Sharing a success story in hopes that it may be helpful or motivating for anyone here.

After 21 months of being on the market I landed a role in Applied AI strategy.

Disclaimer: **I am not an engineer**. But I've gotten some advice on resumes here, so happy to share what's worked for me.

My background: Most recently in product management. 3 years in finance, 6-7 in marketing analytics/CPG, and 2-3 in b2b SaaS. I was laid off in Jan 2025 and have been "freelance consulting" since then.

First - some stats since I started tracking in March this year. Take the analytics with a grain of salt. My true stats are way worse because I've been on the market for almost 2 years. Also rounds per job is not a representative metric because I didn't move forward after the phone screen for quite a few roles.

I'll break this down into 3 primary factors.

1. resume and applications

2. interviewing skill

3. luck surface area

Resume

Optimize the f*ck out of your resume. If you think it's optimized, and you aren't getting callbacks, it's not good enough. Once it's optimized, apply early and apply often. You can tweak the url on linkedin to search for jobs posted in the last 24 hours. You want to be the first 20 applicants to get a fighting chance.

Initially, I was customizing resumes for every job. This helped me get callbacks, but it was time consuming and not very efficient.

I've also pivoted a couple times in my career so I didn't have that linear trajectory of promotions. Because of this, I created two versions of my resume - one that used all of my experience in a niche domain, and another generic one where I actually removed experience from my resume.

So I was either going for sr manager / assoc. director roles OR just sr analyst/manager level roles.

I won't bore you with the other things I've tried, but you have to be aware enough to know what experience is relevant to your industry and leave everything else off.

On AI and resumes - if you have no idea how to format a resume, do NOT use AI. It's been trained on all the shittiest resumes out there so it'll give you a mid template.

Interviewing

This was honestly a crapshoot. I've interviewed with many companies - from big tech to small startups to professional services and consulting firms. You need to get your star stories straight. You need to be able to answer why you did something, not just how. Who you did the thing with. Why was it complex. Whether you initiated it or if it was just an order from above. What the scope or charter was. What you learned. etc. But you probably know all this.

For the non behavioral rounds - I ran the gamut of product cases, consulting cases, system design, live whiteboarding, presentations, and writeups.

I don't really have advice for this beyond just getting the reps in. You just need to know your stories cold. If you tell me you improved x thing by y metric and I ask why you thought y metric was the right thing to measure, you better have an answer ready.

Luck Surface Area

I networked like crazy when I moved to manhattan. I was going to one event per week for the first 3 months. I was on a budget so I only went to the free ones. The 6k rent also lit a fire under my arse.

The one thing I will share here, is to use AI to do something relevant to your field. Build a prototype, a demo, or your own web app. Then take that to networking events, and show it to the most important person in the room. Bring it up in interviews as well.

Second, the role I eventually landed was the 3rd interview process I had with the company. i.e. I interviewed with 2 other orgs - multiple rounds - and got ghosted or rejected. So don't give up if you make it to final round but no offer. Most of the time, the reason you don't get the offer isn't even due to performance, but other structural reasons. I've lost out on offers because people were earlier in the process, the department closed down, role was intercepted by a boomerang, etc.

You have to be patient and play the long game.

Alright that's all I got for now. If you have questions, feel free to ask in the comments.

I am a recent International Grad student in the US. And I am looking for entry level roles in the Semiconductor Industry. I have no relevant technical work experience for my Masters but I have worked as an 2.5 years as a SAP Consultant, with a few small internships during my Bachelor's.

I have been applying for entry level electrical, hardware, design, process, Field Service roles & I'm open to relocating anywhere in the USA.

I've been tailoring my resume to job descriptions, writing cover letters, and reaching out to recruiters and engineers on LinkedIn. I have got a few screening calls but only 3 interviews.

I am a International student on an F-1 Visa with STEM OPT eligibility but would eventually require a H1B sponsorship which might be a factor. Also I know the entry-level market is pretty rough right now, but I'm starting to wonder if my resume is part of the problem.

I would appreciate a honest feedback for my resume. And what can I do to correct any mistakes so that I can come across a good candidate.

Hi - currently an EE student looking for any advice on my resume. I'm trying to target really any embedded related roles (either firmware or hardware is cool - I enjoy both), but have mainly been applying to more hardware/general EE roles. I should also probably have one for firmware and one for hardware, but this is the one I've been using just to apply to both overall. Mainly just seeking help since I haven't had the chance to have my resume reviewed too much.

One other thing - the one project I have on there sadly isn't finished yet. For reference it's a self balancing RC bike, and while I can get it to balance while it's stationary, I can't get it to balance while moving (at least yet). On my github I have a video of it balancing while stationary, but don't have one while it's balancing and moving. I honestly did spend a lot of time learning embedded C on it, as well as a good amount of controls, but I am just worried employers might not love the fact that it doesn't balance while moving lmao.

Anyway any advice is appreciated. Feel free to be brutally honest with any critiques

Sunday, November 08 - Saturday, November 14, 2026

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Hi everyone.

Last June I graduated top of my cohort from my university in the UK. I'm currently working as a Research Assistant at the University I graduated from.

I had a good relationship with the professor who ran the project so I was able to get my foot through the door. My contract is up in March and afterwards I am mainly looking to pursue a PhD. My professors have been extremely helpful and have basically hand-crafted a project tailored to my interests. Nevertheless, there's the chance that I'm not successful in my application or not able to get funding. As such, I have applied to a few graduate engineer positions, mostly in the controls and simulation field.

I've been following the guidance of the Wiki and some of the posts in the subreddit, and have tried to improve my CV as much as possible. A few months ago I applied to quite a few jobs and my applications have been pretty unsuccessful. The job market in the UK isn't amazing at the moment, especially for quite a niche area such as mine, so the posts close to my interests were pretty limited. I was wondering if anybody could offer any advice regarding my CV and let me know if there's some major flaws I'm not seeing or I just need to play the application numbers game a bit harder.

Many thanks to everyone in advance!

I graduated two years ago and I have gotten 0 work experience. I tried applying to over 100 positions and I got nothing. Not even a single interview. I just want to know what makes my resume so terrible that not a single recruiter even wants to interview me. Is there even anything I can do to fix this resume? It seems like I have nothing else to write about. I'm not even in person for my grad school because I cannot afford rent to live in the city that my college is in. It is about a 6 hour drive from where I live and I don't have a car or even a license. What are my options now. I know that the dream industry is basically closed (I wanted to work with spacecraft but I know that that is going to be impossible).

Final-year BTech ECE in India (graduating May 2027), tier-3 state university college.

Target: FPGA/hardware roles at HFT/trading firms, with RTL design / design verification internships at semiconductor companies as the main fallback. Applying in India and wherever sponsors interns.

- CGPA is below the usual 7.0 cutoff so I've left it off. Right call?

- All simulation, nothing implemented on actual FPGA board.

- No synthesis/timing numbers yet.

Blunt feedback welcome, especially from people in FPGA, ASIC or DV.

Final-year engineering student putting together my CV before applying more widely. I’m aiming at AI and ML engineering roles, mainly LLM agents, RAG and applied ML, and I’d also consider backend or QA automation roles where agentic AI is used for testing. I’m looking for an internship or an entry-level position, and I’d like this CV torn apart before I send it out.

be as blunt as you like. I’d rather hear “cut this whole section” than polite hints. Line-by-line rewrites are very welcome, and I’m happy to remove content I’m attached to. I’m less interested in “get more experience” or “add more projects”, since I can’t change that before applying, but if you think one specific gap is what would cost me interviews, tell me.

I look for hardware R&D roles in biotech, biomed, materials, and mechanical engineering, and I'd like to relocate. After a long internship search, I got one through a personal connection, but continued to apply until May, when I started searching for full-time jobs. I have 250 confirmation emails since then, not sure how many I've applied to, but I keep it to entry-level positions I'm reasonably well qualified for. I've been to two resume reviews in this cycle and got nothing but positive feedback. They were surprised to hear I've had no interviews. A few recruiters at a career fair also said my resume was impressive, but nothing came of it. I've since made some changes to remove "Involvement" in favor of another project, shortened my LinkedIn profile link, added my GPA, etc. but most of the content has stayed the same for a few months. In my current position, I'm doing more of the same (fixtures and protocol), so I'm not sure what else I can include or if my resume is the problem. Let me know if you have any suggestions.

I'm a mechanical engineering senior at a top-5 US mechanical engineering program, graduating in May 2027. I have two engineering internships and experience in mechanical design, CAD, FEA, prototyping, testing, and electromechanical systems.

I'm currently based in the US and applying nationwide for entry-level mechanical engineering, mechanical design, product development, and R&D roles. I'm open to relocating and am not limiting myself to remote positions.

I've been tailoring my resume to job descriptions, writing cover letters, and reaching out to recruiters and engineers on LinkedIn, but I'm barely getting interviews.

I'm an international student on an F-1 visa and will require sponsorship eventually, so I understand that could be a major factor. However, I'd really like to know if there are issues with my resume itself, particularly the bullet points, project selection, or how I'm presenting my technical experience.

Please ignore any minor formatting differences caused by anonymization. Any honest criticism or advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

I am applying for hardware test engineering/mechanical test engineering roles (with particular interest in robotics companies). I am located in Canada and am looking for roles locally (Toronto, Vancouver) and in the US (SF, NY).

My job hunt experience has not been great. I got a few interviews since graduating this April, but my application conversion rate was poor. I managed to return to an old employer, but I'm mainly doing technician work, not engineering.

I made some changes to my resume. I took out some fluff and reduced many points to one line. I did this to make it clearer to read. I'm looking for advice on formatting, bullet structure, and content. I have more mechatronics projects if I need to add more. Let me know!

Any advice is appreciated. I'm targetting roles like mechanical engineering intern, vehicle engineering intern, and ofc aerospace engineering intern.

Please don't considered stuff like bad margins/layout or font size/font style cz this was anonymized by claude and my actual one uses 10 pt Calibri. The spacing is the same tho.

Thanks!

I mostly have hands-on experience with automation and controls and I'd love to find a role where I could learn some robotics, but I'm open to any industry as long as it's an engineering role. As much as I enjoy technician work, it's not something I can do long-term for medical reasons. I've had a few interviews so far, but nothing promising; most of my technical skills are self-taught, and controls always has that annoying catch-22 of employers wanting professional experience/certification but every training course being b2b.

Not sure what else I could put in to fill in the empty space besides a SolidWorks CSWA and a cert for CPR training. I've done other things for money between the gaps, but it's not related to manufacturing/engineering, and I'm still under NDA.

Hi everyone!

I've been applying to positions that seem reasonably aligned with my skills and experience, but so far I'm struggling to get past the initial screening stage.

I'm currently looking for a mid-level Full-Stack or React/TypeScript developer position, either locally in Moldova or remotely, including B2B contractor opportunities.

I'm trying to understand whether my resume is failing to communicate my experience effectively, whether I'm targeting the wrong seniority level, or whether something else about my profile is holding me back.

Do my bullet points communicate meaningful engineering experience, or do they read like a list of routine tasks?

Is my technical skills section too broad? Is there anything important I'm failing to highlight?

Does my experience across multiple client applications come across as credible, or does it appear too fragmented?

If you were screening applicants, what would make you hesitate to invite me to an interview?

I have a Computer Science degree and am currently employed. I'm looking to move into a role with more opportunities for technical growth.

Thank you for taking the time to review my resume!

I am a Computer Engineering major located in South Carolina and i graduate next semester.

I've been looking for Embedded Systems, EE, Automation, and various other engineering jobs (pretty much anything that is not titled software engineer) and I try to apply to entry-level jobs a majority of the time.

I have applied to in-state jobs more often than not but I have applied to a fair amount of jobs out of state.

I honestly do not care where I move, I just want a job out of college with a reasonable salary (>50k).

I never got any internships but I did get 2 interviews (1 for an IT intern, another for an AI engineering intern) in Spring 2026.

I am just looking for general critiques on my resume.

Hi all!

I have 2 years of experience working as a firmware engineer at one of the leading semiconductor R&D companies. After that, I decided to pursue a master's in computer science to get some formal education and specialise in secure software development. I graduated in 2025.

Halfway through my studies, I had some personal problems which affected my performance (academically and mentally). After my graduation, I spent a whole year in Belgium looking for a job. I also treated this work-search year as a break, studying things I didn't have time to focus on during my master's, and just improving my mental and physical health. Though I had about 10-11 interviews during this period after about 400-500 applications, none of which were in my field of interest (low-level development), all resulted in rejections. I try to apply in openings posted in the last 24 hours, or the ones in MNC which align with my profile.

Now I am back in my hometown in India and am still looking for roles as an embedded/firmware engineer, preferably in India or Belgium, but definitely in low-level programming (I love working close to hardware, but not designing the hardware). I do feel more confident in interviewing now, but getting the interview is the problem.

I would greatly appreciate some advice on what I should be doing differently, be it changing my resume format, content, wording, or improving my skills as an engineer and learning a new technology. Feel free to ask for more context about my situation or background. And definitely reach out if you have any leads on how to go about looking for jobs in the semiconductor industry!

Thanks!

Hello! I am posting on behalf of my mom, and I would really appreciate any advice, recommendations, or constructive criticism regarding her resume.

The attached resume was made about a year ago. My mom has approximately 8 years of work experience but has been out of the workforce for around 11 years because she took time off to take care of me and my brother.

Now I am trying to help her get back into the workforce, preferably through a work from home or remote position. We’ve been having difficulty finding suitable opportunities, so any advice on improving her resume, identifying suitable jobs, or navigating the job search would mean a lot to us.

To answer the questions: (My mom's answers.)
What specific help do you need?
I would appreciate feedback and suggestions on improving my entire resume, including its format, wording, and content.

What roles/industries are you targeting?
I am open to different job opportunities where I can use my existing skills while learning and developing new ones.

Where are you applying?
I am currently looking for remote or work from home opportunities, preferably within the Philippines.

What’s your job search situation and challenges?
I have been having difficulty finding work from home opportunities, especially after being away from the workforce for several years.

Any specific resume sections you want feedback on?
I would appreciate feedback on all sections of my resume.

Visa/citizenship status affecting your search?
None.

Thank you in advance to everyone willing to help! Any advice, constructive criticism, or recommendations for companies and positions that might be suitable for her would be greatly appreciated.

(Please do respect my post, I am her daughter 17F just helping my mom find a stable job to help our family 🥹)

As the title says, I've done 3 internships so far. 2 are major household names, which are in the top 10 list by market cap. The 3rd is at a smaller company. I've been targeting mechanical design, reliability, test, and manufacturing roles at new space, legacy space, automotive, semiconductors, etc. I've done nearly 200 applications at this point, but have only gotten 2 hirevues and progressed to the 2nd round at 1 new space startup. I was told I'd move on before being rejected a couple weeks later by the startup; I got rejected from 1 hirevue and am waiting on the other.

My resume is the best it's ever been, but i'm still struggling to get hits. I think the lack of aerospace on my resume could be hurting me. I also go to a fairly average, but large state school. I'm a solid interviewer and believe my resume is technically sound, but clearly something is wrong. I was initially applying to top companies, but then loosened my standards and began expanding my reach. I've been applying everywhere in the country, but that's naturally tied to industry hubs. I'm still completing my Fall Co-Op, but am looking for Summer 2027. My permanent resident status blocks me from the defense primes, but not from most other aerospace companies since I still align with ITAR.

I am a first year mechanical engineering student but i have sophomore standing. This is why i do not have a college gpa currently. I am asking for advice because I have been applying to every industry (I dont really have a preference right now, the dream would be consumer products, robotics or defense). I have got three interviews but rejected from both after about 200 applications. I want any advice to improve my resume because I have been ghosted by atleast 80-90% of the companies I have applied to and i am not sure why. It may not be the standard format but it is very close and ats seems to parse it correctly. I'm not sure as to why i have been ghosted, whether its just not interview season yet or my application is bad. However, I want to ensure my resume is good and I have already posted but improved on it now. Anyway, please review and give me any advice all is appreciated.

I'm looking for some feedback on my resume as I start to think about applying to jobs.

I am located in the San Jose area and would prefer a hybrid role or something remote. Open to fully in-person if the role is great.

I am a US Citizen.

I would like to move to a higher paying job in a "tech" company. My current company is very slow and uses very old technology. I am worried about getting pigeon-holed into C# desktop applications which I feel narrows my opportunities a lot. I would love something full-stack.

I am wondering if I should remove my student projects and just expand on the stuff I have done at work.

Thanks!

Im a 2nd year MechE student enrolled in community college currently waiting on decisions from universities for the spring term. I have a 2.8 gpa (I know, pretty low) but still looking for internship opportunities.

I have applied to around 20 internships all in my area but have only been rejected from one and have not heard from the rest. My main concern is whether or not I have the experience for a hiring manager to even consider looking over my resume. Im still working on building enough skills through personal projects to take off that food service job at the bottom. Any feedback on my experience or my resume format is appreciated.

I have 5 years of experience as a Manufacturing Engineer in the pharmaceutical industry and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering.

I'm leaving my current position at the end of this month due to my spouse's job relocation to Washington. I've been applying to manufacturing, mechanical, validation, and quality engineering roles but haven't heard back yet.

The area I'm relocating to has a strong defense industry presence, so I'll likely be transitioning from pharmaceutical manufacturing into defense. I'd appreciate any advice on making that transition and how I can better tailor my resume to those roles.

Since I've been with the same company for several years, I'd also appreciate any feedback on what I could change or improve to increase my chances of getting interviews. Thanks!