Don't give up; it seems like you have strengths that are not visible in your CV. Hence modifying your CV might be beneficial.
To help you see it as others read it, I speed-read your CV as an HR-droid or engineer would. These points are overly blunt and hard-hitting simply to make the point. Here are my impressions, which are followed by the some tricks you might be able make your CV more interesting:
- You did stuff and served your time. You didn't make a difference. (Example: " On two high school robotics teams:" So what? Big deal) From reading your postings, that isn't the case but there's nothing in your CV to indicate that! Show how/where you did more than necessary and achieved more than expected.
- No "profile", so I don't know what you are nor what you want to be, nor where you might fit in my organisation
- Vague adjectives, e.g. "Advanced Linux usage". Does that mean knows how to use "tar" or knows how to create device drivers?
- Your understanding of a covering letter is wrong. It purpose is to briefly draw attention to why you are suitable for the job in question, so people will be sufficiently curious that they read your CV.
- Your understanding of a CV is wrong - although you are following advice given by non-engineering droids. It should contain sufficient information that engineers feel that you might be able to help them with their problems, and want to interview you to find out if that's the case.
Do not underestimate the value of non-professional activities,
provided you can show they are relevant or just curious/interesting. From my daughter's long obsolete CV:
- At ... I was a volunteer ... initially responsible for... After completing ... I continued working there, becoming responsible for ... groups working safely with... (Shows early progression and responsibility)
- ...I learned to ... at the minimum legal age of 16. As a member of the ... team, I was responsible for greeting visitors, completing legal ... paperwork, communicating safety information by radio and lights, ensuring the ... runs smoothly, retrieving aircraft. The club recognised my contribution by awarding me... (Shows dedication, trust/responsibility and formal recognition thereof, good starting point for a chat . Demonstrating responsible teamwork is surprisingly valuable.)
While flying solo, an equipment failure significantly compromised the safety of the aircraft. In the official incident report... (I don't panic, a great talking point, and don't try to impress me with your mundane bullshit)
I'm sure you can find something in your background that
demonstrates something you are proud of. (Your CV is full of assertions without demonstrable justification - whereas your posts hint at justifications)
I would suggest rewriting your CV, maybe in this format:
- more than one page; overview and claimed broad competencies first, justifications later
- profile of why you are the right person that will fit whatever they need now and in the future
- team roles showing flexibility and progression
- bullet point skills, for the robotic scanners
- two lines per employment or other relevant period
- bullet point project/technical list
- detailed project/technial achievements, for selected projects that are relevant to the advert
Snippets from my CV where the ellipses indicate specific details...
Profile:
A flexible and adaptable professional engineer with significant experience in a wide range of technologies, applications and corporate roles across the full project life-cycle. His track record shows he can:... He is effective working independently or in small teams, and across geographic or corporate boundaries. He is particularly enthusiastic about working in any application domain involving:...
Corporate Roles and Technical Experience:
Roles: He flexibly adopts whichever role is necessary to ensure the team’s objectives are achieved: Engineer and Technical/Project Leader defining an implementing the full product and project life-cycle... Technical Consultant:...reviews...advising...assessing other companies’ products and processes... Miscellaneous: committees, sales....
Software: keywords for languages/environments/middleware/etc
Hardware: keywords, ditto
Application Domains, ditto
Career Outline:
Company N-3: Engineer and Project Leader in the Digital Systems Group, typically simultaneously operating in different roles in several very different projects
Education: two lines about degree, prizes, professional qualifications. Vital, but nobody really cares about this
except that not having the right words can be a lock-out. HR-droids are looking for reasons to ignore CVs, and missing qualifications are an easy target.
Outline Achievements: one-line bullet points for everything I achieved
For details, including the impact on the companies and beyond, see the "Selected Achievements" section
conceiving and patenting a novel ...
conceiving, patenting, specifying and developing a...
developing and manufacturing a...
making key contributions to the FCC...
defining and implementing a...
Selected Achievements: one per project, only those relevant to the job advertised
Optical Attenuation Test Set
He designed and developed a test set that measured the attenuation of optical fibres. The test set was extremely accurate and had an optical dynamic range 20dB larger than the competitors (40dB electrical). This was due to a novel bandpass filter with a Q of ~4000 using 10% components. Two versions of the device were manufactured and produced. Technology: optical fibres, low-noise analogue electronics.