Resume - Projects

[appot]

I typically work on medium to large projects ($10-400 million USD construction costs) and I have even seen a very large project ($1+ billion USD....muhahaha...); all of the projects are horizontal construction. I have decided to add these projects to my resume. My hope is to make it an extension of my resume, rather than a Project Portfolio, which is more of an architect thing.

I am thinking about having a stand-alone resume, and then my projects will be on the following pages. The resume will not have a page number, but the project pages will say "Page 2 of x" and "page 3 of x" etc (I am hoping to not exceed 3 pages total, more on this later). That way, I can submit a 1 page resume if needed, without making any changes.

Question 1 - For those of you who review resumes, do you typically see a list of projects?
Question 2 - For those of you who review resumes, would you balk at a 2 or 3 page resume in the above described format (2nd paragraph)?

I am having some difficulties keeping some of the project descriptions concise while still making the project and my role seem important. I am not trying to mislead anyone, I am a very honest person. My problem is that I thought about these projects every waking minute for many months to years; they are a major part of my life. I want to be able to describe the project and my role in 3 to 4 concise bullet points.

Question 3 - I want to be able to describe the project and my role in 3 to 4 concise bullet points. This doesn't seem feasible. Does anyone have any tips, such as "overall project dimensions (e.g. bridge span length) are way to much detail?"

Question 4 - Blame the engineer in me, but I absolutely hate buzzwords. With that said, what type of action buzzwords should I be using when I discuss my role?
Question 5 - I feel like a pompous asshole when I write about my role on a project, is this a normal engineer feeling?
Question 6 - There seems to be some overlap between my project descriptions and my work experience descriptions. I don't think this should be a problem, but I am thinking I should keep the work experience more general, and then go into specific details on the project, thoughts?

Thank you for all who have read this far. I appreciate any help/advice that you may give me. I will be around to answer any of your questions that you regarding my post.

 

[Lomarandil]

I'll address a few of these with which I am familiar:

3) This is absolutely a good idea. I used to work in transmission lines, projects were described in voltage and length. In bridges, I use material, shape, and span length as a starting point. (prestressed bulb-tee 200' spans, etc). Then you can go into the number of spans, continuity, layout (curved/skewed), specific project challenges, etc. Overall project budget also often fits well.

5) Assuming I'm a normal engineer, absolutely.

6) Exactly. Use your work experience for general skills and items that don't fit well into your list of projects. Use the projects to describe more specialized experience (e.g. structural analysis vs fracture analysis of weld flaws on a steel girder bridge outside Detroit).

 

[miningman]

After 40 years experience , my resume now runs to 4 pages of largely project work. I am aware that this is a bit longer than believed to be ideal, but I cant be bothered to prune it to three or less ,but conversely I will ensure it never runs to five. As someone who reviews a lot of resumes lately, I believe the two most important pieces of advice I can give is (1) Avoid buzz words like the plague. (2) Always prepare your resume yourself. A professionally prepared resume sticks out like a sore thumb, and if prospective employee cant get a summary of his life experiences together without external help, I wont waste my time interviewing him.

 

[JNieman]

I will oppose the lack of buzzwords if you are intending to apply at companies with a large enough HR department that they robot-ize their first line screening. I tend to tailor my buzzwords to the job posting. If they use a potpourri of BS words, I make sure to match it as much as possible. If your resume makes it to a breathing human being, they will understand because they played the game, too.

Any other type of company and yes, you may as well set fire to your resume, yourself and save on the metaphorical postage.