Technical character: employers named mistakes in the resume of young engineers

The formulaic formulations in the resumes of applicants for engineering positions — for example, "communication skills", "responsibility", "teamwork" — are no longer valid. Employers single out those from the stream of candidates who share specific achievements, for example, that their calculations helped optimize metal consumption, reduce equipment assembly time, etc. This follows from the results of a survey of representatives of large companies conducted as part of the international CASE-IN championship. What else HR specialists pay attention to and whether it is worth finding fault with resumes in the context of a personnel crisis - in the Izvestia article.

How employers read resumes

Today, specifics are expected from the resumes of graduates of engineering universities, according to a survey of employers conducted by the organizing committee of the international CASE-IN championship with the support of the presidential platform "Russia is a land of opportunity." The study involved representatives of HR services of such large companies in the fuel and energy sector and the mineral resource complex as ALROSA, SIBUR, ROSSETI, Mosenergo, and Altynalmas.

Among the undesirable information in the resume of applicants for engineering positions are formulaic formulations and vague definitions: "sociable", "responsible", "stress—resistant", "I am a fast learner", "worked in a team", "participated in a building renovation project".

"This is 'water.' It's annoying when common words are used instead of facts," one of the companies participating in the survey commented on the situation.

Instead, the "maturity indicator" is important.

"This is when the candidate says not "I want to develop," but "I looked at the requirements for interns that I need knowledge of geomechanics — I'm currently taking a course at site X to improve this topic." It's about awareness," they added.

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Employers began to adapt existing employees to the tasks, rather than looking for new ones.

All the companies participating in the study stated that clear figures, indicators, technologies, and results are needed in the resume. The survey participants provided examples of desirable, working formulations.:

"Instead of "worked on projects," it is better to write, for example: "I coordinated 18 interface nodes and optimized metal consumption by 11%.";

"Developed a 3D model of the crusher assembly, implemented at site No. 2, reduced assembly time by 15%";

"I calculated the heat losses of the pipeline, selected the insulation, encountered a non-compliance with GOST standards, recalculated using a different method."

The summary should also indicate the outcome of the project: "I passed the examination kit on time, without any improvements. The project has been implemented under construction."

Mentioning the tools and software that the applicant owns is another step towards success in employment. HR specialists' priority is knowledge of GOST standards and snips.

In addition, it is recommended to indicate participation in any projects, even educational ones: case championships, internships, graduation papers. But the main thing is to describe your role and the result, not just the fact of participation.

"Good engineers are not those who know a lot, but those who know how to think about project tasks, argue their decisions, and show it in numbers and actions. And this can be seen first in the resume, and then in the interview during the first 10-15 minutes," one of the companies participating in the study noted.

But listing all the subjects that the applicant took at the university, or all the Olympiads where he even won, is not required — HR does not read it anyway.

What is the need for engineers

In the first quarter of 2026, companies were actively looking for engineers, in particular, from the IT industries (17% of the total number of vacancies), telecommunications (11%), construction (7%), electronics (5%), Izvestia was informed in hh.ru .

The most in demand were design engineers, engineers of the production and technical department, service engineers, occupational health and safety engineers, as well as operational engineers.

The shortage of engineering and technical personnel in Russia persists, but the problem lies not only in the lack of people as such, but in the fact that a significant part of the trained specialists go to other fields, Anastasia Chuchalova, CEO of SuperJob, told Izvestia.

— According to the results of the analysis of the resume database, active in March 2026, only 15% of engineering graduates work by profession. One of the key reasons remains the level of income: engineering personnel have been donors for IT, commerce and management functions for decades," she stated.

But, according to her, the situation is starting to change. In the first quarter of this year, the salary growth rate for engineering and technical specialists in construction was 10.9% (year-on—year), in industry - 10.1%, and in IT — only 5.6%.

"This is a direct indicator of the increasing demand for engineering personnel, but so far we are talking about catching up growth — the gap in income levels accumulated over the years remains significant," the expert said.

Against this background, Anastasia Chuchalova noted, it is especially significant that employers are still not quite ready to hire young professionals without experience: they account for only 10% of vacancies in manufacturing and 3% in construction.

"At the same time, the market is experiencing an acute shortage of personnel and is not actively investing in entering the profession through internships, mentoring and full—fledged industrial adaptation," the expert stated.

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How universities help graduates find jobs

Elena Shaforostova, director of the NUST MISIS Career and Practical Training Center, told Izvestia that the employment rate of graduates of technical fields of this university during the first year after graduation is at the level of 87-90%.

She explained employers' dissatisfaction with resumes with an abundance of cliches and without specifying specific results by the gap between the style of academic writing and modern labor market requirements.

— The staff of the MISIS Career Center regularly helps students compile resumes, and we found that they often write "participated in research and development" instead of "I know how to calculate the effective load on the beam in ANSYS (software analysis system. The guys don't understand that their coursework or laboratory work is a full—fledged engineering project,— said Elena Shaforostova.

University specialists help students to "translate" learning tasks into business language.

— This leads to the second problem — ignorance of the industry standard for the design of engineering achievements. We explain to students that industrial practice is an important experience that can and should be properly packaged: highlight the knowledge of specific GOST standards or programs in the resume.

The director of the center also complained that students often do not have the skills to translate figures and facts into the language, and there is also a psychological barrier when it is necessary to "highlight" achievements.

— Graduates often modestly write "helped", "attended", "got acquainted", — the expert confirmed. — The key problem is the lack of self—presentation skills in the language of engineering and economic metrics. And the only way to solve it is to teach students to write resumes using numbers, state standards and the exact names of the mastered programs.

Yulia Gorina, director of the Directorate for Interaction with Students and Graduates of Moscow Polytechnic University, said that the university builds work with industrial partners in a comprehensive manner: students from the first year participate in real projects of companies, undergo internships and internships at enterprises, and then receive job offers directly through the university's partner network.

— And the project activity gives results — some of the students are already employed from the second or third year, – she said. — More than 90% of graduates find a job in the first year after graduation.

Employers today really look at resumes more deeply than just a set of formal qualities, Roman Yerkhov, CEO of TuBi recruiting company, confirmed to Izvestia.

— Specific results are of key importance for engineering and technical specialties: participation in projects with measurable effect, knowledge of industry standards, specialized software and practical experience in solving problems," he said. — A similar approach is becoming relevant for other areas: in sales, they look at revenue growth, in marketing — at campaign performance, in HR — at the rate of vacancy closure and reduced turnover.

At the same time, he noted that even in conditions of personnel shortages, employers try to reduce the risk of erroneous hiring — hence the tendency for clear data in the resume.

Anna Alikova, an independent HR expert, agreed that common words create an impression of uncertainty, while figures and facts add credibility. At the same time, according to her, for qualified technical and narrow specialists, minor flaws in the resume are most often excusable: the ability to adapt to new technologies and tools is more important.