What skills should a Mechanical Engineer put on a resume?

O*NET rates Active Listening, Critical Thinking, Reading Comprehension, Complex Problem Solving, and Judgment and Decision Making 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 Mechanical Engineer list?

Software recorded for this occupation includes 1CadCam Unigraphics, Accelerated life testing software, Adobe ActionScript, Adobe Illustrator, and ANSYS simulation software. 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 Mechanical Engineer work?

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

What qualifications does a Mechanical Engineer need?

In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 52% 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 Mechanical 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.

Mechanical Engineer resume example

A resume for a Mechanical Engineer needs to show the work itself: perform engineering duties in planning and designing tools, engines, machines, and other mechanically functioning equipment. Day to day that means work like this: read and interpret blueprints, technical drawings, schematics, or computer-generated reports; research, design, evaluate, install, operate, or maintain mechanical products, equipment, systems or processes to meet requirements. 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
Product Engineer
Project Engineer
Application Engineer
Equipment Engineer
Mechanical Design Engineer
Mechanical Designer
Product Development Engineer
Test Engineer
AC Engineer
HVAC Design Mechanical Engineer
HVAC Engineer
HVAC Sensor and Digital Control Designer
R&D Engineer
SQE
Air Conditioning Engineer
Automation Engineer
Body 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.

Read and interpret blueprints, technical drawings, schematics, or computer-generated reports.
Research, design, evaluate, install, operate, or maintain mechanical products, equipment, systems or processes to meet requirements.
Specify system components or direct modification of products to ensure conformance with engineering design, performance specifications, or environmental regulations.
Confer with engineers or other personnel to implement operating procedures, resolve system malfunctions, or provide technical information.
Investigate equipment failures or difficulties to diagnose faulty operation and recommend remedial actions.
Recommend design modifications to eliminate machine or system malfunctions.
Research and analyze customer design proposals, specifications, manuals, or other data to evaluate the feasibility, cost, or maintenance requirements of designs or applications.
Provide technical customer service.
Oversee installation, operation, maintenance, or repair to ensure that machines or equipment are installed and functioning according to specifications.
Assist drafters in developing the structural design of products, using drafting tools or computer-assisted drafting equipment or software.
Conduct research that tests or analyzes the feasibility, design, operation, or performance of equipment, components, or systems.
Develop or test models of alternate designs or processing methods to assess feasibility, sustainability, operating condition effects, potential new applications, or necessity of modification.

28 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.

Read and interpret blueprints, technical drawings, schematics, or computer-generated reports, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Research, design, evaluate, install, operate, or maintain mechanical products, equipment, systems or processes to meet requirements, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Specify system components or direct modification of products to ensure conformance with engineering design, performance specifications, or environmental regulations, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Confer with engineers or other personnel to implement operating procedures, resolve system malfunctions, or provide technical information, 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.

1CadCam Unigraphics
Accelerated life testing software
Adobe ActionScript
Adobe Illustrator
ANSYS simulation software
Autodesk AutoCAD
Autodesk AutoCAD Civil 3D
Autodesk Revit
Bentley MicroStation
Bill of materials software
Blink
Blue Ridge Numerics CFDesign
C
C++

93 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
Acoustic emission AE sensors
Air compressors
Aligners
Analog to digital converters
Anodic wafer bonding systems
Chemical-mechanical polishing equipment
Computed tomography CT systems
Contact lithography equipment
Contact testers
Coordinate measuring machines CMM
Cryogenic apparatus

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
Dassault Systemes SolidWorks

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
02Critical Thinking
03Reading Comprehension
04Complex Problem Solving
05Judgment and Decision Making
06Mathematics
07Science
08Active Learning
09Operations Analysis
10Speaking

Knowledge areas

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

Design
Engineering and Technology
Production and Processing
Mechanical
English Language
Mathematics
Public Safety and Security
Computers and Electronics

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.

52%Bachelor's Degree
29%Associate's Degree
9%Post-Secondary Certificate, awarded for training completed after high school

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 Mechanical Engineer do?: Perform engineering duties in planning and designing tools, engines, machines, and other mechanically functioning equipment. Day to day that includes work like read and interpret blueprints, technical drawings, schematics, or computer-generated reports and Research, design, evaluate, install, operate, or maintain mechanical products, equipment, systems or processes to meet requirements.
What skills should a Mechanical Engineer put on a resume?: O*NET rates Active Listening, Critical Thinking, Reading Comprehension, Complex Problem Solving, and Judgment and Decision Making 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 Mechanical Engineer list?: Software recorded for this occupation includes 1CadCam Unigraphics, Accelerated life testing software, Adobe ActionScript, Adobe Illustrator, and ANSYS simulation software. 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 Mechanical Engineer work?: O*NET records 40 titles for this occupation, including Design Engineer, Product Engineer, Project Engineer, and Application Engineer. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.
What qualifications does a Mechanical Engineer need?: In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 52% 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 Mechanical 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.