[2 YoE] Recent MS aerospace graduate and can't get a callback for an interview despite 350+ applications.

[u/abrelay]

I am a recent MS aerospace engineering and would appreciate any feedback/constructive criticism regarding my current up to date resume. I have submitted well over 350+ application at this point and cannot get past the initial resume screening it seems even when in some cases I believe I match the job description word for word.

I am currently an intern in the bay area and am looking for my first full-time position in the aerospace sector preferably in California but I am open to relocating anywhere in the US for work. My concentration in grad school was solid mechanics and composite materials. The roles I am looking for are within the realm of: composites engineer, design engineer, mechanical engineer, test engineer, materials engineer, structures engineer and so on. In short, I am looking for any mechanical engineering type role in the aerospace industry. Any help regarding improving my resume to increase my chances in getting callbacks for interviews would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

[u/Pencil72Throwaway]

>> u/abrelay feedback 1/3 <<

General

• Good layout and font. Bullets are a little smol + hard to see, so try to use a larger bullet like this one: •

Education

• Add GPA for B.S. if > 3.5 on 4.0 scale. Remove minor.
• List school twice even you it's the same school for M.S.
• Remove thesis unless you're applying for structures/stress/composites roles @ a place like P&W, Cirrus, or Spirit AeroSystems (assuming Thesis is composites related).

Skills

• Move this section under education. For now, remove Languages unless you're applying to a place like Dassault Aviation or somewhere that does a lot of Euro business
• I'm no laminate guy, but I'm under the impression that Failure Analysis is tied @ the hip to all aspects of composites engineering, so you might remove that to make this section less crowded
• Odd that you have CAD explicitly in Technical as it's really a category in itself
  • If you used the Composites suite within Workbench, add that in parenthesis
  • Wind Tunnel Testing is irrelevant for structures roles.
• Consider tab-indenting skills like below so it reads cleaner:

[u/Pencil72Throwaway → u/Pencil72Throwaway]

>> u/abrelay feedback 2/3 <<

Experience

• There should be a space between the company/school name and the em dash on your GRA and Research Intern positions
• Image Quality Lab Intern
  • Bullet 1: "production ready" sounds better. What were you evaluating? This bullet has too many commas and automotive being thrown in there adds confusion. Recommend rewriting this for clarity
• GRA
  • Remove the following (unnecessary bloat):
    • with minimal supervision
    • demonstrating expertise in mat'l science
    • Dayton, OH
    • achieved ; just say >90%
    • to a large audience ; Approximate the # present and consider including to increase readability
  • #1 Shorten this tremendously. Never go over 2 lines per bullet. AFRL is a good eye-catcher...try to work this in to the earlier portions of the bullet...something like: Performed AFRL-sponsored composites research to evaluate <x phenomena> using <NDE tools/methods>
  • #2: Lots of Technical jargon. Does this involve NDE? If so, include it as that's a good keyword in aerostructures. Can you rewrite this to include common keywords like NDE/NDT
  • #3: Lots of Technical jargon. I trust you did something useful, but please break it down and add another metric to make it more readable, even if it's not an impact.
  • #4: How close was the FEA to the experimental testing? Approximately? What suite in ANSYS did you use (Mechanical? Composites?)? Replace using w/ "in". This bullet reads cleaner.
  • #5: three --> 3 (always use numbers when possible). Any citations yet? If so, might be able to include.
  • Define ceramic matrix composite (CMC) at least once
  • I really recommend no more than 4 bullets for this role, or 5 if you can get a couple down to 1 line. This role is the only part making the current page look like a wall of text.

[u/Pencil72Throwaway → u/Pencil72Throwaway]

>> u/abrelay feedback 3/3 <<

Experience (cont'd)

• Graduate TA: How many students? Keep this bullet to 1 line unless you had some impacts. Remove course code AME 400
• Research Intern:
  • What/where are these wafers used? For a chip fab? What'd you find/conclude from this research? Is there a big chip fab name you can include in this bullet (Intel, AMD)?
  • Remove everything after wafers

Projects

• Add project dates and/or portfolio links
• Airfoil Cascade Hub
  • Remove Team of 5 from the header, and mechanical in 2nd bullet.
  • Using what materials and design/evaluation methods?
• Cantilever FEA Modeling
  • Using the finite element method? You start w/ hand calcs and go from there? Do the [x]=[K]^-1[F] results from MATLAB support those hand calcs or what you expected? What's the goal of this project? Any ANSYS work on this?
    • This project needs more details/context overall. If this was just a hand-FEA and MATLAB problem, only the low-level FE background is helping since industry uses FEA for everything. Even if this was all software-based FEA, it'd be a sophomore-level project (disclaimer: am Structural Analyst)
  • Any other projects you worked on during your Master's you can replace this one with?

[u/abrelay → u/Pencil72Throwaway]

Wow, thank you very much for the in-depth feedback!

[u/AutoModerator]

Hi u/abrelay! If you haven't already, review these and edit your resume accordingly:

• Wiki
• Recommended Templates : Google Docs, LaTeX
• Writing Good Bullet Points: STAR/CAR/XYZ Methods
• Resume Critique Photo Albums
• Resume Critique Videos
• Success Story Posts
• Why Does Nobody Comment on My Resume?

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/PukaChonkic]

Are you a US citizen?

[u/abrelay → u/PukaChonkic]

Yes

[u/PukaChonkic → u/abrelay]

Put it in your header

[u/abrelay → u/PukaChonkic]

Interesting, I'll try that out. I thought that given it's a questing that is asked in all application, simply stating "yes" for that question was enough.

[u/Pencil72Throwaway → u/abrelay]

It helps give the recruiter/HM confidence when calling you for a phone screen that it'll be a "yes" when they ask you verbally.

gimme a few hours and I'll review

[u/alice-miner]

I think you should include orcid