Electrical engineer resume example

What recruiters look for

• System size and voltage: kV levels, MW, number of feeders or facilities. It tells a reader exactly which kind of power engineer you are.
• Studies: short circuit, load flow, protection coordination, arc flash. Name the software and the standard.
• Design to code: NEC, NESC, IEEE standards and utility requirements, with drawings that were built.
• Field and commissioning: relay testing, factory acceptance tests, startup. It shows your designs work in the real world.
• Licensure: a PE (Electrical and Computer: Power) is expected for engineer-of-record work in consulting and many utilities.

Writing the summary

PE status, years, your area (utility distribution, substations, industrial, data centers, buildings) and the studies or designs you are strongest in. Electrical is broad; the summary should say which part you do.

Bullet points that work

Strong lines for this role, beyond the ones in the example. Borrow the shape and put in your own numbers.

• Designed the 34.5 kV collector system for a 150 MW solar plant, including cable sizing and grounding, energized on schedule.
• Completed arc flash studies for 22 industrial sites and recommended changes that cut maintenance-mode incident energy by 70%.
• Wrote relay settings for a 138 kV line upgrade and coordinated with 2 neighboring utilities.
• Specified a medium-voltage switchgear lineup with 26-week lead time and redesigned around a 40-week delay without missing energization.
• Reduced voltage drop complaints on a rural feeder to zero with a regulator and capacitor plan.
• Created the firm’s ETAP study template, cutting study preparation time by 30%.
• Led the commissioning of a 2.5 MW generator plant with 4 paralleled units and automatic transfer testing.
• Answered 80 contractor RFIs on a hospital project with an average turnaround of 2 days.
• Trained 15 field technicians on reading protection one-lines and coordination curves.

Skills to list

Certifications and licenses worth listing

• Professional Engineer (PE), Electrical and Computer: Power: expected for engineer-of-record work in consulting, and valued in utilities.
• Engineer in Training (EIT) or FE passed: list it early in your career with the year.
• NFPA 70E training: shows you know electrical safety requirements for the equipment you design and study.
• NICET certification (fire alarm systems): useful for building electrical designers who do fire alarm work.

Length and format

One page up to about eight years. Put the PE in the headline and in a licenses section. If you have many projects, a short list with voltage, size and role can go on a second page.

Common mistakes

• Writing “electrical engineer” with no specialty. Power, controls, electronics and building systems are different hiring pools.
• Leaving out voltages and capacities, which are how power engineers size up each other’s experience.
• Listing studies without outcomes: what settings changed, what incident energy dropped, what passed commissioning.
• Omitting field work. Commissioning and testing experience is valued and often missing.
• Old software or retired standards (the 2002 IEEE 1584 method, for example) without the current version.