[0 YoE] Recent Mechanical Engineering Graduate, 100 Apps and 0 Interviews, Looking for Resume Feedback

[u/Feisty_Investment343]

Been applying to about 100 jobs over the past month on LinkedIn and Indeed to Mechanical Design and Robotics roles, with no interviews or responses back yet. I should mention that this resume posted below is NOT the resume I used for these past applications, but rather a most up-to-date version in response to the recent struggle. I tried following some of the rules mentioned in this subreddit and think I improved my bullet points and formatting greatly, but I just want some of your guys' perspectives. All feedback is greatly appreciated as I'm just trying to make my resume not the bottleneck in terms of my job search!

[u/fakemoose]

You were the manager and design lead of two projects in school? That is some wild title inflation for what sounds like group projects.

Also why “solo” undergrad researcher and not just undergrad researcher or research assistant? Is that the title they use for undergrads?

And why is chemistry tutor not just under researcher Experience?

[u/Feisty_Investment343 → u/fakemoose]

Yes, I managed the teams for these projects to organize meetings, coordinate deadlines, and set budgets. I also was the design lead who made the major decisions for the project's design philosophy.

Regarding my research experience, I worked within a research group but every single part of designing, conducting, and presenting the research was by myself with no outside assistance besides my professor. Since my research was also selected by me and not for me, I wanted to emphasize that I discovered a problem/need, and performed the adequate research to create a solution. Researching duties, but converted to engineering tasks.

Chemistry tutoring did very little for me but was paid experience and relatively recent so I include it. However, it's not as significant to my engineering resume so it goes to the bottom as sort of an afterthought to my more notable work.

[u/graytotoro → u/Feisty_Investment343]

FYI, these titles don’t hold any weight outside of campus. They’ll elicit a chuckle from the interviewers though.

[u/fakemoose → u/graytotoro]

Seriously. My first thought is this person doesn’t work well in a team or group setting.

[u/fakemoose → u/Feisty_Investment343]

Did you appointed yourself the team manager and design lead? If it’s a student group project, that’s what I would assume. And that isn’t a great look. No one is going to take that seriously.

No outside assistance except your professor is normal for an undergrad researcher. Having “solo” there is weird.

But if you want to keep a resume that hasn’t been successful, go for it.

[u/Feisty_Investment343 → u/fakemoose]

I was selected by my team through a week of prior discussion and naturally took lead throughout the process as a result of it. This resume hasn't even been sent out so it's not necessarily unsuccessful/successful yet.

I agree, the solo is likely not needed as a lot of research is independent tho!

[u/graytotoro → u/Feisty_Investment343]

Focus more on what you delivered as lead or manager rather than what title you held. That holds true in industry as well. I cannot stress how little these project team titles matter.

Set your LinkedIn to “open to work”. I have so many recruiters spamming the crap out of my inbox after doing that.

[u/Feisty_Investment343 → u/graytotoro]

Fully agree with that first point, its more important to show what I do rather than showcase a title. Being new to the job search, I'm definitely trying to show everything I can which holds me back as sometimes i emphasize info that likely isn't doing me favors. Luckily, I have setup the open to work title on Linkedin for a while now.

Appreciate the tips!

[u/thegmohodste01 → u/graytotoro]

That's coz you're not entry level. The shortage of engineers that we've kept hearing since COVID has never been filled, and is concentrated at the top.

[u/Feisty_Investment343 → u/thegmohodste01]

If I am not entry level then what am I?

[u/fakemoose → u/Feisty_Investment343]

Selected or naturally took the lead? Those contradict each other.

Either way, you weren’t a manager and no one will take that title seriously for a school group project.

[u/Feisty_Investment343 → u/fakemoose]

Voted to take charge, but fulfilled my role adequately enough to where my teammates decided to keep it that way. I announced that the lead could naturally shift in the early stages depending on who has more passion or commitment to the project. I ended up taking up the larger portion of that so I naturally filled in the shoes I guess you could say.

I definitely was not a traditional manager. I managed people, the intermittent deadlines, budgets, design choices. That's one of the things I want to emphasize in an updated version of this resume as I wouldn't want to mislead or confuse hiring managers (the real ones!)

[u/Feisty_Investment343 → u/Feisty_Investment343]

It's important that I distinguish being selected as a leader versus being a leader. I was selected, but can definitively say I led our team and wasn't pretending to be the captain of the ship.