design the pressure vessel to contain around 1200psi. I did all of the design in CAD, conducted a stress analysis on the critical components which included simulation work, created all manufacturing drawings for each component, machined each component myself, and completed the final assembly. My team and I also had to go through a lot of presentations and reports throughout the entire process. It's a project I put over 150hrs into over this past spring semester and I'd love to include on my resume to talk about in interviews.

Club Leadership:

It's currently on my resume, but I'd like to expand on the work I've done in my club, especially because it's ASME.

Awards & Honors:

I'd like to add on a section for this as I was inducted into my first honor society this past semester (Pi Mu Epsilon). I've also been on my university's honor roll twice, once for the dean's list, and once for the president's list.

What're your thoughts? I think it's reasonable to drop my white room tech position to make room for what I mentioned above, but I don't think it will be enough space regardless. Should I just bite the bullet and stick to one page?

Thank you!

I swear this is not a fake attention seeking post. I absolutely destroyed engineering college (undergrad and masters), got straight A's in every single class. Even got a nice "highest GPA" trophy at graduation ceremony. Got an engineering job and did very well there too. 7 years later I'm looking for a new role, so I'm updating my resume. I've read a lot of opinions with the general idea: "don't list GPA after so many years of professional experience, no one cares." However, when I've been involved in a hiring panel, I felt like GPA was still at least a factor of consideration by some. I'm debating whether I should list it. On the one hand, it's quite an achievement and I want every advantage I can get. On the other hand, maybe listing it after so many professional years gives off some kind of...negative connotation? But surely they wouldn't use good grades against me?

Right now I'm thinking, career experience stuff first, education at the bottom, list numerical values for GPA but don't expand on it anymore.

If you were in my shoes, would you put it on yours? What's your rationale?

Should you begin sentences in the Education section of your resume with a verb? What is the convention?

Option 1:

[University name] - [Degree name]

• First Class Honours.

• Dean's List in Years 2 and 4.

• [Award name] in Year 3.

Option 2:

[University name] - [Degree name]

• Graduated with a First Class Honours.

• Achieved Dean's List in Years 2 and 4.

• Awarded [Award name] in Year 3.

Which of the two options is preferred? For context, the bullet points in all of my other sections begin with a verb.

I'm still at high school, interested in R&D, hoping to get FAANG or major european research internships somewhen in the future. Would appreciate feedback on my resume / what experience to exclude or to write more about

Any feedback at all would be greatly appreciated. Not looking for anything super specific at the moment, just curious where I might be able to improve. The version of my resume shown here is its most generic form. I do edit my resume for every job that I apply for, as you'd likely expect.

Background: I graduated in May '24, although I've been applying since Dec '23. Since then, I received 3 offers, all at different times. Long story short however, I rejected each of them. I'm a US citizen, applying to junior software dev roles both locally and all across the country. I do however live in the middle of nowhere, hours from the nearest "tech hub," and I graduated from a small, public, state school--all factors which could possibly be hindering my success.

If I had to pick something, one of my biggest flaws currently is probably leetcode. There was a time early on where I did leetcode every single day. I've tried countless different frequencies and arrangements, but ultimately, I just can't stand doing it regularly (hot take, I know). As of late, I haven't been doing it at all. This hasn't bit me so far (granted I haven't been getting many interviews lately period). The only questions I really struggle with are those that rare ones that feel like you're expected to already know the solution before you even see it (trick questions, one might say). Almost every other time, I can figure out a solution on my own without grinding them regularly.

My other flaw relates to the title: I've begun wondering if CS isn't for me. I got into this field primarily because it's a hobby of mine. Coding for fun is quite different from coding for a living though. I have a lot of projects I'd really love to be working on currently (mostly relating to operating systems dev, reverse engineering, emulation, & homebrew game dev). I understand though that my interests and skills are niche. Most of those fields don't have direct parallels in the job market, and the few people who do hire C devs (my preferred language at the moment) aren't hiring new grads for those roles. In other words, I know I probably should be focusing on more marketable things instead.

One regret of mine from uni is not double majoring in electrical engineering (or not doing computer engineering instead). I haven't done the necessary research to know if either of those are even viable careers at the moment, but perhaps I'll go back to school for another BS or MS in EE. Not sure yet. Feel free to share your thoughts though regardless.

I am a current high school sophomore (Class of 2028) aiming for extremely competitive aerospace engineering internships/programs, specifically those like Lockheed Martin's high school internships or similar at other major defense/aerospace contractors (I have birthright citizenship). These programs often accept fewer than 15 students nationally.

My main question: Based on the anonymized resumes below (one shortened, one my original), do I have a realistic shot at this tier of opportunity, or am I likely too early in the pipeline? If I am competitive, what are the single biggest weaknesses I should address in the next 6-12 months? I'm planning on submitting my VTOL project to ISEF (International Science and Engineering Fair), as well as going deeper into math and physics competitions.

Specific concerns:

1. Is the independent VTOL project substantial enough to be a central "anchor" for my application at this level?

2. Does the mix of academic competitions, hands-on engineering, and leadership tell a coherent story, or is it too scattered?

3. Are my extracurriculars/awards of exceptional caliber or are they simply "good".

4. Is the resume too text-heavy?

5. For a sophomore, is the depth of technical detail appropriate, or is it overkill/underwhelming?

I would be incredibly grateful for any blunt advice on gaps, presentation, or strategy.
Also, I get that this subreddit is mainly for professionals/engineering students, but I've wanted this internship/to do aerospace for a long time, and there isn't anyone reliable I can ask about this.

Hi y'all! I'm a high-school senior who was just accepted to UIUC for CS+Linguistics. I've spent the last month or so doing a combination of going to the gym, playing Marvel Rivals, and getting baked lmao, since I have literally nothing to do.

It's pretty boring, so I decided to do something productive and grind some internships or study before college. I'm mainly targeting CS and quant finance programs. A few questions:

1. Is It ight to put the university I'm accepted to in my education section? I haven't committed to UIUC because I'm still waiting on decisions from my state school (UT Austin) and my reaches (MIT, Stanford, Princeton, Harvard, CMU, Berkeley), but the UIUC name might boost my application regardless.

2. One of the "jobs" I listed was literally my friend paying me like a hundred to help him develop an app for an entrepreneurship competition (I was credited dw), but it's hella scuffed and his whole "startup" idea totally shifted focus after I left/finished. Is that fine?

3. Can I include non-CS related things in there? I have a few linguistics research projects and local advocacy for urbanism in the Dallas area that I spent quite a bit of time on.

4. Similarly, can I include my Debate leadership position as a full "job" on my resume, or should I just leave it as a subpoint of my Education section?

5. I'm not a US citizen/PR but we have filed for I-485 adjustment of status, so I do hold an unrestricted Employment Authorization Document. Should I indicate that directly, should I just put "NO SPONSORSHIP NEEDED," or nothing at all?

Here's the resume:

I don't know how a hiring manager would perceive "recieved x amounts of upvotes on reddit". any advice would be appreciated

Looking for new-grad ML jobs that pay > $120k. Preferred location: big tech hubs in US (Cali, Seattle, etc).

Given my MS degree, software experience, and research (though admittedly this is a mathematical paper, not an application, so maybe less valuable from employer standpoint) I feel like I have a decently strong resume. However, I haven’t gotten any interviews yet. So far I've applied mainly to big tech companies and startups (lots from Y-Combinator), so perhaps I can expect stiff competition. But given my salary expectation not sure what other options there are.

I would appreciate

1. Feedback on any parts of my resume

2. Suggestions on what I can do to improve my portfolio specifically for ML jobs

Also if you know anyone who’s hiring please lmk haha. Thanks!