Cleanup

Audit the finished PDF, not the source file, because the PDF is what the screener and the applicant tracking system get. Work top to bottom: the file, the header, each section, then the whole page. Fix what you find, rebuild, and run the audit again. It takes less time than one application.

The audit, top to bottom

A schematic one-page resume with six regions outlined, and one check beside each. File: extract the text and read it in order, one page, title and author set. Header: every link clicked, plain text, no icons, location and relocation. Education: GPA at 3.50 or higher, a judgment call from 3.0 to 3.49, off below 3.0, one line of coursework. Skills: every tool appears in a bullet, no soft skills, C and C++ as two items. Projects: each bullet has a past-tense verb, a tool, and a number you can explain. Experience: unrelated jobs on one line once you have engineering work, engineering roles get bullets. The page is drawn the way Alex's finished page is formatted: a centered header with a name, one contact line, and relocation, then Education, Skills, Projects, and Experience in that order, left-aligned, with a date at the right margin of each entry and an equal gap between sections.

2

3Education

4Skills

5Projects

6Experience

1

1. File. Extract the text and read it in order. One page. Title and author set.
2. Header. Every link clicked. Plain text, no icons. Location and relocation.
3. Education. GPA at 3.50 or higher, a judgment call to 3.0, off below that. One line of coursework.
4. Skills. Every tool appears in a bullet. No soft skills. C, C++ as two items.
5. Projects. Each bullet: a past-tense verb, a tool, a number you can explain.
6. Experience. Unrelated jobs on one line once you have engineering work. Engineering roles get bullets.

One check per region, in reading order. Sources: the r/EngineeringResumes wiki (opens in a new tab), MIT's career office on ATS-friendly resumes (opens in a new tab), and Illinois Engineering Career Services (opens in a new tab).

The file

Save the PDF as plain text and read it. Michigan Engineering (opens in a new tab) says LaTeX is incompatible with most ATS, and MIT's career office (opens in a new tab) warns it can confound one. The text layer is where it goes wrong. Every heading, entry, and bullet has to come out whole and in reading order. Watch for "fi" and "fl" that come out as blank or as odd symbols, which the pdfTeX manual (opens in a new tab) says happens without a Unicode map. If you use resume-generator (opens in a new tab), each build runs this check for you when pdftotext is installed.

pdftotext Alex-Doe-Resume.pdf - | less

Open the PDF's properties. The title reads "Alex Doe Resume" and the author is Alex Doe, set with hyperref (opens in a new tab). A title left over from a template is a tell. A simple rule: name the file after yourself, such as Alex-Doe-Resume.pdf, so it is findable in a recruiter's downloads folder.

Count the pages, and expect one. The wiki allows a second page at about 10 years of experience (opens in a new tab), and you are not there yet.

The header

Click every link. One hiring manager sees dead GitHub and LinkedIn links all the time (opens in a new tab). Links are plain text, such as linkedin.com/in/alex-doe-example, with no icons and no labels such as "Phone:". Your location is there. If you are willing to move, "Willing to relocate" is next to it. The wiki warns that a city far from the job can count against you (opens in a new tab). List one email, and make it one you check every day.

Education

These GPA cutoffs are one engineer's rule of thumb, not a measured cutoff. List a GPA of 3.50 or higher. From 3.0 to 3.49, list it only when the posting sets a minimum you meet, the rule from the getting hired page. Below 3.0, leave it off. If it is there, match the decimals (opens in a new tab), as in 3.30/4.00. The graduation date sits at the right margin with "Expected" in front of it if you have not graduated. Coursework is one line of upper-level courses that match the posting, and high school is gone after your first year.

Projects and experience

Read each bullet against three questions. Does it start with a past-tense verb that is not helped, assisted, worked on, or utilized? Does it name the tool? Does it end in a number you measured and can explain? If you cannot explain a number, it comes off the resume, because the interviewer will ask. Hiring managers go 3 to 5 layers deep (opens in a new tab) on whatever you list.

Check the shape of each bullet too. It fills one line or most of a second. One sophomore cut most bullets from 2 lines to 1 (opens in a new tab) before an NVIDIA offer. Two words alone on a second line are wasted space.

Check for inflation. One manager said an intern who claims $2 million in yearly savings will be asked to justify it (opens in a new tab). A smaller number you can defend beats a larger one you cannot.

Once you have engineering work, unrelated jobs get one line, with no bullets. Before that, they can keep bullets. Engineering roles get bullets, and each one still passes the three questions.

Skills

Trace every tool in Skills to a bullet. Every skill needs a bullet behind it (opens in a new tab), and a recruiter on X quotes hiring managers (opens in a new tab): "If it's not in the work experience, it didn't happen." Cut what has no bullet. Cut soft skills. Use the exact product names (opens in a new tab), C and C++ as two items and Ansys HFSS with the company's name, and spell them the way the vendor does.

The whole page

Hold the page at arm's length. It has one column, with no photo, no icons, and no tables. Every date sits at the right margin, in one style per section, semesters or months. The gap between every pair of sections is the same, because the wiki asks for consistent white space (opens in a new tab). Bold appears only on section titles, entry titles, and the coursework, activities, and skills labels.

Then hand it to someone else. MIT's career office says your best proofreader is a career advisor (opens in a new tab). After that, post it to the r/EngineeringResumes forum (opens in a new tab) with your name, phone number, address, and email removed, and give more weight to the reviewers who work in the industry.

The checklist

Tick every box for each version you send.

Resume audit

File

• pdftotext output has every heading, entry, and bullet, whole and in order
• No broken fi or fl ligatures in the text
• PDF title is "[Name] Resume", author is [Name]
• File is named [Name]-Resume.pdf
• One page

Header

• Every link clicked today
• Links are plain text, no icons, no "Phone:" or "Email:" labels
• Location present, and "Willing to relocate" if true
• One email, checked daily

Education

• GPA listed at 3.50 or higher, judged at 3.0 to 3.49, off below 3.0, decimals matching
• Graduation date at the right margin, "Expected" if not yet graduated
• One line of coursework that matches the posting
• No high school after the first year

Projects and experience

• Every bullet: past-tense verb, a tool, a number I can explain
• No helped, assisted, worked on, or utilized
• Every bullet fills one line or most of two
• Unrelated jobs on one line, once there is engineering work

Skills

• Every tool appears in a bullet
• No soft skills
• Exact product names, C and C++ as two items

Whole page

• One column, no photo, no icons, no tables
• Dates right-aligned, one date style per section
• Same gap between every pair of sections
• Bold only on titles and labels
• Read by one other person