How to Actually Read a Protection and Controls Engineer's Resume

Two protection and controls resumes can list the same job title, the same relay manufacturer names, and the same number of years, and still represent very different levels of actual capability. The resume format for this discipline hides depth behind generic phrasing more than most engineering fields do, which means hiring managers who read them at face value regularly miss the signal that matters most.

Look past the relay brand list for setting file ownership

Almost every protection engineer resume lists relay manufacturers: SEL, GE, ABB. Listing familiarity with a brand tells you almost nothing on its own. What matters is whether the candidate wrote and applied setting files independently or reviewed and edited settings someone else developed. Ask directly: on the last project you listed, did you develop the relay settings from the coordination study, or apply settings someone else calculated?

• Look for language distinguishing 'developed settings' from 'applied settings' or 'tested per specification'
• Check whether the resume mentions coordination studies specifically, not just relay testing
• Note whether transmission, distribution, or industrial protection experience is specified, since these require different depth
• Watch for resumes that list every relay platform ever touched without describing depth on any single one

Distinguish testing from commissioning from design

Protection and controls work spans a spectrum from field testing technicians through commissioning engineers to protection design engineers who run coordination studies. Resumes often blur these together under a single job title, especially when the candidate's actual employer used inconsistent internal titling. The work history narrative, not the title line, tells you where someone actually sat on that spectrum.

Ask for a specific fault or miscoordination story

The single most reliable resume-screening question for this discipline is asking a candidate to describe a specific miscoordination event or fault they diagnosed, including how they identified the root cause and what they changed. Candidates with real depth answer in specifics: fault current values, time-current curves, specific relay elements. Candidates without it answer in generalities.

Weigh utility experience against EPC or industrial experience appropriately

Protection engineers coming from utility backgrounds often have deeper transmission-level coordination experience, while those from EPC or industrial backgrounds often have broader exposure to a wider range of equipment types across more projects. Neither background is automatically stronger; match the candidate's background to the specific system criticality and voltage class your role requires.

Answers

Frequently asked questions