Engineer CV: example and tips

Keywords that come up in engineering job ads

Engineer is a broad title. A structural engineer, a power engineer and a process engineer apply for completely different jobs, and the ads use words from their own field. Read the ad carefully, and use the same words where they match what you have done: phase, discipline, standard and software. Many consulting engineering firms and industrial companies use applicant tracking systems, and our guide to an ATS-friendly CV shows how to make sure your CV is read correctly.

These words come up often, with variations by field. Most ads are in Norwegian, where prosjektering means design and engineering, and byggefasen means the construction phase:

• Design, calculations and dimensioning.
• Concept design, detailed design and follow up during construction.
• Fields: building, structures, HVAC, power, automation, mechanical, process or environmental.
• Software: AutoCAD, Revit, Tekla, SolidWorks, MATLAB or specialist calculation programs.
• BIM, model based design and cross discipline collaboration.
• Standards and regulations, for example Eurocodes, TEK17 or NEK 400.
• Quality assurance, health and safety, risk assessment and documentation.
• Independent, structured and good at working with clients and other disciplines.

Formal requirements: title, education and experience

In Norway the title engineer is not protected, and there are no statutory requirements for using it. The title siv.ing., a protected Norwegian title for a master's in engineering, is different. Under the regulations for universities and university colleges, institutions with the right to award master's degrees in technology may add it to the diploma as a supplementary title. Write your degree exactly as it appears on your diploma, for example “Master in Civil and Environmental Engineering (siv.ing.), NTNU, 2022” or “Bachelor in Engineering, Electrical, OsloMet, 2021”.

In construction, experience after graduation matters. Under the Norwegian building application regulations (byggesaksforskriften), companies that take on formal responsibility (ansvarsrett) must have technical management with education and experience that match the project class, and the experience requirement is counted from the end of your education. So state clearly when you graduated and how many years you have worked on design, construction or inspection. If you have been the responsible designer or inspector, say so.

If you have an engineering degree from abroad, the Norwegian Directorate for Higher Education and Skills (HK-dir) is responsible for recognising foreign higher education. Not every profession requires recognised education from abroad, but some are regulated. If you have received recognition, include the Norwegian equivalent on your CV. If you work on building and construction sites, you must also have an HMS card (HSE card).

Example of a summary for an engineering CV

The summary should say which field you work in, how many years of experience you have and what kind of projects you have delivered. Here is a made up example you can use as a pattern:

Example: “Structural engineer with six years of consulting experience, designing schools, apartment blocks and commercial buildings in concrete and steel. Has been the responsible designer for structural safety in project class 2 and led discipline teams of up to five engineers. Works model based in Revit and Tekla, and is confident in dialogue with architects, contractors and clients. Looking for a role with responsibility for larger projects and for supporting younger colleagues.”

Replace the field, numbers and software with your own. You will find more examples in our guide to writing a CV summary.

Bullet points with results: weak versus strong

Many engineers write about their tasks and forget their results. The reader wants to know how big the projects were, what you were responsible for and what improved. Start with a strong verb in the past tense and finish with a number: floor area, budget, capacity, time, cost or errors avoided.

• Weak: “Building design.” Strong: “Designed the load bearing structure for a 9,000 square metre lower secondary school in concrete and glulam, delivered on time and without major changes during construction.”
• Weak: “Worked on energy.” Strong: “Calculated and proposed energy measures for 14 municipal buildings, which together cut energy use by around 1.2 GWh a year.”
• Weak: “Responsible for maintenance.” Strong: “Introduced condition based maintenance on three production lines, reducing unplanned stoppages by 35 percent in one year.”
• Weak: “Followed up the site.” Strong: “Followed up the installation of technical systems at a 280 million kroner care home, closing more than 400 deviations in close dialogue with the contractor.”
• Weak: “Used Revit.” Strong: “Introduced shared BIM routines for four disciplines on the project, halving the number of clashes in the model before detailed design.”
• Weak: “Mentored new starters.” Strong: “Mentored three graduate engineers and wrote a checklist for quality assuring calculations that the department now uses.”

Skills, software and courses

Skills in an engineering CV are stronger when they are tied to your field and tools. Name the software, the standards you work to and the courses that are relevant to the job. If you have courses or certificates that need renewing, give the year. These are worth including:

• Software: AutoCAD, Revit, Tekla, SolidWorks, Inventor, MATLAB, Python or specialist programs for calculation and simulation.
• Standards and regulations you know, for example Eurocodes, TEK17, NEK 400 or ISO 9001.
• Roles: responsible designer, responsible inspector, discipline lead or design manager.
• Courses in health and safety, risk assessment, project management or BIM.
• HMS card and driving licence if you work on site.
• Languages: Norwegian, English and any others you use with clients or suppliers.

Graduate engineer, or many years in the field

As a graduate engineer, your bachelor or master's thesis is often your best example. Say who the thesis was written for, what you solved and what the result was. Include summer jobs in consulting or industry, internships, roles in student organisations and practical jobs, for example on a building site. Put your education at the top for as long as it is the strongest thing you have. Our guide to a CV for recent graduates has more advice, and the guide to finding relevant work experience as a student shows how to gain experience while you study.

With many years in the field, the project list quickly gets long. Choose the projects most similar to the job, and write more about your role: responsibility, size, phase and who you led or worked with. Many consultants keep a separate project list with project, client, year, role and value. It can go in an appendix, while the CV shows the five to eight most relevant. If you are aiming for management, make staff responsibility and budgets clear.

Common mistakes in an engineering CV

Most mistakes in an engineering CV come down to the most important information being too far down or too vague. Check for these before you send it:

• Field and degree are not clear, or the degree has the wrong name.
• Using the siv.ing. title when it is not on your diploma.
• Projects without size, role or result.
• Only tasks and no responsibility. Say whether you were the responsible designer, discipline lead or a team member.
• Unclear how many years of experience you have since graduating.
• A long list of software you have hardly used.
• Tables and two columns that the applicant tracking system cannot read.

Create an engineering CV for every job with Selja

A design manager role and an operations role ask for different things, even if both require an engineer. Rewriting your CV for every ad takes time, and it is easy to miss the technical words the system is looking for. With Selja you paste in the job ad and upload the CV you already have. In under a minute you get a professional, ATS-friendly CV and cover letter tailored to the job, with the technical terms, software and standards from the ad where they match what you have done.

Selja never adds experience, roles or software you do not have. If the ad asks for Tekla, for example, and your CV does not show it, Selja asks you first and only uses what you confirm. If you want to know where you stand before applying, check your CV for free for an honest review the way a recruiter reads it, or take a free ATS check against the ad. Get started when you are ready.

The application, the interview and pay

In your cover letter, show that you understand what kind of projects the employer has, and what you can take responsibility for from the start. Choose one or two similar projects and briefly explain what you did. Keep the letter to one page. See our example of a job application for a template.

The interview often includes technical questions about your projects, how you quality assure your work and how you handle changes and disagreement with other disciplines. Practise with the interview questions, and check the pay in the pay check before you negotiate. Our guide to negotiating pay shows how to go about it.