A Construction Resume Will Show Off Your Technical Knowledge And Qualifications As Well As Your Related Experience.
Resumes are a critical aspect of the hiring process, not just in construction but across industries. To ensure you get the best job possible, you will need to have a good resume. With our helpful information and tips, you can make your resume stand out from the rest and put your professional experience on display for employers to see.
Your resume is a document that should be tailored to the specific job you are interested in. While this seems like a simple concept, most resumes are used for more than one job opening. If you are applying to work as an investment banker, your resume should have content tailored for investment banking jobs. If you fail to tailor your resume for each job application, you will miss out on jobs that you would be perfect for and might disqualify yourself from other opportunities by showing off skills and qualifications that aren't relevant or important to the position.
Keep in mind that employers review hundreds - even thousands- of resumes per year. Most hiring managers are overwhelmed with applications and simply don't have time to work through each one individually. This is why creating a different resume for every job that you apply to is so important.
At a minimum, you should have a Professional Summary at the top of your resume. This section should be short and sweet and highlight your skills, qualifications, and experience in relation to the job opening. Remember to use action verbs in this section, as they will make your resume more powerful. For example:
Professional Summary: A results-oriented civil engineer with a strong background in transportation infrastructure projects who has acquired extensive knowledge and experience through education, training, creativity and dedication to excellence .
Another feature of great resumes include an Objective Statement that lets employers know what type of job you are interested in (e.g. entry level engineer, construction manager, etc.). You should make it clear why you are interested in the position.
Lastly, you need to include a Skills Section that lists your competencies and proficiencies. These skills should be relevant to the job for which you are applying. If an employer is looking for someone who knows Autocad Civil 3D and Microsoft Office, you will want to make sure it is noted on your resume that you have these skills. The key is to not list all of your skills or competencies as this will simply give employers a long list of things they don't need - remember, they have many resumes to go through!
The trick with any resume is to keep it short and impactful. Most resumes fall well below 2 pages, which is enough information to let an employer know your skills and qualifications, but not enough to show the employer why you are perfect for the job.
Remember to focus on highlighting your accomplishments rather than your responsibilities. The main thing that employers care about is what you have done (and are capable of doing) for them. Your responsibilities section should only be a quick summary at best. If you want more details about this point, then perhaps it isn't a good fit for this particular type of job.
Here's an example potential resume objective statement:
Professional Summary: A results-oriented Civil Engineer with experience in engineering projects involving transportation infrastructure .
Skills: Proficient in Autocad Civil 3D, Microsoft Office and Adobe Illustrator .
Objective: To serve as a civil engineer for transportation infrastructure projects .
The Objective Statement should be short and straightforward. Try to make it to the point - don't ramble on about yourself or anything else related to your resume. If you must add more information, then do so in a section that explains more about your skills and credentials instead of what you can do for the employer.
Your resume is an important part of your job search, which is why it should look its best! Go through each section and find areas where you can improve your resume to get noticed by prospective employers...
By Susan Joyce, author of Job Search Magic and 1001 Best Resumes.
One of the most important parts of your resume is your work history. You need to make sure this section highlights why you are the right person for the job. If you have job-hopped every few years, then don't just list your past jobs on your resume (as this will make it look like you are a risky hire). Instead, focus on accomplishments by highlighting what you did in each position that made you stand out from the crowd.
The best way to do this is to clearly state your accomplishments, but also look for negative experiences. If you were let go from a job, then list the company, position name and the reason why they let you go (i.e. downsizing). If you left a job due to poor management or poor compensation (which is often the case), then list this information as well - employers don't usually like leaving employees because they are bad managers or can't afford them.
Additionally, make sure each job section has an action statement - write sentences that show what your accomplishments and skills are related to each of your jobs listed. This will make your resume more powerful and allow you to stand out.
Example:
Job 1: Urban Planning - Civil Engineer, 2014 to 2015
Company Name - Large-Scale Urban Planning Company, Inc.
Position Held - Civil Engineer
Accomplishments - Built the framework for improving roadways within the city, which helped improve traffic flow and reduce accidents. Created design plans for new infrastructure facilities that helped control flooding in low-lying areas of the city. Proven track record of meeting deadlines and fulfilling project requirements with multiple projects on schedule in a reasonable time period . ... (Use 2 or 3 bullet points for each job)
A well-written skills section is extremely important to any resume. This section should highlight your skills in relation to the job for which you are applying. In addition, this section of your resume should be short, but get straight to the point. You don't need to list every little thing you've ever done - what's important is that you highlight the skills or qualifications that are relevant to the job for which you are applying.
For example, if an employer is looking for a successful project manager, then it's important to make sure the skills section on your resume states that fact - "Proven track record of managing projects with multiple projects completed on time.
Conclusion
The resume is one of the most important and powerful tools that a job-seeker has when searching for a new position. It can be the difference between getting called in for an interview and not. Unfortunately, many people don't take the time to prepare a great resume. As such, there are tons of tips that you can use to make your resume look better than the next person.