Chemical Engineer Resume Example & Writing Guide
Use this Chemical Engineer resume example and guide to improve your career and write a powerful resume that will separate you from the competition.
Chemical engineering is a highly diverse field, with opportunities available in a wide range of industries and settings. Chemical engineers are responsible for designing processes that convert raw materials into useful products like medications, cosmetics, food, clothing, and more.
When writing your resume as a chemical engineer, it’s important to showcase your engineering skills and experience while also showing your potential employer that you’re passionate about innovation and problem solving. Here are some tips and an example resume to help you write yours.
How to Write a Chemical Engineer Resume
Here’s how to write a chemical engineer resume of your own.
Write Compelling Bullet Points
Bullet points are the most important part of your resume because they’re the first thing recruiters will see. And they have to be compelling enough to make them want to read the rest of your resume.
The best way to do this is to use clear, concise language to describe your experience. So rather than saying you “managed chemical engineers,” you could say you “managed 15 chemical engineers to develop new manufacturing processes for industrial cleaning products.”
The second bullet point is much more specific and provides more detail about what exactly you did and the results of your work.
Related: What Is a Chemical Engineer? How to Become One
Identify and Include Relevant Keywords
When you apply for a chemical engineer role, your resume is likely to be scanned by an applicant tracking system (ATS) for certain keywords. This system looks for specific terms related to the job, like “chemical reaction engineering” and “process design” in order to determine whether your skills are a match for the position. If your resume doesn’t include enough of the right keywords, your application might not make it past the initial screening process.
To increase your chances of getting noticed, use this list of common chemical engineer keywords as a starting point to help you add relevant terms to your resume:
- Chemical Engineering
- Process Engineering
- Petroleum
- Refinery
- Engineering
- Energy
- Upstream
- Energy Industry
- Upstream Operations
- Natural Gas
- Petroleum Engineering
- Engineering Management
- Gas
- Project Engineering
- LNG
- Oil & Gas
- CO2
- Energy Exploration
- Polymers
- Project Management
- Petrochemical
- Process Optimization
- Chemical Process Design
- Molecular Modeling
- Abaqus
- Chemistry
- Advanced Modeling
- Catalysts
- Microsoft Access
- Industrial Engineering
Showcase Your Technical Skills
Chemical engineers use a variety of software programs and systems to design and test chemical processes and products. They also need to be familiar with the theories and principles of chemistry and engineering. So if you have experience with any of the programs or systems listed below, be sure to list them on your resume.
Programs and systems commonly used by chemical engineers include: -CAD software for designing chemical processes and products -LabVIEW for data acquisition and control -Process Explorer for process monitoring and troubleshooting -Aspen HYSYS for process simulation
Related: How Much Does a Chemical Engineer Make?
Remember The Basics
As you write your resume, it’s important to keep a few basic rules in mind.
Make It Easy to Scan
There are a few things you can do to make your resume easier to read and understand quickly. Aligning everything to the left, using a standard font type and size, and keeping bullets under 2 lines will help make your resume more skimmable. You should also try to leave some white space on the page to help the recruiter easily scan through your information.
Be Concise
There is no one-size-fits-all answer when it comes to the length of a resume. However, it is generally best to keep it concise and focus on the most relevant information. For most people, this means a one-page resume. However, if you have a lot of experience to include, a two-page resume may be more appropriate. Just be sure to remove any irrelevant information and make sure the most important details are easy to find.
Proofread
Proofreading your resume is important in order to make sure it looks professional and error-free. Spell checking is a must, as are punctuation and grammar checks. It is also helpful to have someone else proofread your resume for you, as they may catch mistakes that you have missed. Beware of easily confused words, and make sure that your tense is consistent throughout the resume.
Use a Summary
A resume summary statement can be an extremely effective way to introduce yourself and your skills to potential employers. By highlighting your most relevant experiences and tying them into what you’d like to do next, you can show off your strengths and make it easy for potential employers to see how you’d be a perfect fit for the role. In short, a resume summary statement can help to show off your best qualities and make you stand out from the competition.
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