When looking for a new job in the aerospace industry, a job seeker needs to put the emphasis on three things: physical preparedness, manual dexterity and experience.
If you are having trouble writing a professional resume in aerospace to get results, this article is for you.
In here, we will cover some of the basic things you should do when writing a resume for an aerospace job position, as well as the things you should avoid doing. Follow these instructions and your chances of landing a new job will be that much greater.
Divide and conquer:
The first thing we will do is split our aerospace resume into a couple of categories: contact information, qualifications summary, skills and experience. These are the categories you need to have on your resume, while things like references and professional objectives should definitely be avoided.
After filling in your contact information (full name, home address, phone number, email address, LinkedIn profile) and making sure all information provided is relevant and up to date, turn your attention towards the qualifications summary part.
Basically, this is where everything a human resource manager needs can be found, summarized in three sentences or less. Here you will say which part of the aerospace industry you wish to be a part of, and why you believe you can contribute.
Narrowing the focus:
Aerospace is a huge industry, with many business branches a person can work in. These range from ‘at the desk’ jobs like assistants, analytics, or managers, to field work like flight safety engineering, propulsion technician, mapping, production, etc.
There are two main reasons why you should narrow down your focus right at the very start of the resume. Firstly, because every resume will be read by the ATS system (Applicant Tracking Software), which eliminates unwanted submissions. It is important that you get that out of the way as soon as possible. The second reason is of human nature. Once the ATS forwards your resume to the hiring manager, he will want to know straight away if you’re applying for the specific field required or not. Some say it’s a double-edged sword, because you might get eliminated right from the get-go, but honesty is highly valued today, and it’s something we should all strive for.
Besides mentioning the exact industry, highlight your previous experience and education in a measurable way. Don’t be vague. If you helped build a propulsion engine for 50 aircraft, mention exactly that along with the budget and dollar amounts. If you handled finances and saved the company millions of dollars, mention exactly that, including the figures (if you’re allowed by your previous employer).
Also, be very specific about your education. Fitting all of that in the first few sentences of the resume will help the hiring manager get through it fast and get a clearer picture about who you are, what you want to achieve and how you can add value to the company while doing it.
Skills and experience in Aerospace:
After the summary has been written, you can go into further detail on your professional life. Start by listing the skills you either acquired or perfected on previous positions. Once again, because of the ATS system, it is important to list them by using specific words. These words will be searched for by the ATS and if it doesn’t find them, you might get eliminated.
If you have any of these, make sure you list them in your resume:
Structural Design
Structural Analysis
Technology Analysis
Intern Program Manager
Engineer Graphics and Design
Aero Dynamics
CFD Analysis
CAD Drafting and Designing
IR Signature measurement
Keep in mind, these keywords are randomly chosen from a large number of professionally written aerospace resumes we have in our database. Some (or all) may apply to the job position you’re interested in, or may not. Add others if necessary.
The aerospace industry is quite a specific field – it requires its workers to be in good physical shape, and to be quite good with their hands, so to speak. Considering the importance of these skills, make sure you mention them in your resume. Working out? Biking? Mountain climbing? Make sure all of these things are listed, even in the ‘hobbies’ section.
Finally, we will expand the resume further with a detailed list of your education achievements, starting with the most recent one. Still, list only those which are relevant (adding primary school to the resume is irrelevant and quite amateurish).
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Aeronautical Engineers resumes
Astronautical Engineers resumes
Computational Fluid Dynamic Engineers resumes
Design Aerospace Engineers resumes
Manufacturing Aerospace Engineers resumes
Marketing and Sales Aerospace Engineers resumes
Materials Aerospace Engineers resumes
Quality Control Aerospace Engineers resumes
Stress Analysts resumes
Stay away from objectives and references
If you write ‘References: Upon Request’ on your resume, you might as well shoot yourself in the leg, because those two things are essentially the same. Of course they’re available on request, and just adding it means you haven’t really thought things through. Either write the references right there, on the spot, or don’t write it at all.
Another thing you should steer clear from are objectives. The employer doesn’t really care that much about your objectives as much as he cares about how you can add extra value to the company, so keep your focus on that. You can discuss your objectives during the interview, if you get asked that, at all.
All in all, there are a couple of things to remember when writing a resume in the aerospace industry that gets results – ‘hit’ the hiring manager in the head with a summary of exactly where you want to work, and the essential skills that make you the perfect candidate for the position. Previous experience, physical fitness and manual dexterity are highly valued, so mention these as early as possible. Keep an eye out for keywords specific to the industry, and go into details about previous achievements and core competencies, and you’ll be just fine.