MEP EP#279: Avoiding The HR Pit of Doom, Resume and Interview Tricks for Engineers
- Engineering Resumes
- The main goal: To start a conversation
- The resume is intended to give a snapshot of you not to be your autobiography
- The person doing the interview probably has other tasks that they have to accomplish
- Your interview is important but it is likely not their main focus, keep this in mind
- Too much information is a bad thing - remember people hiring have to read lots of resumes
- The 1 page rule
- The HR pit of doom
- There is a high likelihood that your resume will not go to an engineer when you apply via any portal/service/online app
- Grammar/spelling/design/layout
- You may be the best engineer out there but if you can’t get that across to a non-engineer then you are in trouble
- Humble Bragging
- You are not Engineering Jesus
- Use tangible wording and describe cornerstones of your career
- Example - I did X task and productivity increased Y%
- Do not obfuscate your work with unclear words.
- Be clear about your involvement in your tasks
- Avoid the following
- “Responsibilities included”
- Collaborated
- Think outside the box
- Go-to person
- Value add
- Team player
- Use Verbs to describe your work
- Improved
- Managed
- Created
- Designed
- Do not Pad your resume
- Shorter and clearer are much better than essays
- Remember the HR pit and the person reading your resume
- Control the white space on your page - This can be more powerful than writing a ton of fluff
- Get to the point
- Be proud and confident in what you have done and highlight it concisely
- Use Technical Writing
- Graduate resumes
- Probably does not include much other than your schoolwork
- Absolutely put anything other than school
- Internships should be front and center
- Anything that shows your passion for your degree
- If you don’t have anything like this get on it
- Describe how you used your degree to do something
- Only put classwork that is relevant to the job you are interviewing for
- Remember - everyone in your degree had to do the same thing, it doesn’t make you special
- Objective statement - I can take it or leave it
- Dont just put - looking for a job
- See if you can make it interesting to read
- Better to write a cover letter if you have something to say in an Objective Statement
- How to describe things you can’t describe in detail on your resume?
- Engineering Interviews:
- Research Research Research
- The more you know the more you can be prepared
- Remember that if you get this job you could spend 1/3rd of your life there
- You are interviewing them as much as they are interviewing you
- Dress appropriately
- Under dressed is not helpful - Avoid if possible
- Come prepared - No place is going to fault you for bringing things in
- Bring multiple copies of your resumes
- Bring your work
- Personality Tests
- How to prep for these kind of questions?
- "What is your greatest weakness?"