r/ChemicalEngineering • u/Charming_Spot5093 • 11d ago
Job Search Struggling to find entry level ChemE job
I graduated as a Chemical Engineer in May 2024, and I have been applying for jobs since August of 2023 during my senior year of college and I have yet to get my 1st full time job offer. I am unsure of what I am doing wrong, weather it is my interview skills, the market, or my experiences are lacking. The times I do get interviews and believe I did well, I often get ghosted or told that I lack experience for the entry level role I have applied for. Just wondering if anyone can give advice or maybe a miracle happens if I post this on here and someone knows of any opens at companies that hire ChemEs.
Thank you
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u/lilithweatherwax 11d ago
Your experience is fine, just tone down the language a little?
Remove the group leader stuff. No one's looking for leadership experience in a new grad, they're looking for a teachable kid with willingness to learn. Emphasize collaborative experiences.
Also remove the religious organization.
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u/Charming_Spot5093 11d ago
Should I try and replace the religious organization with something else? I just didn't want the resume to have lots of white space.
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u/lilithweatherwax 11d ago
Keep the experience in there, if needed. Frame it as community outreach or something?
But definitely remove the first bulletin about leading cross-functional teams
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u/yakimawashington 11d ago edited 11d ago
I empathize with the struggles of the current job market, OP.
But honestly, this needs a serious do-over. Most bullets on this resume just reek of BS. Wayyyy to wordy. Reads like you were trying to reach a minimum word count so started using a thesaurus or even ChatGPT to add filler like you're making cheap chicken nuggets.
One that stands out in particular is the first one for your senior project.
"Led weekly meetings in order to brainstorm and conceptualize project ideas"
Absolutely get rid of "in order to". Completely redundant. "Brainstorm and conceptualize project ideas" really took you weeks to do? As in "ideas for a project"? It sounds like it took weeks just to get started. "Brainstorm and conceptualize" for weeks sound like someone reporting fake working hours to their boss and thinking they can get away with it since it's so vague with little to no deliverables attached to it, which leads to the next part of that sentence. Nothing in sentence sounded like it improved efficiency (or had any significant efficiency tied to it, whatsoever). But the worst of that bullet is claiming a "10% improvement in efficiency" from you leading these weekly meetings for a senior project. How could possibly quantify this and to what standard could you possibly be comparing that efficiency improvement to? Again, smells like BS from a mile away.
That's just one bullet point. I could go on, but it just seriously needs a do-over. Try reposting after removing at least half of the filler.
Edit: just noticed you used a slightly reworded but near identical copy of that same bullet point in your other "college experience". You even claim to have improved efficiency by 10% again by leading brainstorming meetings. Using this line once was bad, but twice on the same resume in different projects with the exact same vague efficiency improvement figure? This resume desperately needs a redo.
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u/Charming_Spot5093 11d ago
Thank you. I appreciate the feedback. Didn't think it was that bad since I have been getting a good number of interviews, but I can see how there is a lot of filler words.
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u/CananDamascus 10d ago
If you've been getting a lot of interviews but no job offers then maybe its your interviewing skills that need work, not your resume. Although I do agree that your resume isn't amazing.
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u/supahappyb 11d ago
remove project management from skills section. Promise you no new grad has project management experience. Project management = managing a project from start to end; scope development, steering a clearly defined project team, coordinating timelines/schedule, resource allocation, constantly derisking situations, overseeing execution, and breaking down barriers for the team (+ managing the project budget although depending on the organization sometimes the manager of the project manager does that)
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u/BriefOutrageous3436 11d ago
also you write "PFD's" but "P&IDs"... what the hell is the apostrophe for? the resume is very dense and most likely cluttered with little mistakes such as these.
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u/supahappyb 11d ago
lmao tbh i have so many colleagues that do this at my work all the time and it pmo. people be forgetting the plural nouns are a thing (like “cars” or “flowers” etc. there is no apostrophe!!) grrrr
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u/MuddyflyWatersman 11d ago edited 11d ago
I like to see core GPA as well. just out of school you're going to be providing a transcript also. Don't try to obscure details.... no matter what you've read on job search sites.... make it easy for the people who are evaluating you. Dont embellish or make things overly complicated. yes everybody does and it's irritating.
what's your goal ? what kind of job are you looking for? you just sending it to anybody and everybody?
make your resume fit the job description you're applying for. that means you need a different versions for different jobs. if you're applying to a company that has a lot of different types of positions tell them you're interested in possibly trying any of several different entry level positions... but they need to evaluate if you are a match for their job... how do they do that when you don't even tell them what you're looking for??? use your experiences to support your suitability for what you're looking for. if they have an operations position and you want to work in a R&D lab.... you're not a fit.
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u/Charming_Spot5093 11d ago
So I always send my transcript with every application. The goal is to try and get a process engineering or a design engineering role. Those are things I have enjoyed while doing internships and my contract job as well. However, I am not being picky, so I am applying everywhere, and I do tweak my resume to each job just to highlight the skills I have overall
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u/MuddyflyWatersman 11d ago edited 11d ago
well I don't see that on the resume.... very first thing that I would have at the top is a section with goal : what type of job you're looking for. if you don't know you don't know just say entry level position in chemical engineering that will allow you to grow and develop the skills you need to progress. but looking at what you posted it doesn't tell me anything. you always want to keep getting better... learning... growing... taking on responsibility. companies that have a lot of different roles you can move into are good for that. a small company that just needs one engineer to oversee one thing.... not so much. you're fresh out of school don't try and come off as sounding like a magnificent catch.... you're actually a commodity.... one without fantastic grades.... be humble... be appreciative... be open.... be sincere.
the people who will evaluate you... if the resume gets past HR.... will be the people who will work with you... not some HR group or someone who's disconnected from what you will actually be doing.So... impressions matter.... make a good impression. If your grades are a little bit low because you work during school highlight that that you worked and helped put yourself through school.... things like that are important.... even if it's not a che related job ... it can give you the benefit of the doubt sometimes. just like athletics... huge demand on time.... anyone that can do athletics while maintaining decent grades in ChE is good. I had my summer job freshman year on resume before I worked in the CHe lab or had an internship....Oyster Shucker.... you know that got the most comments of anything on my resume... everybody wanted to know about that. The fact that I had a job that was somewhat menial meant that I wasn't afraid of working hard or getting dirty. It certainly wasn't anything to try and impress anyone... but it didn't hurt to have it on there
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u/Charming_Spot5093 11d ago
Thank you. I will be attempting to fix my resume with all the feedback I received
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u/MuddyflyWatersman 11d ago edited 11d ago
good luck.... there's a job out there ...everybody gets hired eventually. you just haven't come across yours yet. You can try to get jobs in plant operations or labs..... or contract firms too.... until something better comes your way. at one of our sites in another country..... several of our operations shift leaders are chemical engineers..... one of them has a masters ChE.... we don't do that in the US but some countries do... some companies may. our Management in the US is always had me opinion that hiring somebody overqualified will lead them to doing the wrong job..... when I first started working we had a person in the engineering department who was some kind of contract project engineering help...... turned out he was a former plant manager who had been laid off from BASF. quite the step down. I found that out when he started pointing something out to me one day .
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u/BriefOutrageous3436 11d ago
you can't even take a screenshot....
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u/Charming_Spot5093 11d ago
my laptop wasn't letting me and honestly, I don't need you commenting if you aren't going to be helpful.
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u/BriefOutrageous3436 11d ago
-struggling to find job
-acts up when called out on his low effort posting
yeah... you still have some introspection to do, but you can figure it out 👍
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u/Charming_Spot5093 11d ago
Or the way you give feedback and constructive criticism needs to be worked on. Could have just staid " next time send a screenshot". And yes, I am struggling to get an engineering job(key word engineering), so I am trying to learn why and be proactive. But sure, I have some introspection to do lol
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u/MoneyMammoth4718 11d ago
The market is difficult right now believe me but I think you can resume some aspects on your resume or highlight the most important for each position you apply.
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u/supahappyb 11d ago
Focus on making a cover letter too and make it brief with a short description of who you are, what you’re passionate about, what motivates you and what you’re seeking (what is your goal? i.e. what additional skills/experiences do you seek specifically at this point in your life right now that you feel you can gain from the position you’re applying for)? And yeah don’t worry about trying to make yourself look perfect on your resume. Cut out 50% of the words, any filler; keep it brief but quantify results where possible. Brief but impactful can cause a recruiter to want to learn more from you. If you lay all your cards out on the table then they may feel like there’s no point in interviewing you cause they’ve read every single detail about what you’ve done on your resume. Hold some details back so that they’re interested and want to learn more but in order to do so they have to interview you to hear the rest of the story. Hope that makes sense
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u/Aero_DLR 10d ago
The engineering role from March 2025 to may 2025 is a red flag. Sounds like someone did hire you but you were only there for 3 months? Sounds like a negative situation. Hiring managers are getting dozens if not hundreds of resumes, any red flag and they will move past your resume in seconds.
Also what have you been doing since May 2024 through March 2025? Big gap there.
At this point I would get any entry level role in the industry you want to work in (non degree required)
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u/sswihart 10d ago
Look into PSM, specifically anhydrous ammonia refrigeration. It’s not glamerous but we sure do need people.
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u/hazelnut_coffay Plant Engineer 11d ago
leaving a quick comment since i don’t have the time now to read in much depth
right off the bat, way too wordy. for example you say “measured threaded thermocouple covers and compared physical dimensions to original AutoCAD drawings to identify discrepancies” when you could’ve said “identified discrepancies between produced thermocouple covers and design drawings”.
Just because you can fill in the rest of the line doesn’t mean you should. Recruiters spend less than 10 seconds on your resume. you’re not helping yourself if it takes 10 seconds to read through one bullet point.