Resume guide · Job Zone 4

Water/Wastewater Engineersresume guide.

Design or oversee projects involving provision of potable water, disposal of wastewater and sewage, or prevention of flood-related damage. A strong Water/Wastewater Engineers resume shows critical thinking, judgment and decision making and reading comprehension, and names the tools you have worked with, such as Autodesk AutoCAD, Bentley MicroStation and Autodesk Revit.

See how a parser reads your resumeFree, no card→

01Also called

O*NET
Consulting EngineerCounty EngineerEngineerProject Development EngineerDimensional EngineerHydraulics EngineerHydrologic ModelerRemediation EngineerRemediation Project EngineerWastewater Design Engineer

02Skills employers expect

O*NET

Importance is how much the skill matters to the job; level is how much of it the job demands. Both are worth naming on the resume, in this order.

SkillImportanceLevel
Critical ThinkingVery highAdvanced
Judgment and Decision MakingVery highAdvanced
Reading ComprehensionVery highAdvanced
WritingVery highAdvanced
Active ListeningHighAdvanced
Complex Problem SolvingHighAdvanced
MathematicsHighAdvanced
Systems AnalysisHighAdvanced
Systems EvaluationHighAdvanced
SpeakingHighAdvanced

03Knowledge areas

O*NET
  • Engineering and Technology
  • Design
  • English Language
  • Mathematics
  • Building and Construction
  • Administration and Management
  • Mechanical
  • Physics
  • Chemistry
  • Customer and Personal Service

04Common responsibilities

O*NET

Ordered by importance. Each one is a bullet waiting for a result and a number.

  1. Provide technical direction or supervision to junior engineers, engineering or computer-aided design (CAD) technicians, or other technical personnel.
  2. Review and critique proposals, plans, or designs related to water or wastewater treatment systems.
  3. Design domestic or industrial water or wastewater treatment plants, including advanced facilities with sequencing batch reactors (SBR), membranes, lift stations, headworks, surge overflow basins, ultraviolet disinfection systems, aerobic digesters, sludge lagoons, or control buildings.
  4. Evaluate the operation and maintenance of water or wastewater systems to identify ways to improve their efficiency.
  5. Design or select equipment for use in wastewater processing to ensure compliance with government standards.
  6. Design water distribution systems for potable or non-potable water.
  7. Design pumping systems, pumping stations, pipelines, force mains, or sewers for the collection of wastewater.
  8. Conduct water quality studies to identify and characterize water pollutant sources.
  9. Analyze and recommend chemical, biological, or other wastewater treatment methods to prepare water for industrial or domestic use.
  10. Identify design alternatives for the development of new water resources.

05Software and tools

O*NET

50 tools across 16 categories. The six largest categories are below; Hot marks a hot technology, In demand a tool employers ask for most often.

Analytical or scientific software15
  • HEC-RASIn demand
  • HEC-HMSIn demand
  • Minitab
  • HEC-1
  • XP Software XPSWMM
  • DHI MIKE URBAN
  • Hydraulic modeling software
  • MWH Soft InfoSWMM
  • Wallingford Software InfoSewer
  • Wallingford Software InfoWorks WS
  • Bentley StormCAD
  • EPA Storm Water Management Model SWMM
  • HEC-GeoRAS
  • KYPipe
  • NIWA Tideda
+ 10 more
Computer aided design CAD software12
  • Autodesk AutoCADHotIn demand
  • Bentley MicroStationHotIn demand
  • Autodesk RevitHotIn demand
  • Autodesk AutoCAD Civil 3DHotIn demand
  • OpenRoads DesignerIn demand
  • Computer aided design and drafting software CADD
  • Bentley GEOPAK Civil Engineering Suite
  • Bentley InRoads Suite
  • Bentley WaterCAD
  • Eagle Point LANDCADD
  • HydroCAD Software Solutions HydroCAD Stormwater Modeling System
  • Bentley SewerCAD
+ 7 more
Geographic information system4
Internet browser software4
Data base user interface and query software2
Object or component oriented development software2
Office suite software2
Electronic mail software1
Enterprise resource planning ERP software1
Industrial control software1
  • Supervisory control and data acquisition SCADA software
Map creation software1
  • MapInfo
Operating system software1
  • BashHotIn demand
Presentation software1
Project management software1
Spreadsheet software1
Word processing software1

06Education and preparation

O*NET
Typical education
Bachelor's Degree
70% of surveyed workers. Others report Master's Degree (26%) and First Professional Degree - awarded for completion of a program that: requires at least 2 years of college work before entrance into the program, includes a total of at least 6 academic years of work (4%).
Preparation level
Job Zone 4 · Considerable preparation
Usually a four-year degree and several years of related experience.

07Putting it on your resume

ResumeXRays guidance
BEE · How to show it

Lead with what you built. For a Job Zone 4 role, hiring managers and parsers both look for outcomes before credentials. Put two or three results at the top of each job entry, with the scale or effect stated plainly.

Name the tools exactly. This occupation is heavy on named software. A skills section that says "Autodesk AutoCAD, Bentley MicroStation, Autodesk Revit, Autodesk AutoCAD Civil 3D" matches more job descriptions than a general phrase. Use the spelling employers use.

Show judgment and decision making and reading comprehension, not just critical thinking. Judgment and decision making and reading comprehension rank close to critical thinking for this occupation. One bullet per role that shows a decision, a tradeoff or a result covers them.

Run your resume through the free scan →

See your fitbefore youhit apply.

Drop your resume and see what a parser flags before you send it. Free, no card.

Analyze your resume free →$0 to start · No card · Free plan forever