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RUSUME WRITING TIPS
Professor Pete Avitabile
Department of Mechanical Engineering
University of Massachusetts Lowell
Resume Writing Tips
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Dr. Peter Avitabile
Modal Analysis & Controls Laboratory
First Thoughts
What is the purpose of the resume:
• Identify who you are
• Identify your objectives
• Identify what your capabilities are
• Identify your educational experiences
• Identify your work-related experiences
• Identify other pertinent experiences
• DO THIS IN AS FEW WORDS AS POSSIBLE !!!
Resume Writing Tips
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Dr. Peter Avitabile
Modal Analysis & Controls Laboratory
Consider how a position becomes available
Engineering supervisor or manager who :
• is VERY BUSY
• needs to fill a vacant position because …
has an expansion slot in his department
OR
is replacing someone who just left the company
Resume Writing Tips
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Dr. Peter Avitabile
Modal Analysis & Controls Laboratory
Consider how your resume gets to someone
Human Resource People are involved :
• a generic request to fill a position is received
• a newspaper advertisement is written
• the ad has “buzz words” concerning the position
• a ton of resumes are received in HR
• HR “scans” the resumes for “buzz words”
• a “stack of resumes” are forwarded to the
hiring manager or supervisor for review
Resume Writing Tips
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Dr. Peter Avitabile
Modal Analysis & Controls Laboratory
Consider who is going to review your resume
Engineering supervisor or manager who :
• is VERY BUSY
• needs to get a qualified individual hired
• must fill the position quickly
• doesn’t have enough time to spend on this
Resume Writing Tips
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Dr. Peter Avitabile
Modal Analysis & Controls Laboratory
Consider your resume and someone else’s resume
Mechanical Engineering Degrees :
• The general mechanical engineering curriculum
from one school to another is very similar
• ME students take the same assortment of solids,
thermo-fluids, and math related courses
• The grade point average is just a number
What would make a reviewer pick one resume over
another for two mechanical engineering students
who appear to have the same overall capabilities ?
Resume Writing Tips
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Dr. Peter Avitabile
Modal Analysis & Controls Laboratory
Your resume must speak VOLUMES in few words
Critical Contents in Your Resume :
• Educational background / experience
• Application experience using commercially
available industry software
• Related work experience
• Other experience that shows responsibility and
initiative in your personal life
Use your space
Resume Writing Tips
E F F E C T I V E L Y
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Dr. Peter Avitabile
Modal Analysis & Controls Laboratory
Placement Companies have commented
Your Resume needs to SELL YOURSELF :
• Head-hunters have commented that many well
qualified people have not gotten jobs mainly
because their resume didn’t jump up and say
HEY - I’M THE GUY FOR THAT JOB !!!
• You may not be able to say all that is needed on
the standard one sheet resume
Resume Writing Tips
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Dr. Peter Avitabile
Modal Analysis & Controls Laboratory
The Resume
The main parts should be :
• Identity
• Objectives
• Education
• Work Experience
• Other Related Items
These will be discussed on the following pages
Resume Writing Tips
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Dr. Peter Avitabile
Modal Analysis & Controls Laboratory
Critical Personal Information
Standard information about you :
• Name
• Address
• Phone number
• Email address
This should be at the top of the resume
Resume Writing Tips
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Dr. Peter Avitabile
Modal Analysis & Controls Laboratory
Objectives
You need to identify your objective :
• What is your career plan
• Short term and long term goals
Your objective should reflect what YOU think you
want to do with your career BUT also be
cognizant of the company objectives.
This is a very important statement which should
actually change depending on where your resume
is being sent
Resume Writing Tips
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Dr. Peter Avitabile
Modal Analysis & Controls Laboratory
Education Information
Highlight critical achievements :
• Identify general courses taken but emphasize the
practical hands-on application projects
• Identify use of commercially available software
• Identify projects that require team work
• Identify report writing and presentation skills
Resume Writing Tips
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Dr. Peter Avitabile
Modal Analysis & Controls Laboratory
Education Information
Highlight critical achievements :
• Receive a special award or recognition ?
• Maintained a high ME grade point average ?
• Worked on a special detailed project or very
involved project as part of a course?
Now this is an area where you need to
sell your capabilities and experience
Resume Writing Tips
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Dr. Peter Avitabile
Modal Analysis & Controls Laboratory
Work Related Information
Highlight critical achievements :
• If you have SIGNIFICANT work experience then
it should be clearly identified
• Work as a Lab Assistant or TA or RA is useful
to identify especially if you had responsibility for
various aspects of operations
• Mention your responsibility as TA or RA - not
that you washed test tubes and cleaned the lab
Resume Writing Tips
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Dr. Peter Avitabile
Modal Analysis & Controls Laboratory
Other Related Information
Highlight critical achievements :
• Worked to support yourself through school is a
very impressive accomplishment
• Leadership roles in clubs or organizations are
important to note
• Participation in ASME, Tau Beta Pi, athletics are
important to note
Resume Writing Tips
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Dr. Peter Avitabile
Modal Analysis & Controls Laboratory
Other Related Information
Highlight critical achievements :
• Boyscout or Eagle Scout
• Working at Market Basket or Jiffy Lube is not
as impressive as Lawn Maintainence over the
summer where you had to capitalize equipment
and function as a small business
• Note any work that required you to organize
efforts of others or required you to function
independently
Resume Writing Tips
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Dr. Peter Avitabile
Modal Analysis & Controls Laboratory
Education Information in Resume
You might state:
Graduated with 3.0 with Mechanical Engineering
classes in Statics, Dynamics, Strength of
Materials, Thermo, Fluids, Heat Transfer, ...
blah, blah, blah …..
So what makes you any different than any other
Mechanical Engineering student from any other
university ? Why pick you for an interview ?
Resume Writing Tips
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Dr. Peter Avitabile
Modal Analysis & Controls Laboratory
Education Information in Resume
It might be better to state:
Graduated with 3.0 with a broad assortment of
core Mechanical Engineering classes. Detailed
project related work for courses required design,
analysis and testing to confirm analytical models;
worked using commercially available software and
tested laboratory prototypes; projects required
team work along with interim reports and final
design reports which were presented at the
completion of the project.
W O W
Resume Writing Tips
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! ! ! ! !
Dr. Peter Avitabile
Modal Analysis & Controls Laboratory
Education Information - PROJECT WORK
Highlight critical project work :
• Many courses require significant project related
work as part of your education
• Your resume needs to identify this
• Otherwise the reviewer has no idea as to the
detail and depth involved in your coursework
Highlight your accomplishments to clearly show
your capabilities and your achievements
Resume Writing Tips
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Dr. Peter Avitabile
Modal Analysis & Controls Laboratory
COMPUTER SKILLS AND SOFTWARE
Highlight software packages you are familiar with:
• Many courses require use of commercially
available software - identify which ones
• CAD software, Analysis software, etc
many of these packages are used in industry and
knowledge of these can definitely help
• Identify typical office related software used
such as WORD, Power Point, Excel, etc
Resume Writing Tips
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Dr. Peter Avitabile
Modal Analysis & Controls Laboratory
POSSIBLE PROJECT WORK DESCRIPTIONS
Mechanical Design (22.321) – This mechanical design course required that the
students not only learn the basic theoretical concepts of mechanism design but also
required the students to design, build and test a working linkage to a set of design
specifications as part of the course. The students worked in teams and had weekly
reports that must be prepared documenting the design, analysis and progress of their
linkage design in addition to normal homework, tests and other course
requirements. The linkage design for each group consisted of a unique design since
the design parameters are associated with the student’s social security number. As
part of the development of the design, the teams used classical design approaches
supplemented with computer tools such as MATLAB, MATHCAD, WorkingModel
and CAD software such AutoCAD, ProEngineer and SolidWorks. Once a design
was specified, the team issued design drawings and manufactured the parts,
assembled the linkage configuration and ran performance tests to determine the
suitability of the design to meet the design requirements. Following completion of
the design, a final report was issued documenting all phases of the project.
(http://m-5.eng.uml.edu/22.321).
Resume Writing Tips
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Dr. Peter Avitabile
Modal Analysis & Controls Laboratory
POSSIBLE PROJECT WORK DESCRIPTIONS
Mechanical Laboratory I & II (22.302 & 22.403) – This two semester Mechanical
Laboratory requires that the students become familiar with a variety of different
measuring equipment including both analog and digital data acquisition techniques
with both time and frequency domain processing of data. In the first course, the
students are exposed to various fundamental concepts. Weekly laboratory reports
are written as the semester progresses with one final report at the end of the first
semester. In the second follow on semester, the students continue with more
complicated laboratories. The last five weeks of the second semester, the students
are required to design a measurement system with vaguely defined parameters.
Instrumentation selection, acquisition requirements, processing of data and the
final presentation of the results are required. (In one case, a measurement system
needed to be defined to measure response of a dynamic system using different types
of measurement devices that are not colocated at the same measurement point on
the structure. Correlation of displacement, velocity and acceleration measurements
from different devices to each other using a combination of time and frequency
domain processing was required. Students use a variety of different software tools
including data acquisition software, MATLAB, SIMULINK and spread sheet tools
to design and evaluate the measurement system.)
Resume Writing Tips
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Dr. Peter Avitabile
Modal Analysis & Controls Laboratory
POSSIBLE PROJECT WORK DESCRIPTIONS
Dynamic Systems (22.451) – The Dynamic Systems course, in addition to typical class
work, involved a laboratory project in which measured data was compared to
MATLAB and SIMULINK models that the students had to develop to characterize a
simple dynamic system. A variety of classical approaches as well as computer
simulations are used to evaluate a mechanical dynamic system. Measurements are
acquired to validate the analytical models developed. A report is written to document
the results of both the analytical and experimental studies.
Finite Element Analysis (22.512) – The Finite Element Analysis course, uses
commercially available software (such as ALGOR, ANSYS, FEMAP, HyperMesh,
ABAQUS, NASTRAN and others) to solve typical structural analysis problems. The
students develop models of a particular problem using several different analysis
packages to obtain essentially the same solution. A variety of different problems are
studied as part of this course.
Resume Writing Tips
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Dr. Peter Avitabile
Modal Analysis & Controls Laboratory
Layout of the Resume
The resume should be well organized and utilize
the “white space” on the page effectively
Early in your career, your education is the
primary focus of attention of your resume
As time goes on, your work experience tends to
be the primary focus of the resume
Resume Writing Tips
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Dr. Peter Avitabile
Modal Analysis & Controls Laboratory
Layout of the Resume - One I Like
Left column identifies places of employment and
years of service and educational information
Right column identifies experience and
responsibilities for each location
For new graduates,
- Education (graduate then undergraduate)
- Work Experiences (in educational setting)
- Work Experiences (in professional environment)
- Work (non-professional to support yourself)
- Other pertinent related items
Resume Writing Tips
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Dr. Peter Avitabile
Modal Analysis & Controls Laboratory
Layout of the Resume - Education Emphasized
Identity
Objective
Education
Chronological Order
Courses
Relevant Skills
Experience
Responsibilities
Resume Writing Tips
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Dr. Peter Avitabile
Modal Analysis & Controls Laboratory
Layout of the Resume - Experience Emphasized
Identity
Objective
Company
Chronological Order
Position
Responsibilities
University
Courses
Resume Writing Tips
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Dr. Peter Avitabile
Modal Analysis & Controls Laboratory