The electrical engineer resumes that advance past the first technical screen share three things: a credentials line with PE or EIT status near the top, project bullets that name voltage and load, and tool fluency in the codes the posting cites.
Early-career electrical engineers with one to three years post-graduation, usually EIT-certified and working under a PE. The resume needs to prove coursework translated into delivered calcs, drawings, and field support on real projects.
Engineers with five to ten years owning designs from schematic through commissioning, often pursuing or holding a PE. The resume needs to prove project scope in voltage, load, and budget, plus the codes and tools you ran.
Lead or staff engineers who set design standards, mentor EITs, and sign or stamp drawings. The resume needs to prove discipline ownership, multi-project budgets, code-committee or client-facing work, and measurable design wins.
Alana Westbrook, PE
Pittsburgh, PA | (412) 555-0119 | [email protected] | linkedin.com/in/alanawestbrook
Electrical engineer with 9 years across industrial controls, power distribution design, and field commissioning. PE in PA and OH. Comfortable owning a project from one-line through energization, and equally happy on the bench debugging a panel that does not behave the way the drawings say it should.
Senior Electrical Engineer
Riverbend Process Automation | Pittsburgh, PA | 2022-Present
Electrical Engineer
Allegheny Power Design | Pittsburgh, PA | 2019-2022
Electrical Engineer
Keystone Controls Group | Cleveland, OH | 2017-2019
Associate Electrical Engineer
Keystone Controls Group | Cleveland, OH | 2015-2017
Electrical Engineering Intern
Mon Valley Steel Works | Braddock, PA | Summers 2013 and 2014
Lead with the one signal an engineering director cannot pull from a state PE lookup. That might be a specific design portfolio, a code-committee seat, or fluency in a stack the posting names.
Concrete openers carry weight: 480V switchgear coordination studies in ETAP, arc-flash analysis to IEEE 1584, PLC programming on Allen-Bradley ControlLogix, or PCB layout in Altium for FCC Class B. Pair it with your PE state or EIT status. The reviewer reads one line and knows whether your scope matches the opening.
Reviewers scan for voltage class, load size, schedule, and budget before reading the verb.
Aim for two or three metrics per bullet: voltage level (480V, 13.8kV, 138kV), connected load (MW or kVA), project budget, and either a schedule beat or a calc result. A line like “designed 2.5MW solar PV interconnection at 34.5kV, commissioned six weeks ahead of schedule” advances further than “designed solar PV system.”
Engineering managers read by discipline, not by employer. Cluster bullets under four buckets: power systems studies, controls and instrumentation, hardware or PCB design, and field commissioning.
Under power systems, list short circuit, coordination, arc flash, and load flow studies with the software (ETAP, SKM, EasyPower). Under controls, name the PLC platform, HMI, and SCADA stack. Under PCB or analog, list schematic capture, layout tool, and any compliance testing (FCC, CE, UL).
Under field work, name commissioning, FAT and SAT, and relay testing.
Put a credentials block under your summary, above experience. List PE state and discipline (Electrical), EIT or FE status, and NCEES record if you hold one.
Add a codes and standards line: NEC (NFPA 70), NFPA 70E, IEEE 1584, IEC 61850, UL 508A, or whatever you actually applied. Engineering directors and project leads need this visible in the first scan because it gates billable work, stamping authority, and client-facing assignments on regulated projects.
Once you pass the five-year mark, cut university coursework, GPA, and the senior design project unless it directly mirrors the role. Trim early internships to a single line.
Reclaim that space for staff-level signals: design standards you authored, EITs you mentored, multi-discipline coordination with mechanical or civil teams, and client or AHJ interactions. If you sign or stamp drawings, say so and name the disciplines. Lead-engineer bullets should show budget ownership, scope across multiple sites, and the technical decisions that held up in construction.
The skills below come from our user-built electrical engineer resumes. Tool and code names clear the first cut, and cross-discipline coordination decides whether the resume advances.
Engineering directors and project leads weight hard skills first on the parse, then read soft skills as evidence behind your project bullets.
| Soft Skills | % of resumes with this skill |
|---|---|
| Problem-solving | 70% |
| Communication | 57% |
| Attention to detail | 42% |
| Analytical thinking | 37% |
| Teamwork | 28% |
And here are the top hard skills showing up most often.
| Hard Skills | % of resumes with this skill |
|---|---|
| Circuit design and analysis | 69% |
| AutoCAD and CAD drafting | 59% |
| Electrical code compliance | 45% |
| PLC programming | 37% |
| MATLAB simulation | 32% |
Based on data from thousands of electrical engineers’ resumes built on ResumeTemplates.com, May 2026.
Use the keyword table to find terms for your subdiscipline.
Engineering directors and project leads expect the niche terms below to appear in the exact form the posting uses. Group them by sub-discipline so the parser tags your resume against the right opening.
| Niche | Keywords ATS scans for |
|---|---|
| Power systems and utility | ETAP, SKM PowerTools, arc flash analysis, short circuit coordination, IEEE 1584 |
| Controls and automation | Allen-Bradley ControlLogix, Studio 5000, PLC programming, SCADA, IEC 61131-3 |
| PCB and hardware design | Altium Designer, schematic capture, PCB layout, signal integrity, FCC compliance |
| Building and MEP | AutoCAD Electrical, Revit MEP, NEC, lighting design, panel schedules |
| Renewables and power electronics | PVsyst, solar PV interconnection, inverter design, IEEE 1547, battery energy storage |
Engineering employers are split between teams piloting artificial intelligence for design assist and code-checking, and teams that restrict it on IP-sensitive or ITAR projects. Name the tools you use, describe the workflow honestly, and avoid claims you “design with AI” when your actual practice is generating boilerplate and verifying calcs by hand.
Assistants speed up cross-referencing NEC, IEEE, and IEC clauses, but stamped designs still require engineer verification against the printed code.
Tools draft starting points for control schematics and parts lists, with engineers refining symbols, ratings, and procurement constraints.
Engineers run independent calc methods through assistants to cross-check ETAP or SKM results before sign-off on coordination studies.
Design basis documents, FAT procedures, and submittal narratives draft faster with AI, while engineers own technical accuracy and client tone.
Electrical engineering portfolios carry weight for controls, PCB, and firmware roles, and matter less for power systems consulting where stamped designs and references do the work. Tailor the format to the discipline you target.
Host schematics, layout screenshots, BOMs, and bring-up notes on a static site you control.
Public repos with READMEs explaining the hardware target, peripherals used, and test methodology.
Two to four page PDFs per project with one-line diagrams, calc summaries, and outcome metrics.
Pin two or three project write-ups so recruiters see them in the first scroll.
Pull anything covered by NDA, ITAR, or client confidentiality. Redact part numbers, vendor names, and proprietary schematics before posting. When in doubt, ask the former employer in writing.
For each project, include the design brief, the constraints, the tools you used, and the measured result. A 1.5MW solar interconnect case study with a one-line diagram and a coordination plot says more than ten lines of prose.
If you stamp drawings as a PE, do not post stamped sheets publicly. Use redacted excerpts or describe the project at a level that respects the seal.
The PE license gates stamping authority, billable design work, and most senior electrical engineer titles. Engineering directors look for it on page one, in a dedicated credentials block.
State boards advise against publishing your PE license number because the number plus your name enables impersonation on permit filings. Provide the number on the employer’s application form when requested.
Beyond your PE or EIT, the certifications below tell engineering directors which design domains and safety standards you can lead on without supervision. Keep the block on page one near your licensure line.
For electrical engineers, the 10th-percentile floor reflects early-career EITs working under a PE on narrow scope, and the top decile reflects PE-licensed engineers running power studies, signing drawings, or leading multi-discipline projects in high-cost metros.
That spread tells you licensure, project scope, and industry (semiconductor, utility, defense) move you toward the ceiling more than tenure alone. Lead your resume with PE status, the voltage and load classes you own, and the codes you stamp under.
| # | State | Avg. Annual |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | New Mexico | $143,850 |
| 2 | California | $140,360 |
| 3 | District of Columbia | $138,860 |
| 4 | New Hampshire | $131,790 |
| 5 | Washington | $130,730 |
| 6 | Idaho | $128,960 |
| 7 | Massachusetts | $126,010 |
| 8 | New Jersey | $125,120 |
| 9 | Maryland | $124,450 |
| 10 | Virginia | $122,320 |
| # | State | Workers | Median |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | California | 23,650 | $140,360 |
| 2 | Texas | 15,470 | $105,560 |
| 3 | Michigan | 10,840 | $102,990 |
| 4 | Washington | 10,010 | $130,730 |
| 5 | New York | 7,720 | $112,550 |
Resume Templates offers HR approved resume templates to help you create a professional resume in minutes. Choose from several template options and even pre-populate a resume from your profile.
Mirror the posting first, then layer in standard ATS anchors: AutoCAD Electrical, ETAP, MATLAB, Allen-Bradley, Altium, NEC, IEEE 1584, PLC, and SCADA.
Use both the acronym and the spelled-out form once so the parser indexes both. List PE state and EIT status in your credentials line.
If the posting names a discipline like power systems or controls, repeat that phrase in your summary and your most recent role.
List the credential as "Professional Engineer (PE), Electrical, [State], in good standing" in a credentials block under your summary.
State boards advise against publishing the license number on resumes posted online.
If you hold an NCEES record for multi-state mobility, add "NCEES Record holder" on the same line.
Lead with the senior design or capstone project, then one or two coursework projects that map to the target role.
Name the deliverable, the tools, and the result. A power systems capstone might read: designed 480V switchgear lineup for a 1.5MW manufacturing load using ETAP.
Add any IEEE student branch, Formula SAE electrical, or robotics work that involved real hardware, schematics, or firmware.
For most U.S. industry roles, use a one or two-page resume. Cap at one page through five years of experience and two pages beyond that.
CV format is standard for academic, research, and some international engineering roles where publications, patents, and conference papers matter.
If the posting asks for a CV, add a publications section, patents granted, and grants or funded research below experience.
A tech template suits your PE credentials and project figures. An ATS-friendly template is another route.
Executive Resume Writer and Career Coach
Andrew Stoner is an executive career coach and resume writer with 17 years of experience as a hiring manager and operations leader at two Fortune 500 Financial Services companies, and as the career services director at two major university business schools.
