''Green-Collar'' Professionals Need Competitive Resumes
By Emily Sanderson
As concerns about global warming swell, more and more companies are ''going green'' and will hire engineers and scientists to develop ''green'' technology. |
Scientists who are just beginning their careers or who are considering career shifts into the petroleum arena should prepare their resumes in a way that emphasizes any professional exposure to mining, drilling, surveying, and petrochemicals.
If your related work experience is from a few years ago or is less prominent than another professional area on a regular chronological resume, consider using a functional resume format, which separates the bullets that describe your experience and work history into two sections. Doing so gives you the ability to rearrange the bullets in order to emphasize the work experience relevant to the job for which you are applying. Listing the bullets independently from the jobs where you gained the experience requires the bullets to be written in more general terms — but doing so will better connect the experience you have gained to the work potential employers require.
In the 1960s and early 1970s, majoring in petroleum-related sectors such as petroleum geology was as promising as majoring in computer engineering is today. The oil crisis in 1987, as the United States began relying more and more on the Middle East to provide their crude oil supply, broke that promise. But 20 years later, during a new oil crisis, petroleum geologists and engineers are hot commodities.
Petroleum companies today are seeking scientists who can assist them with developing more eco-friendly and energy-efficient fuels. The Wall Street Journal reported that students are swelling the ranks of college engineering programs, positioning themselves for energy-industry jobs with salaries that make tenure-track professors envious. Top-ranking petroleum engineering graduates this year can expect starting salaries ranging from $80,000 to $110,000, plus signing bonuses and other perks. If you already have experience in this field, you will beat the college crowd.
Many scientists have received writing instruction in school which they apply to writing extensive reports and proposals. Potential employers who are scientists have a lot of respect for individuals who can prepare a resume with no typographical, spelling, or grammatical errors and who also know how to present information in the most effective way possible in order to communicate the desired message.
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