How to find an engineering job
This is a guide to searching for a job. It’s intended for people seeking an engineering job, and assumes some experience, although it may be useful in other cases.
The Resume
This is the primary document that an employer is going to read. It defines your education and experience. It must be clear and logical, get right to the point, and use a standard format. Employers have a limited amount of time, so don’t waste words with irrelevant stuff. Every word should be about your engineering skills, not sports, church, hobbies, or anything else that isn’t relevant to an engineering job.
Your resume should start with your experience in reverse chronological order, followed by education. Some people put a summary at the top; if you do that, it should be a single sentence, and avoid useless jargon. Probably exclude teenage jobs, unless you have no other jobs.
Use more words to describe you recent jobs. If you worked on several projects, describe each of them. Older jobs can be summarized more briefly.
Probably skip high school in the education section, unless you were valedictorian or something. List your bachelors degree GPA if it’s good (maybe >3.2/4); otherwise skip that.
Don’t do anything goofy or clever. Don’t put in pictures, banners, charts, colors, jokes, etc. That only works in the movies.
Cover Letter
The resume tells about you experience and education, and the cover letter is more of a story about why you are good for this job, what you like to do, etc.
Some people consider the cover letter irrelevant these days, but write one anyway. Don’t just re-state your resume; say different stuff that makes you seem just right for the job.
Some job sites don’t allow you to include a cover letter. Move on.
Finding the Job
Some people will say that job ads are useless; that you need to know somebody to find a job. That’s obviously untrue, because thousands of employers pay money to list jobs online, and have elaborate processes for applying to those positions.
If you have contacts in the industry, hit them all with a message explaining what job you’re looking for. But many engineers, especially younger ones, don’t have a good network, so job ads it is.
Indeed.com is an excellent place to find jobs. LinkedIn is also good, and there are many other sites. Also, once you find a job post, you can then go straight to that employer’s career site and see what else there is. You can also search for firms in your target area and go right to their career sites.
Recruiters can be useful, but they often have limited knowledge about your skills and what jobs are appropriate. Some of them are useless idiots. It would probably be a good idea to get a personal recommendation for a recruiter, if you don’t want to waste time.
Execution
The plan for a deer hunter is to take one good shot and achieve success.
Job hunting never works that way. You can do everything right, and not get the job. Often, you will never know why it didn’t work. Job hunting is more like hockey: you hit it again and again, and sometimes you will score.
Don’t take it personally if a job application is rejected, or you get no response at all. And don’t waste time crying about it. Expect this to happen a lot of the time. If you get an interview from 20% of your applications, you are awesome.
You should start by applying to every job post that is even semi-appropriate. Sometimes jobs are poorly described, and they might be more appropriate than you think. It’s not your job to back away from a position that isn’t a good fit; the employer will take care of that.
Make a spreadsheet to keep track of whom you applied to, what response you got, the contact info, interview notes, etc. It’s easy to lose track of these details once you have a dozen applications in the air.
Make a folder for each job application, with the job description, your cover letter, and the resume that you sent. You may want to edit you resume a bit for each job, to emphasize the right skills.
Will it Work?
Your odds of success are a function of how good your skills are, how well you speak in an interview, how well you track down the best jobs, and how many applications you send out. Those first 2 things may be hard to fix, but those last 2 things you can start on today.
Posted Feb 6, 2020, 11:32 PM UTC
I'd just like to add one thing from my perspective: while a cover letter might be seen as irrelevant by some people, its definitely more relevant for entry level positions and internships. I highly recommend students and recent grads focus on their cover letter when applying for and internship or first job. There's not as much to set you apart from other candidates at that stage, and generally more competition. Good written communication skills and passion about a position can count for a lot in that scenario.
I agree one hundred percent. I've had to make the decision on which resume to pick when comparing similar resumes and the cover letter always is a useful tool to get to know an applicant pre-interview. Sometimes we dont have enough timeslots for all of the applicants to have an interview, and with fresh grads always looking, the resumes can look identical.
The resume can be a cookie cut template, some applicants could have a greatly formatted resume but be awful in an interview. The cover letter is your freedom of expression to show your research and interest in the position. It also lets us know what kind of person you are to an extent so we can make the interview smoother.
If you really want to impress on your post grad or Summer student application, spend a good amount of time doing research on the organization and their history, relate some of it to yourself in your cover letter. And If you get an interview, knowing some facts about the company hiring can get you a job!
Cover letters are also great for talking up points that don't come across well in resumes. Couldn't get internships because you had to stay home and care for a family member? You can say as much here and expound on why not having those internships isn't something that will hold you back. Caring for a family member is intense and demanding work. Maybe while you were stuck at home you did some small projects (that don't have a neat spot to bring up in the resume).
I would also note that brevity is paramount on a cover letter. It does not need to be one full page. It is highly unlikely that the hiring manager will read more than one paragraph anyway so it really shouldn't be more than that anyway.