Mechanical Engineering Resume Examples

First and foremost, each resume consists of five main sections: contact information, professional summary, work history, skills and education.

From there, you can customize your resume based on your career history as a mechanical engineering professional.

If your previous roles in mechanical engineering tend to be similar, you can always include numerical proof of your achievements to differentiate each work experience.

For example, a mechanical engineer could have these quantifiable achievements in their resume:

• Produced blueprints and digital drawings for waste treatment system that increased industrial output by 5%
• Reduced production costs by 30% by minimizing part counts and reusing parts in multiple locations
• Managed a team of 15 to successfully optimize state-of-the-art hospital equipment and medical devices
• Sustained a production error of 2% consistently by closely monitoring and communicating with production team

Numbers and percentages give legitimacy to your claims and help hiring managers see the practical benefits of having you on their team.

Compared to the national average, mechanical engineers are doing pretty well. The median annual wage for mechanical engineers is $88,430, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

Engineers’ wages will vary depending on which industry they work in. For example, the highest-paid mechanical engineers work in scientific research and development services, earning a median wage of $101,780.

Other top-paying industries include computer and electronic product manufacturing and architectural, engineering and related services, with median wages between $95,000 and $90,000, reports the BLS.

In the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook for Mechanical Engineering, you can also find the median salary for similar occupations like drafters and mechanical engineering technicians, which is a little less than $57,000.

There are different routes you can take to make it into the mechanical engineering industry. Which path you choose is determined by the type of level you want to reach as a professional and how much time you want to spend studying.

Mechanical engineers need to go the traditional route since most entry-level jobs require at least a bachelor’s degree, and higher-level positions demand a master’s degree.

As you gain experience, you can take the licensure test which certifies you as a professional engineer (PE) and allows you to take on leadership roles, supervise other engineer’s work, and offer your services to the public.

Licenses for mechanical engineers vary by state and require you to have an ABET-accredited degree in engineering; you must have worked at least four years in the field, and pass the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) and Professional Engineering (PE) exams.

Trade schools also offer an educational path for mechanical engineering technicians and similar professionals. These institutions offer practical education to prepare students for the workforce in the form of certificates or diplomas.

For all mechanical engineering occupations, you will need excellent mathematical skills, a creative mind and problem-solving skills, as well as being able to work with your hands to know how to design and build complex mechanical systems.

Your resume’s education section will look different depending on your preparation. For example, mechanical engineers will most likely include a master’s degree and a bachelor’s degree.

Occupations like mechanical drafter, mechanical assembler or electro-mechanical technician can do just fine with an associate degree.

Here’s an example of how your education should look in your resume:

Massachusetts Institute of Technology   Cambridge, MA

Master of Science, Mechanical Engineering

University of Massachusetts – Lowell   Lowell, MA

Bachelor of Science, Mechanical Engineering Technology

If you’re a college graduate, you should not include your high school education.

Nor should you include the year that you completed your college degree(s), this is no longer an accepted practice. Since hiring managers can calculate your age based on the year you graduated, we advise against including it to avoid any potential hiring bias.

Only list graduation dates if you have not yet graduated from an institution and you want to let employers know how long you attended a particular school.

Definitely. A cover letter is a useful companion to any resume. Although you might not see a requirement for one in a job description, it’s industry standard to include one in your application.

Mechanical engineering professionals can use a cover letter to showcase their personality and long-term professional goals, which can be hard to express in a resume for such a technical profession.

In a cover letter, professionals aspiring for management positions can talk about instances where they have managed a team, the struggles they faced, and any feedback of their leadership from colleagues.

For promotions, cover letters are indispensable since they allow you to make a connection between each previous role in your resume.

You can narrate how you became one of the lead engineers with the highest productivity levels in your team or any other important career progression milestones.

JobHero has a collection of mechanical engineering cover letters you can use to get an idea of how it’s done, so you can achieve your strongest job application yet.