What skills should a Civil Engineer put on a resume?

O*NET rates Active Listening, Complex Problem Solving, Critical Thinking, Mathematics, and Reading Comprehension among the most important skills for this occupation. Name the ones that are genuinely yours and show where you used them. A resume that lists skills you do not have is weaker than one that lists fewer.

What software should a Civil Engineer list?

Software recorded for this occupation includes Adobe Acrobat, Apache Subversion SVN, Autodesk AutoCAD, Autodesk AutoCAD Civil 3D, and Autodesk Land Desktop. Applicant tracking systems match on the exact product name, so write the tool as the posting writes it rather than describing it in general terms.

What other job titles cover Civil Engineer work?

O*NET records 40 titles for this occupation, including Design Engineer, Project Engineer, Structural Engineer, and City Engineer. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.

What qualifications does a Civil Engineer need?

In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 86% reported their level of education as "Bachelor's Degree". That is what current postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.

Will this resume pass an ATS for a Civil Engineer role?

No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer's system is configured, including ours. What you can control is that the resume parses cleanly, names the work in the words the posting uses, and does not claim anything you cannot back up.

Civil Engineer resume example

A resume for a Civil Engineer needs to show the work itself: perform engineering duties in planning, designing, and overseeing construction and maintenance of building structures and facilities, such as roads, railroads, airports, bridges, harbors, channels, dams, irrigation projects, pipelines, power plants, and water and sewage systems. Day to day that means work like this: direct engineering activities, ensuring compliance with environmental, safety, or other governmental regulations; manage and direct the construction, operations, or maintenance activities at project site. Recruiters and applicant tracking systems both read for the tasks and tools this role actually involves, so the strongest resume names them in your own experience rather than describing the job in the abstract. Below are the tasks O*NET records for this occupation, the software and tools it uses, the titles it is advertised under, and the skills worth naming if they are genuinely yours.

Also advertised as

The same job is posted under many titles. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.

Design Engineer
Project Engineer
Structural Engineer
City Engineer
County Engineer
Engineer
Geotechnical Engineer
Licensed Engineer
Railroad Design Consultant
Airport Engineer
Architectural Engineer
Asphalt Engineer
Base Engineer
Bridge Design Engineer
Bridge Engineer
Building Construction Engineer
Building Engineer
Cadastral Engineer

O*NET records 40 titles for this occupation in total.

What this work actually involves

Tasks recorded for this occupation, in O*NET's words. If your experience covers one of these, it belongs on your resume in your own words.

Direct engineering activities, ensuring compliance with environmental, safety, or other governmental regulations.
Manage and direct the construction, operations, or maintenance activities at project site.
Inspect project sites to monitor progress and ensure conformance to design specifications and safety or sanitation standards.
Compute load and grade requirements, water flow rates, or material stress factors to determine design specifications.
Plan and design transportation or hydraulic systems or structures, using computer-assisted design or drawing tools.
Provide technical advice to industrial or managerial personnel regarding design, construction, program modifications, or structural repairs.
Analyze survey reports, maps, drawings, blueprints, aerial photography, or other topographical or geologic data.
Direct or participate in surveying to lay out installations or establish reference points, grades, or elevations to guide construction.
Estimate quantities and cost of materials, equipment, or labor to determine project feasibility.
Prepare or present public reports on topics such as bid proposals, deeds, environmental impact statements, or property and right-of-way descriptions.
Design energy-efficient or environmentally sound civil structures.
Test soils or materials to determine the adequacy and strength of foundations, concrete, asphalt, or steel.

16 tasks are recorded in total; these are the most central.

Example bullets for this role

Built from this occupation's own tasks. The brackets stay empty on purpose: we will not invent a number for you, and a fabricated metric is the fastest way to lose an interview you had already won.

Direct engineering activities, ensuring compliance with environmental, safety, or other governmental regulations, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Manage and direct the construction, operations, or maintenance activities at project site, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Inspect project sites to monitor progress and ensure conformance to design specifications and safety or sanitation standards, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Compute load and grade requirements, water flow rates, or material stress factors to determine design specifications, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].

Software used in this role

Recorded for this occupation by O*NET. An applicant tracking system matches the exact product name, so write the tool the way the posting writes it.

Adobe Acrobat
Apache Subversion SVN
Autodesk AutoCAD
Autodesk AutoCAD Civil 3D
Autodesk Land Desktop
Autodesk Revit
Bentley GeoPak Bridge
Bentley Haestad Methods CivilStorm
Bentley InRoads Suite
Bentley MicroStation
Bentley STAAD
Bridge design software
C
Cartography software

74 software entries are recorded in total.

Tools and equipment

The physical equipment this occupation is recorded as using. Worth naming when a posting asks for it by name.

Anemometers
Blueprint copiers
Compasses
Desktop computers
Digital cameras
Dividers
Drafting scales
Drafting triangles
Electronic distance measuring devices
Global positioning system GPS receivers
Laptop computers
Laser levels

Skills an ATS reads for

Worth naming only if they are genuinely yours. Keyword overlap is one input to a resume's score, not a verdict.

AutoCAD
AutoCAD Civil 3D
Revit

What this job rates as most important

O*NET rates every skill for importance to this occupation. These are the highest rated, in order.

01Active Listening
02Complex Problem Solving
03Critical Thinking
04Mathematics
05Reading Comprehension
06Speaking
07Science
08Systems Analysis
09Time Management
10Operations Analysis

Knowledge areas

The subject knowledge this occupation draws on, rated by importance.

Design
Engineering and Technology
Building and Construction
Mathematics
English Language
Physics
Administration and Management
Customer and Personal Service

What qualifications people in this job have

From O*NET's survey of people doing this work. This is what postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.

86%Bachelor's Degree
10%Master's Degree
5%Post-Baccalaureate Certificate, awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Baccalaureate degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees carrying the title of Master.

What level this role is pitched at

O*NET places this occupation in “Considerable Preparation Needed”. Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.

A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.

Common questions

What does a Civil Engineer do?: Perform engineering duties in planning, designing, and overseeing construction and maintenance of building structures and facilities, such as roads, railroads, airports, bridges, harbors, channels, dams, irrigation projects, pipelines, power plants, and water and sewage systems. Day to day that includes work like direct engineering activities, ensuring compliance with environmental, safety, or other governmental regulations and Manage and direct the construction, operations, or maintenance activities at project site.
What skills should a Civil Engineer put on a resume?: O*NET rates Active Listening, Complex Problem Solving, Critical Thinking, Mathematics, and Reading Comprehension among the most important skills for this occupation. Name the ones that are genuinely yours and show where you used them. A resume that lists skills you do not have is weaker than one that lists fewer.
What software should a Civil Engineer list?: Software recorded for this occupation includes Adobe Acrobat, Apache Subversion SVN, Autodesk AutoCAD, Autodesk AutoCAD Civil 3D, and Autodesk Land Desktop. Applicant tracking systems match on the exact product name, so write the tool as the posting writes it rather than describing it in general terms.
What other job titles cover Civil Engineer work?: O*NET records 40 titles for this occupation, including Design Engineer, Project Engineer, Structural Engineer, and City Engineer. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.
What qualifications does a Civil Engineer need?: In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 86% reported their level of education as "Bachelor's Degree". That is what current postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.
Will this resume pass an ATS for a Civil Engineer role?: No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer's system is configured, including ours. What you can control is that the resume parses cleanly, names the work in the words the posting uses, and does not claim anything you cannot back up.

Related roles

Occupations O*NET records as closest to this one, and worth looking at if this search is not moving.

What this page cannot tell you

No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer’s ATS is configured, including ours.
This page makes no claim about pay, demand or how many people hold this job. O*NET does not publish that here and we will not estimate it.
Keyword overlap is one input to a resume’s score, not a verdict on you. A resume that names skills you do not have is worse than one that names fewer.

If this is the job you are aiming at, the guide to tailoring a resume covers how to aim one posting properly, and building and exporting a resume here is free.

Occupation data from the O*NET 29.1 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under CC BY 4.0. O*NET is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. SpartanResume is not endorsed by USDOL/ETA.