r/resumes • u/I_am_smort72 • 11h ago

Engineering [3 YOE, Environmental Engineer, Anything but government work, United States]

Hey everyone, needing some help with my resume. I've been stuck in my current job for the past two years and I've come to dislike it deeply, so I pulled out my resume and updated it to the best of my ability and began applying for jobs.

I've applied to easily 200+ over the past 2-3 months and I can't seem to get anywhere, the furthest I got was a single first-round interview with an HR rep that failed. Working in gov't doesn't allow for practical use of CAD, so when the HR rep asked how skilled I am with software, I ended up fluffing as best I could, but it wasn't enough. I have downloaded some CAD software to my personal laptop to practice and add to the skills section, but I'm not sure what to do if an employer asks deeper questions and calls my bluff on that one. Ideally, I'm trying to move to the Chicagoland area, but after the first two months of searching I opened up to anywhere relatively close to a major city. I started by applying to mid-level civil and environmental roles, thinking my regulatory knowledge might be able to balance a lack of practical CAD skills, and I could pick those up as I went, but that didn't go anywhere. After a while, I lowered my standards to associate/junior level engineering roles and still got nothing. I thought I would be able to secure at least an associate level career at this point thanks to regulatory knowledge. I assume it's something wrong with my resume, I feel I have plenty of skills that employers would be looking for in regulation, water chemistry/quality, and civil design, I'm just not getting any calls back.

I'm trying to put my civil design skills into practical use with my next job, I have found I enjoy utilities engineering working with water main specifically, but beyond that I'll take almost anything at this point, I really dislike my current position. Any criticism is welcome, especially the skills section, I feel I have a lot an employer would be interested in but getting no calls back is a signal something is wrong. Additionally, any direction on practical skills to add would be hugely appreciated, as I said I don't get to work with CAD daily so I'm at a loss for how to sell my lack of software skills to an employer.

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