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I'm reviewing resumes for a co-op position in a engineering role and I want to give a few tips for those of you preparing resumes. In reply because I'm irritated at stupid resumes.
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If your resume is over 1 page long it is going in the trash. You do NOT have that much relevant experience, and the fact that you think you do tells me you don't know how to tell what's important and what's not. I've got a guy with half a page of details on hobby activities broken out into bulletes like they are jobs. Some cycling thing where he had all of these responsibilities in his club. Some study abroad program where he broke out the valuable life lessones learned, one per line. He worked maintenance at a park, and lists bullets for that job. He's applying as a biomedical engineering degree senior for fuck's sake.
I've got another that seems like a fairly legit set of experiences, but they are all typed out in well written complete sentences instead of concise bullets. I'm not instantly throwing it in the trash because it's actually very articulate. But it makes me worry that they are someone who can't shut the fuck up, and can't distill information down to what matters. "The design proved unequivically that algae cannot be used for production on a large scale" is too much detail for a resume. Give me enough detail to ask for more when I call you.
Unless you have been working for 10 years, or you are applying for a very specific job for which you have very specific experience (e.g. you are applying for a research role and you have a Ph.D.) you shouldn't even consider a second page on your resume. Your old, irrelevant jobs should be a single line unless you are CERTAIN that you are showing off a relevant skill or attribute. If you are applying for an engineering job and you used to work in a body shop and stripped engines then I actually want to see that because you have worked with your hands and understand machines. If you were a tutor, or a data entry guy then one-line that shit.
I just think if you have that much fluff on your resume then it's because you don't have anything good to list, and you are trying to pull a fast one. And to be fair, if your resume sucks then it is probably best for you to do the big resume full of hobbies and examples of creating writing because you won't get hired based on strict merits. But if you are actually good then make a focused 1-page resume that illustrates what makes you good.
Also, something that I DO want to see that is left out (esp for a co-op / internship) is what classes you will have taken by the time you start the job. Your work experience probably means fuck all, so I want to know how far you are in your education. So many people don't even include what year they are in school. I want to know if you've taken mass transfer, fluid dynamics, how many biology classes, etc. You may think everyone in your school takes those classes, but I don't know what the classes are or how far you are. Please include them so I can tell if you are roughly in the right range. Nobody does this!
I also want a summary statement or an objective. A co-op / intern is there to work AND to learn. I want to know what kind of shit you want to learn. A biomedical engineer could want to do tissue engineering or device/implant engineering, or injection devices, all of which are nothing to do with me. If any of these people had put process development or fermentation or cell culture or scale up or tech transfer or "apply engineering principles" on their resume I'd already be on the phone with them.
I'd rather be playing ME2 than reading resumes and it makes me grumpy :(
Also, if anyone here is looking for a co-op job for the summer please give me a SM. The following are non-negotiable:
Engineering background (prefer chemical/biochemical > biomedical > mechanical >> anything else)
Need some kind of microbiology coursework or background. STRONG preference for bioreactor exposure. E.g. if you've taken something like "upstream engineering" that would be great.
Program requires a student. You can be a graduating senior as long as you are going back to grad school.
job is in the SF bay area
in before "TLDR be more concise"
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