How to Prepare a Process Engineer Resume

Do you want to land your first job as a Process Engineer? Are you moving from a previous position or looking for a better opportunity?

You need to put together a stellar application to boost your chances of success, and that application starts with a great resume.

As you must know, the process engineering role comes with a lot of responsibilities, part of which is attention to detail.

So, your resume must meet the right criteria to avoid being dumped into the reject pile. Recruiters spend about 7 seconds glancing through a resume in search of what they’re looking for in a candidate. So, you must provide the right details with precision.

What Are the Responsibilities of a Process Engineer?

The responsibilities of the process engineer are sensitive in nature. That’s why hiring managers take this recruitment process seriously. If they don’t see what they’re looking for in your resume, they’ll believe you don’t have what it takes.

So, your first responsibility as the company’s potential process engineer is creating a killer resume that shows the hiring manager you’re perfect for the role.

Process engineers are responsible for designing, implementing, maintaining, and optimizing industrial and manufacturing processes. They can work in the biotechnical, chemical, and manufacturing sectors. That said, they can also work for IT and sales companies to design and implement software or sales processes.

In a nutshell, here are things a company may require from a process engineer:

• Collaborate with stakeholders such as production managers to design, develop, and implement process strategies
• Assessing and optimizing/overhauling a company's existing processes
• Performing risk assessments
• Managing process resources
• Designing and monitoring upgrade processes
• Ensuring quality standards and safety compliance
• Troubleshooting issues and performing process simulations
• Developing best practices and routines to maintain quality

How Much Does a Process Engineer Earn?

According to Salary.com, the median annual wage for process engineers is $73,415, with the number going as high as $84,312.

Creating a Process Engineer Resume: Practical Steps

While you're the expert and know what you should add to the resume, how you arrange the information determines your application's success.

There are step-by-step considerations that you must take when creating your process engineer resume.

These considerations allow you to implement the right arrangement, include the correct information, and optimize the entire resume in a way that recruiters will pick out what they need.

For example, there's an ideal resume format for a process engineer looking to land their first job and one for a professional who's switching workplaces.

We'll be showing you different tips, from using the right format to knowing what to add and what to exclude.

Process Engineer Resume Example

Choosing a Resume Format

As we mentioned, hiring managers only spend a few seconds scanning resumes at the first pass. This process allows them to easily find the right applications to consider.

That's why choosing the right resume format for the application is crucial.

There are different types of resume formats that work in different situations for various purposes. The right format to choose depends on your level of experience and the recruiter's job description.

So let's walk you through the different resume layouts.

Chronological Resume

The chronological resume is heavily focused on your work experience. It lists your professional history chronologically. That means you start from your most recent position to the previous ones.

This is the most common type of resume format and it's also called the reverse chronological format.

When to Use the Chronological Resume?

This type of resume is ideally used by people with rich work histories, as it lays more emphasis on how you have progressed throughout your career.

Using the chronological resume gives you an edge because it shows the recruiter your career progress. And if the job description emphasized years of experience, it's the right format to use.

Putting your most relevant previous position at the top catches the attention of the recruiter and wins their interest.

Since most process engineering jobs require a level of experience it'd be great to use the chronological resume format to display the most recent position that is relevant to the job you are applying for.

Functional Resume

The functional resume focuses on your relevant skills rather than your work experience.

You can tell that a resume is using the functional format by looking at the extended relevant skills section. It expands on your skills, telling the recruiter that you have the ability to handle the position efficiently.

The skills section of this resume format also groups your experience under the skill categories. Each category features bullet points used to outline everything you've used your skills to accomplish.

When to Use the Functional Resume?

The functional resume format is ideal for people who have gaps in their employment history or don't have a rich work experience. It's also the right resume format to use if the recruiter clearly states they're looking for interns or are trying to fill a junior position.

So, if you're a fresh graduate and are looking for your first job as a process engineer, you should employ this format. You should also use it if you've been frequently in and out of jobs.

Additionally, the functional resume serves professionals who are moving between industries. For example, if you've been a process engineer in a sales company but just completed training in software development, you can use the functional resume. This way, you can elaborate on your skills as a software process engineer rather than talk about your experience in an unrelated field.

Combination Resume

The combination resume, as its name suggests, combines the best features of functional and chronological resumes. It's also called a hybrid resume.

It lets you outline your skills the way you do in the functional resume and also allows you to add details of your work history. You can arrange both details in chronological order.

This type of resume allows you to show the recruiter that you have the adequate skills and experience to excel in the role.

When to Use the Combination Resume?

The combination resume does not work in every situation. It's a pretty rare format that should be used in specific situations only as you could easily confuse recruiters and miss the mark if you don't use it right.

You should only consider using the format in the following situations:

• You're changing your career or moving to a different field
• You're a top professional with a rich work history and a noteworthy range of process engineering skills
• You have significant gaps in your professional history

Resume Header

The resume header is the first thing a hiring manager sees when they open your resume. It includes your name, contact information, and professional summary/career objective.

Using any bit of wrong information creates a bad impression immediately and the recruiter will likely throw out your application.

Thankfully, creating your resume header is pretty easy. You just have to make sure you check it over to avoid errors making it into your final draft.

The header contains:

• Your full name
• Professional title
• Professional summary/career objective
• Contact address
• Phone number
• Email address
• Social media profile

Follow these tips when creating your header:

• Make sure your first name comes before your last name.
• Use the same name you use across your social media profiles, portfolios, and website.
• Use the same job title in the job ad.
• Don't list your exact home address or add your postal code. Your city or state name is fine. You can also use your country.
• Make sure your email address looks professional and you're not using a nickname. It should ideally contain your first and last names.
• Use your social media profile such as your LinkedIn profile. You can also use your Twitter profile if it's professional.
• Add your website.

Process Engineer Professional Summary

The professional summary section is among the critical sections of the entire resume. It sits in the resume header right after your name and contact information.

It serves as an introduction to allow the recruiter to know who you are. As the name suggests, it summarizes your entire resume, professional career, skills, and qualifications in a few sentences.

You can call the resume summary a sales pitch and see yourself as the product. Your job is to highlight the best parts of the resume that you believe the hiring manager is interested in.

You'll be working with 3 to 5 sentences, so you have to do your best to capture your most noteworthy attributes and accomplishments.

Note that you can't use a resume or professional summary if you're a recent graduate or don't have any professional experience. Instead, you'll be using a career objective where you'll list out your skills and professional expectations.

You don't have to write the professional summary or career objective right away. It's one of the most challenging segments in the resume and requires inspiration from other sections. Since you'll be summarizing your professional career, you can wait until you've outlined your skills and experiences in the rest of the resume.

Process engineer resume example: Professional Summary:

Work Experience

Yes, you've worked in different companies as a process engineer, and you've handled the role pretty well.

But the recruiter doesn't know that.

Also, you'll like to list all your previous achievements and instances where you showcase your talent. But using more than one page for your resume isn't a great idea.

It's all about using the right arrangement and specific keywords.

If the job description puts a minimum number of years of experience, then this part of the resume is the most critical part of your application.

What makes your experience section effective is the format you use. For starters, you should ideally use the reverse-chronological format. That means you'll be starting with your most recent position.

Also, you should arrange the section in this order to make it easy to follow:

• Position or Job title
• Name of organization and Location
• Employment duration/start and stop dates
• Achievements and responsibilities

To get the attention of the recruiter, follow these tips when writing the experience section:

• Use the same job title or position used in the job ad.
• Briefly describe the company in 1-2 short sentences if it isn't popular.
• List responsibilities that are relevant to the recruiter's company.
• Outline roles you effectively carried out that can be applied in the new position.
• Include 5 to 6 bullet points to describe your responsibilities and achievements. The bullet points can be fewer as you go down your work history.
• Outline more accomplishments than role descriptions.
• Use metrics and statistics to sound more convincing.

Example:

Educational Qualifications

Adding your educational qualifications may seem like a waste of your time since you've added your work experience. After all, your previous employers must have confirmed your educational qualifications before hiring you.

But that's not the case, especially for a position as sensitive as engineering.

You don't want to leave the recruiter wondering why you omitted this section entirely. Also, companies now use Application Tracking Systems, so you may be easily screened out as a computer might not be designed to be considerate.

If you have a great deal of experience and nothing notable to add to your educational qualification, then put in your degree and go to the next section.

Your education section should contain your degree, year of graduation, school, and location.

That said, you can add noteworthy qualifications or achievements such as a high GPA, graduating with honors, and relevant coursework.

Don't list your high school degree if you've completed your college degree.

Skills

This is the section where you showcase skills that are relevant to the process engineer position.

As we've mentioned, process engineers are responsible for creating and implementing processes for development or manufacturing purposes.

You have to include technical and soft skills that you have acquired over the years.

You should add skills you have that also appear on the job ad. They are the best keywords to add to your resume.

Here's a list of hard skills you can add to your process engineer resume depending on the job description:

• Physics
• Biology
• Testing materials
• Chemistry
• Process design
• Technical drawing
• Processing and production
• Processing engineering software: Petro-SIM, ProSim, Aspen Plus
• Industrial control software: CNC (Computer Numerical Control) and PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) software
• Scientific and analytical software: MATLAB, SPSS, Tableau
• Spatial reasoning
• Project management tools
• Spreadsheet

Soft skills you can add include:

• Leadership skills
• Time management
• Resource management
• Equipment knowledge
• Communication
• Analytical thinking
• Great attention to detail

Extra Sections

If you're a top professional going for a senior role, you can show the recruiter that you're at the top of your career by adding extra sections.

These sections can include membership in professional organizations, personal projects, and professional courses. You can also include awards and other recognitions.

Tips for Writing a Process Engineer Resume

From using the relevant keywords to knowing the right format to use, there are different things that you must keep in mind to write a stellar resume.

Let's show you tips that will help.

Be Specific about Your Industry Experience

Process engineers work in different industries. For example, pharmaceutical companies have process engineers who design and implement processes for transforming chemical substances into consumable drugs.

So, you can indicate the exact industry where you worked if it's relevant to the company you're applying to or the same.

You can also mention specific raw materials and equipment you've worked with to improve your chances.

Focus on Using the Recruiter's Specifications in the Job Description

Most companies now use Applicant Tracking Systems to simplify the recruitment process. These systems are designed to look for keywords and qualifications. These keywords are what you see in the job description.

So, when adding things like your skills, job title, and previous responsibilities, always refer to the job description.

Don't Forget to Focus on Your Accomplishments

Your accomplishments tell the recruiter that you have been in a similar position and resolved issues you'll face in the role if employed. It's a great way to tell the hiring manager that you're right for the job.

So, in places like your professional summary and work experience, make sure you mention things you have achieved and accomplished.

Use Practical Information

Use action words and numbers to convey proof of your abilities. You can use verifiable metrics like how you improved a process by how many percent. This way, the recruiter will believe that you've really been part of a situation.

Presentation Matters

Things like spacing, length, font type, and file type can make a difference.

Your resume should be one page long unless you have lots of professional achievements to share and have been an engineer for more than 10 years.

Make sure your sections and lines are decently spaced to make it easy for the recruiter to scan through the document.

Use fonts like Garamond, Cambria, or Times New Roman set to 12 or 11pt.

Lastly, save the resume as a PDF file since almost every operating system supports it.

Conclusion

That’s how to write a killer resume! Remember the tips in this guide whether you’re using a process engineer resume template or writing from scratch. Use the keywords in the job description and focus on your accomplishments if you’re adding your work history.

You should also add a cover letter to your application to increase your chances of landing the job.