An environmental engineer is responsible for assessing and preventing environmental hazards. They also implement strategies to optimize the use of ecosystem resources and help companies get compliant with environmental regulations. If you’ll be working in the manufacturing or industrial sector, you might want to showcase your knowledge of environmental laws in your resume.
This is a highly technical career that usually requires advanced training, so you might want to consider highlighting your educational background. You can also include relevant certifications that help you stand out from competitors.
Some of your responsibilities as an environmental engineer include conducting site assessments, forecasting potential hazards, and interpreting data. Additionally, you must develop innovative solutions to reduce waste and maintain an organization compliant with laws and regulations.
Once you have a respective plan, you must obtain permits to carry out the solutions. You are also responsible for offering recommendations to the organization for waste reduction activities.
Environmental engineers can work in government agencies, consultancy firms, and the construction and manufacturing industries. They generally work in the office, but they also work in the field while carrying out audits.
Now that we know more about this position, it’s time to explore some resume tips and downloadable templates.
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An environmental engineer carries out investigations and auditing processes to evaluate the current environmental state and predict potential hazards. Their responsibility is to help organizations reduce waste and optimize their operations by developing innovative solutions. Additionally, an environmental engineer must ensure that the company is compliant with environmental laws. If you want to look more specialized, tailor your resume to the environmental industry.
Data interpretation is an essential skill you should have as an environmental engineer. One of your main responsibilities is to conduct research, testing, and audits. Additionally, you should be able to explain your discoveries with a digestible speech, so having data visualization skills is definitely a plus on your resume.
Senior environmental engineers supervise a wide variety of projects in the construction, industrial, or manufacturing industries. They are responsible for developing project standards, conducting research, providing recommendations, and supervising the team. Now, if you want to make your resume relevant, it’s important to include related keywords. This will help you get past ATS filters.
Metrics can help you validate your accomplishments by showcasing tangible results. Since this is a senior-level position, it’s important to demonstrate your value and expertise. That’s why you should mention your accomplishments and use metrics to complement them.
Senior environmental engineers are responsible for supervising their colleagues since they have more experience in the field. Some of them even participate in the recruitment process. That’s why it is worth mentioning your ability to supervise team members. Keep in mind that these senior engineers are often the head of the environmental team.
An entry-level environmental engineer contributes to resource management, waste disposal improvement, and environmental sustainability. Their role is to help companies and communities reduce their impact on the environment. Some of them will work in the field to improve soil and water conditions. However, since this is an entry-level position, you may not have extensive industry experience, but you can Include extracurricular projects on your resume to validate your skills.
Another great way to demonstrate your expertise when you don’t have vast experience is to include volunteering jobs. This way, not only you will demonstrate your competencies, but also your passion for environmental engineering.
Transferable skills are competencies you developed in previous job experiences that are relevant to an alternative work field. You can leverage these skills to boost your entry-level environmental engineering resume. Some good examples of transferable skills are computer literacy, critical thinking, and leadership skills.
We spoke with hiring managers who recruit environmental engineers for companies like AECOM, Jacobs Engineering Group, and Tetra Tech. They shared what they look for in resumes and provided tips to help your application stand out. Here are some key things to keep in mind when writing your environmental engineer resume.
Hiring managers want to see the specific technical skills and certifications you have that are relevant to the job. Some examples:
Avoid just listing generic skills or certifications without context, like this:
Instead, provide specific examples of how you've applied your skills and what impact it had on projects.
A resume summary, also known as a professional summary or summary statement, is a short paragraph at the top of your resume that highlights your most relevant qualifications for the job you're applying to. While it's optional, a well-written summary can grab the hiring manager's attention and convince them to keep reading.
For an Environmental Engineer position, your summary should focus on your technical expertise, relevant certifications, and key accomplishments in the field. Avoid using an objective statement, which focuses on your career goals rather than what you can offer the employer.
Your work experience section is the heart of your resume. It's where you highlight your most relevant and impressive professional achievements. As an environmental engineer, you want to showcase your technical expertise, problem-solving skills, and impact on projects and initiatives. Here are some key tips to make your work experience section stand out:
Environmental engineers have a highly technical career but often communicate with a non-technical team. That’s why having excellent communication skills is essential. If you want to showcase this in your resume, use the right vocabulary. Action verbs can help you express your competencies accurately with just one word.
That’s why action verbs can help you improve your resume’s readability. You should use highly related action verbs that describe your work experience. We have compiled a list of relevant words for your environmental engineer resume, you can find it below.
For a full list of effective resume action verbs, visit Resume Action Verbs.
Your environmental engineer resume should demonstrate your knowledge of natural science and your proficiency with waste reduction techniques. You should only include related skills that illustrate your expertise, such as waste management, site auditing, material disposal, etc.
Some environmental engineers work with computer modeling to predict potential hazards in the environment, so this is another in-demand skill to include. Keep in mind that the requirements for this career will change depending on the industry, so it’s a good idea to check some job posts before completing your resume. Below, we have included some skills ideas you can include based on our research.
You can include the above skills in a dedicated Skills section on your resume, or weave them in your experience. Here's how you might create your dedicated skills section:
This word cloud highlights the important keywords that appear on Environmental Engineer job descriptions and resumes. The bigger the word, the more frequently it appears on job postings, and the more 'important' it is.
Thank you for the checklist! I realized I was making so many mistakes on my resume that I've now fixed. I'm much more confident in my resume now.
