Biomedical engineering is an interesting and challenging field, requiring knowledge of biology, medicine, and more, on top of typical engineering knowledge. It’s also a field poised for growth. “Employment of biomedical engineers is projected to grow 27 percent from 2012 to 2022, much faster than the average for all occupations,” according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook. “Demand will be strong because an aging population is likely to need more medical care and because of increased public awareness of biomedical engineering advances and their benefits.”
If you’re interested in pursuing biomedical engineering, reading some resume examples from those already in the field can help you learn about expectations, necessary skills, potential hurdles, career trajectories, and more.
The word cloud above was created using the text of 10 biomedical engineering job listings. The larger the word, the more times it appeared.
Mechanical engineering resume keywords
- Analysis
- Bachelor’s
- Biological
- Biomedical
- Clinical
- Data
- Degree
- Design
- Development
- Device
- Engineering
- Equipment
- Healthcare
- Master’s
- Materials
- Mechanical
- Medical
- Problem-solving
- Product
- Research
- Results
- Team
- Technical
- Testing
Notes on biomedical engineering keywords
Highlighting your education properly is going to be more important for current or aspiring biomedical engineers than for those in most other industries. It is a relatively new field, and more and more schools are adding programs or expanding offerings. More importantly, this is the first field for which we’ve done a round-up of resume keywords where “master’s degree” was mentioned as a prerequisite for so many jobs that it wound up on our list of top keywords.
Many biomedical engineers wind up choosing a specialty area, such as a particular disease, organ, or technology (for example, implants or drug delivery). Having the right keywords is especially critical if you’re applying for a biomedical engineering job with a particular focus. A career summary is an ideal way to lead off your resume with those relevant keywords. If your resume lacks the right keywords, an applicant tracking system (ATS) is almost certainly going to pass you over.
Don’t forget to pay attention to slight differences, such as “laboratory” vs. “lab” or “healthcare” vs. “health care.” ATS are always getting more sophisticated, but almost every single one still looks for exact keyword matches.
Targeting your resume
To learn how well your resume matches up with the biomedical engineering job of your choice, try Jobscan’s resume analysis tool. Your instant feedback will include a match rating, plus suggestions for optimizing your resume keywords and your resume as a whole. Resume examples are a valuable resource for research, but nothing can beat individualized, targeted feedback.
