Industrial engineers used to be limited to the manufacturing industry. Their role was to enhance production processes by implementing security protocols and reducing waste. However, their spectrum changed with the rising of the total quality management (TQM) trend. It is now used to improve several industry components such as business operations, industrial systems, and processes.
Industrial engineers also play a huge role in reducing the environmental impact of industrial companies. They must ensure that production cycles are clean and produce less pollution. In addition, they also ensure the employees’ safety by implementing security protocols and following manufacturing regulations. For companies, this is a crucial factor because it prevents them from getting into major lawsuits, so you may want to include your familiarity with industry regulations in your resume.
Yet, their main purpose relies on quality assurance and productivity enhancement by reducing costs and implementing efficient production systems.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the demand for industrial engineers is expected to rise by up to 10 percent, which is faster than most occupations’ outlook. Despite this high demand, you still need to have a good resume.
Below, we’ll share some handy tips that will help you enhance your performance and provide you with three resume templates based on different careers.
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Industrial engineers work full-time, but hours vary depending on the project. They conduct research and elaborate an efficiency that’ll drive productiveness, security, and cost reductions. Since your role has such a big influence on the company’s results, you can also mention these achievements in your resume. Industrial engineers inspect the field to collect useful information and then go back to the office with the data they collected, so they have a hybrid work environment.
As an industrial engineer, you must be up-to-date with industry regulations to ensure safety protocols in the workplace. Most companies require you to have this knowledge it’s the best way to protect their backs in terms of legal issues.
Industrial engineers often coordinate with other team members to ensure productivity and security protocols. They deliver a system to reduce costs and enhance product quality, and then, they must coordinate with all team members so they can follow the system’s standards.
Entry-level industrial engineers assist the engineering team with basic tasks such as identifying issues in production processes or delivering reports. This is a junior position, so you’ll probably work under the supervision of veteran colleagues as you gain more experience. However, you can also be proactive and offer ideas and solutions for system improvements. If you are worried about a lack of experience in your resume, try including transferrable skills.
As we mentioned earlier, you can also be proactive, so your job can have an impact on the project’s bottom line. You could have assisted the engineering team to reduce costs or improved safety levels in the workplace. All of this can be quantified to add a more descriptive value to your resume.
Volunteering experience can be as valuable as traditional work history, so including this information can be really helpful. You may have been part of an internship or performed quality assurance in a volunteering experience. You can also include projects in which you used transferrable skills.
Technical sales don’t have the same approach as traditional sales. You can’t use the same persuasion techniques, because your potential client already knows the technical specifications they want. You must be extremely knowledgeable about your product’s field at an engineering level.
This is exactly what an industrial sales engineer does. They sell industrial-related products used for manufacturing. That’s why you must demonstrate your expertise in the industrial engineering field in your resume.
Industrial sales engineers are constantly using their negotiation skills for selling machinery products. You should also be an excellent communicator and have logical thinking. These are great traits to include in your resume.
As a hiring manager who has reviewed hundreds of industrial engineer resumes at top companies like Boeing, General Electric, and Tesla, I've seen firsthand what makes a resume stand out. To help you create a strong resume that catches the attention of employers, I've put together the following tips. These are based on real examples from successful candidates who landed jobs at these companies.
Industrial engineers rely heavily on specialized software and technical skills. Make sure to showcase your expertise in these areas:
Avoid simply listing the names of software or skills. Instead, provide context on how you've used them to achieve specific results.
When it comes to writing your industrial engineer resume, a summary is optional. Your resume already serves as a summary of your skills and experience, so you don't necessarily need to add another summary at the top. However, a well-crafted summary can be useful in certain situations, such as when you're making a career change or have extensive experience that may not be immediately apparent from your work history.
It's important to note that you should never use an objective statement in your resume. Objectives are outdated and focus on what you want, rather than what you can offer to the employer. Instead, if you choose to include a summary, make sure it provides additional context or details that aren't already covered in other sections of your resume.
The work experience section is the most crucial part of your resume as an industrial engineer. It's where you highlight your professional accomplishments and demonstrate your value to potential employers. In this section, we'll provide you with tips and examples to help you craft a compelling work experience section that showcases your skills and achievements.
The best way to impress your potential employer is by mentioning your accomplishments and responsibilities in your resume. You can add bullet points which each one and include strong action verbs at the beginning of the phrase. These words will help you describe concisely your achievements.
The best action verbs for your resume would be those focused on engineering, problem-solving, and research. You’ll be amazed at how these chosen words can help you improve readability and demonstrate your expertise. Based on our research, these are potentially the best action verbs to use on your industrial engineer resume.
For more related action verbs, visit Engineering Action Verbs.
For a full list of effective resume action verbs, visit Resume Action Verbs.
Industrial engineers must be proficient at quality assurance, project management, and research. But there’s so much more in this occupation. You must be an excellent leader to guide employees through new systems and protocols. In addition to that, you should also have problem-solving skills.
Considering this is such a technical career, you can leverage the skills section in your resume to highlight your value. Try to check your potential employer’s requirements to identify opportunity skills you can add to your resume. We’ve also gathered a few industry-relevant skills that you can include.
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 Industrial 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.
