Quality Engineer Resume Example and Tips from HR Professionals

Generally, if you work in engineering, your chances for getting hired are quite high. QA/QC engineers or quality assurance/quality control engineers in particular are some of the most in-demand professions in the field. Plus, they can work in a variety of industries from high tech and automotive fields to textile and pharmaceuticals. Moreover, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the employment of quality assurance professionals is projected to grow 25% by 2031.

So, how do you go about getting a high-paying job as a quality engineer? The first place to start is getting your application ready. Here’s how to write a job winning quality engineer resume.

Sample quality engineer resume

Let’s start by taking a look at a sample quality engineer resume to give you an idea of that information you may want to include. Next, we will go over each of the sections of the resume below one by one with more tips on how to compose each one.

Quality engineer job description

The job of a quality engineer is to make sure that the finished products meet the required quality standards. They are also responsible for developing the necessary processes, testing procedures and implementing systems that will ensure that the completed products and technologies comply with the safety standards and customer expectations. Quality engineers can work in-house and test the quality of the products a particular company makes. Or, you can work freelance and help companies importing products from abroad ensure that their quality is up to par with the required standards.

So, how much does a quality engineer make?

According to glassdoor.com (Sep 15, 2022), the salaries for quality engineers in the United States range from $59k to $122k, with the median salary being $84k. The top 86% in the field make $103k.

So, how do you get into the top 86%? Let’s take a closer look at your application.

How to write a quality engineer resume: what sections to include

The first thing you will need to decide when writing a quality engineer resume is what information you want to include and how you want to structure it. There are three main resume formats that most HR managers are comfortable with. These include the following formats:

• the reverse-chronological format (here, you list work experience starting from the most recent position)
• the skill-based format (here, you focus your resume on the skills and qualifications you possess rather than work experience)
• and the hybrid format (here, you use elements of both formats mentioned above).

Here, we will be looking at the reverse-chronological resume format. But you can also learn more about Top Resume Formats: Tips and Examples of 3 Common Formats.

Let’s take a look at the key sections of your quality engineer resume.

Name and contact details

This is the most basic section of your resume — but it’s also absolutely necessary. Make sure you have your name clearly written at the top of the page so that the hiring manager can instantly see whose resume they are looking at.

This section is also a chance to add some extra information about you as a professional so that the hiring manager is more interested in your resume right from the start.

Consider including the following information in the first section of your resume:

• Your full name + educational or professional credentials. Adding relevant credentials will add extra points to your application before the employer has even gone over your resume.
• Contact details. These can be just your phone number and email. Or, you may also add your address — in most cases, just your city or area will be enough.
• Links to your professional social media. This is a relatively new addition to resumes — but it can be very useful, especially if it allows you to showcase your professional experience. This will give your employer an easy path to be impressed with your work and evaluate your experience through the projects you’ve worked on.
• Personal information. The scope of personal information to include in your resume differs depending on the country you reside in and the company you are applying for a job in. In some cases, the employer may want to see your photo — and resumes with photos do tend to be more eye-catching, at least initially. However, in most of the United States, adding information about your gender or appearance (attaching a photo) may go against the anti-discriminatory laws. Make sure to adjust your application to the country you are in and check if the information you add is actually required for the position you are applying for.

Resume summary

It’s generally a good idea to start off your resume with a resume summary. This is your professional introduction and an overview of your most valued skills. This is the first section of your resume that your employer will read through. And the best case scenario is that it will catch their attention and get them interested in reading the rest of your application.

Professional experience

Next up, talk about your work experience. What you include in this section depends entirely on how much work experience you have and — most importantly — how it applies to the position you are applying for now.

When listing your work experience, it’s general practice to start with the most recent positions first. However, you can also start with the position that is the most relevant to the new job that you want to get. For instance, if you are applying for a position that will require you to develop software solutions for a specific industry, you may want to start with the relevant experience first.

When describing your work experience, mention your position, the company you worked for, the amount of time you spent there and then get into a bit more detail about your responsibilities in the role. You can also mention your professional accomplishments, most challenging projects, awards and acclaims and more.

These days, a lot of companies use applicant tracking systems — or ATS — to sort through the many job applications they receive. In fact, according to JobScan, more than 98.8% of Fortune 500 companies use applicant tracking programs.

Applicant tracking systems are designed to screen resumes based on preset criteria. These criteria are usually set by hiring managers and include keywords from the job description. The more “hits” for the same keywords your quality engineer resume gets, the more chances it has for passing the screening and being seen by your potential employer. Unfortunately, according to the latest data, more than 70% of applications may not even make it to the HR manager’s desk these days as they fail the applicant tracking system test.

To make sure your resume is ATS-friendly, take another look at the job description and select the most relevant keywords related to qualifications, skills, etc. and try to use the same wording in your work experience section. This is relatively easy to do for exact fields such as quality engineering as the descriptions of tasks and responsibilities are generally worded in the same way.

Education

The Education section of your resume should include information about your highest degree as well as other qualifications and relevant courses. What you include here naturally depends on what education you have.

You should start by mentioning your highest degree. However, if the job you are applying for requires specific expertise, you will need to include additional qualifications, courses, digital editing platform certifications and more.

Additional information

This is an extra section you can include in your resume. It makes sense to include it if you have anything left “unsaid”. You can list any research you’ve published, foreign languages you speak, commendations or awards you have received and so on. It’s also a good place to talk about your relevant skill set. For a quality engineer, these may include advanced knowledge, quality standards, experience with CAD and CNC software, management and leadership ability, manufacturing experience and so on.

However, if you want to keep your resume clean and short, not including the Additional information section is totally acceptable as well.

A few extra tips for writing your quality engineer resume

Here are a few handy extras you may want to take into account when writing your quality engineer resume.

• Do your best to keep your resume to one page. According to Monster.com, it’s best to keep your resume concise. Unless, of course, you have a lot of relevant work experience or are applying for a job in academics or research.
• Take the time to structure and format your resume for maximum readability. Hiring managers are typically very busy people and they will appreciate a concise one-page document that is well-structured, with important details highlighted.
• An ideal resume should include easily readable content and ATS-friendly keywording. Try to make your resume an easy read for both robots and humans.
• Add a cover letter. A resume is focused on your work experience and process of tonal credentials. A cover letter, on the other hand, is a chance for your personality to come through. It’s a great opportunity to talk about your motivation and passion for the job and make your application stand out.

Learn how to write a cover letter for creative professions in Quality Engineer Cover Letter Example and Advice from HR Pros.