Electrical Engineer resume keywords
Most electrical engineer applications are screened by software before a person reads them: the ATS ranks resumes by how many of the posting's words they contain. The lists below are the terms that show up most in electrical engineer job ads. Use the ones that are true for you, with the same spelling the ad uses.
Hard skills and ATS keywords
- Altium Designer
- Power electronics
- Circuit simulation (LTspice)
- PCB layout
- EMC compliance
- Embedded C
- Oscilloscope debugging
- DFMEA
- Circuit design
- PCB layout
- Altium
- MATLAB
- Power systems
- Embedded systems
- Signal integrity
- Testing and validation
- Schematic capture
- NEC / IEC standards
Soft skills recruiters look for
- Analytical thinking
- Precision
- Documentation
- Collaboration
- Problem solving
Soft skills only count when a bullet proves them. "Team player" is ignored; "Designed a 3-phase motor drive board shipped in 40,000 units with 0.2% field failure rate." shows it.
Action verbs to start your bullets
- Designed
- Tested
- Validated
- Reduced
- Developed
- Debugged
- Improved
- Specified
How to use these keywords
- Mirror the job ad: if it says "Circuit design", do not write a synonym.
- Put the top 6–8 in a skills section and repeat the key ones inside experience bullets with a number.
- Never list a skill you cannot talk about in an interview.
- Keep the file text-based (no skills inside images or tables), or the ATS cannot read it.
Which ones is your resume missing?
Every posting is different. Paste your resume and the job ad — free ATS Match Score Score your resume free (0-100)
No signup. It lists the keywords from the ad that your resume does not contain.
Need the resume itself? See the electrical engineer resume example and generate one free from rough notes.