What skills should a Electrical Engineer put on a resume?

O*NET rates Writing, Critical Thinking, Reading Comprehension, Active Learning, and Active Listening 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 Electrical Engineer list?

Software recorded for this occupation includes Ada, Advanced boolean expression language ABEL, Altera hardware description language AHDL, Apache Subversion SVN, and APLAC. 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 Electrical Engineer work?

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

What qualifications does a Electrical Engineer need?

In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 82% 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 Electrical 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.

Electrical Engineer resume example

A resume for a Electrical Engineer needs to show the work itself: research, design, develop, test, or supervise the manufacturing and installation of electrical equipment, components, or systems for commercial, industrial, military, or scientific use. Day to day that means work like this: design, implement, maintain, or improve electrical instruments, equipment, facilities, components, products, or systems for commercial, industrial, or domestic purposes; oversee project production efforts to assure projects are completed on time and within budget. 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
Electrical Design Engineer
Project Engineer
Circuits Engineer
Electrical Controls Engineer
Electrical Project Engineer
Engineer
I&E Reliability Engineer
Test Engineer
PV Power Systems Engineer
PV Solar Cell Designer
RF Engineer
Automation Engineer
Cable Engineer
Controls Engineer
Distribution Engineer
Distribution Field Engineer
District Plant 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.

Design, implement, maintain, or improve electrical instruments, equipment, facilities, components, products, or systems for commercial, industrial, or domestic purposes.
Oversee project production efforts to assure projects are completed on time and within budget.
Direct or coordinate manufacturing, construction, installation, maintenance, support, documentation, or testing activities to ensure compliance with specifications, codes, or customer requirements.
Perform detailed calculations to compute and establish manufacturing, construction, or installation standards or specifications.
Operate computer-assisted engineering or design software or equipment to perform engineering tasks.
Confer with engineers, customers, or others to discuss existing or potential engineering projects or products.
Investigate or test vendors' or competitors' products.
Inspect completed installations and observe operations to ensure conformance to design and equipment specifications and compliance with operational, safety, or environmental standards.
Investigate customer or public complaints to determine the nature and extent of problems.
Prepare technical drawings, specifications of electrical systems, or topographical maps to ensure that installation and operations conform to standards and customer requirements.
Compile data and write reports regarding existing or potential electrical engineering studies or projects.
Prepare specifications for purchases of materials or equipment.

22 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.

Design, implement, maintain, or improve electrical instruments, equipment, facilities, components, products, or systems for commercial, industrial, or domestic purposes, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Oversee project production efforts to assure projects are completed on time and within budget, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Direct or coordinate manufacturing, construction, installation, maintenance, support, documentation, or testing activities to ensure compliance with specifications, codes, or customer requirements, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Perform detailed calculations to compute and establish manufacturing, construction, or installation standards or 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.

Ada
Advanced boolean expression language ABEL
Altera hardware description language AHDL
Apache Subversion SVN
APLAC
ATD protocol
Autodesk AutoCAD
Autodesk AutoCAD Civil 3D
Autodesk Revit
Automated material handling software
Availability prediction modeling software
AVEVA InTouch HMI
Bash
Bentley MicroStation

122 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.

Accelerometers
Annealing furnaces
Atomic force microscopes
Auger electron spectrometers
Computer servers
Cylindrical corona testers
Diffractometers
Diffusion furnaces
Digital oscilloscopes
Digital video cameras
Digital voltmeters DVM
Doping tubes

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
Revit
C++

What this job rates as most important

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

01Writing
02Critical Thinking
03Reading Comprehension
04Active Learning
05Active Listening
06Complex Problem Solving
07Speaking
08Monitoring
09Mathematics
10Coordination

Knowledge areas

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

Engineering and Technology
Computers and Electronics
Design
English Language
Mathematics
Physics
Production and Processing
Mechanical

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.

82%Bachelor's Degree
11%Associate's Degree
7%Master's Degree

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 Electrical Engineer do?: Research, design, develop, test, or supervise the manufacturing and installation of electrical equipment, components, or systems for commercial, industrial, military, or scientific use. Day to day that includes work like design, implement, maintain, or improve electrical instruments, equipment, facilities, components, products, or systems for commercial, industrial, or domestic purposes and Oversee project production efforts to assure projects are completed on time and within budget.
What skills should a Electrical Engineer put on a resume?: O*NET rates Writing, Critical Thinking, Reading Comprehension, Active Learning, and Active Listening 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 Electrical Engineer list?: Software recorded for this occupation includes Ada, Advanced boolean expression language ABEL, Altera hardware description language AHDL, Apache Subversion SVN, and APLAC. 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 Electrical Engineer work?: O*NET records 40 titles for this occupation, including Design Engineer, Electrical Design Engineer, Project Engineer, and Circuits Engineer. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.
What qualifications does a Electrical Engineer need?: In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 82% 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 Electrical 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.