Resume Writing Tips – How to Write a Career Objective
Including a career objective in your résumé may seem like a no-brainer, but believe it or not it can be controversial. While some see a career objective as a good way to explain your goals in as precise a way as possible, others believe it may limit you when applying for jobs. However, there are ways to write an objective that will maximize your career options while being as specific or broad as you’d like.
Begin by writing your basic outline. An outline will help you organize your thoughts better and can even help you structure your résumé in general.
Your career objective resume should include:
- Who you are. Recent college graduate? Experienced administrator? Accomplished software engineer? The way you define yourself should be your lead.
- What you can do. Your skill sets should come next. List your strengths one after the other. Your final career objective won’t look like this, but listing all your skills on your outline will allow you to pick and choose later based on the job you are applying to. (Any skills you don’t include in your brief objective statement can always be listed in a separate “other” category.)
- What you are looking for. This is where you simply state the job you are applying for. You can leave this space open in your outline or you can state the type of work you wish to do (entry-level administration, finance, marketing, journalism, etc.). I would recommend being specific here when you finalize your career objective but there are circumstances when a standard description works best; for instance, if you are handing out multiple résumés at a career fair or applying to a company with no position in mind, you won’t necessarily be able to include a precise job title.
- Goals for your future. You don’t need to end your career objective with a description of your 10-year plan, but it’s a good idea to briefly explain what you hope to accomplish down the road. Unless you’re applying for a temporary position, your employer wants an employee who is going to stick around for a while. State what you hope to get out of the job (besides a decent paycheck) or what you hope to learn from the experience.
Next, consider the employer. This is especially important when deciding which skills or strengths you will use in your objective statement and which you will leave out or list separately. Read up on the company literature to find out all you can about the company’s objective and use it as a guide when writing your own. It might also help to research several different companies in one field, especially if you’re career objective is broad.
A sample career objective could look like this:
Published newspaper journalist with editing background seeking staff writing position. Looking for room to grow and the ability to increase my knowledge of the industry.
or:
Hard-working, detail-oriented, recent college graduate seeking a career in the newspaper journalist field. Looking for room to grow and the ability to learn all I can about the industry.
Your career objective should be placed at the top of the page and shouldn’t exceed two sentences. It’s your introduction to your entire résumé package. Employers know what they are looking for in an employee, but if you tell them you have specific career aspirations it will come through as motivation and passion, giving you an edge in a pool of applicants.
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Adrienne is a Syracuse University student from Danbury, CT majoring in Writing and Rhetoric with a Leadership Communication minor. She is a big fan of impressionist art, ocean views and classic rock. She hopes to one day have her name in the credits of a hit film whether behind the scenes or in front of the camera.
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Glad you enjoyed the post and found it full of new ideas to better your CV. Is there any idea in particular that you found most rewarding?
Having a career objective resume is great as it allows you to really gear your resume towards the specific job you're applying for. It is common for job applicants to have variations of their resume based on the job that they're looking for as there usually isn't enough space on one page for all of your experience and the truth it, not everything you have done is geared towards every job you apply for. Your resume is a representation of who you are on a single piece of paper, you need to use it as effectively as possible.
It is time job seeker take this piece and start acting on it to increase their chances.
This is a precice word for a due time. many job seeker overlook these details and wonder why they are not sought after. keep this up
Couldn't agree more, you need to go into an interview knowing precisely what you want and have it clearly stated on your resume for everyone else to know. What's your career objective?
Hey Adrienne! You mentioned, “others believe it [objective] may limit you when applying for jobs.” I agree. An objective can be restricting. I just wanted to mention that ideally a person's objective should be customized based on the recipient of the resume. Jobseekers sometimes find this time-consuming, therefore, may resist it.
For example, let's say you're targeting a sales position — and you're open as to type.
Outside sales positions focus heavily on new business development, territory growth, and account management, while inside sales positions focus on call volumes, telesales, customer service, customer troubleshooting, and so on.
I find it's helpful to shift the objective accordingly, so it focuses on what's important to each reader. I often advise my clients to have 2 or 3 different resumes that reflect varying intro statement … or other important key points. Then, simply pick which of the resumes is most important for the job opening, do any minor tweaking necessary, and submit it for consideration.
Yes, it is a bit time-consuming in the beginning as the 2-3 different objective statement are developed, but over the long haul, using an objective statement that's more “on the money” will produce a better return of interviews.
Thanks for the post, Adrienne.
@teenarose
You should use every opportunity available to you to increase your chances of being hire with a well positioned objective resume
Great advice! Having a few different resumes may sound like a daunting task but it is merely a few tweaks in the layout and wording. If you can't take the time to do this and gear your resume and job search towards a specific job, then what are you wasting your time doing?
You mentioned you advised your clients to do this, what do you do?
Hey Trace. I totally agree. I suppose jobseekers cringe at the thought of writing one resume, so suggesting additional versions (like you said, even with only a “few tweaks in the layout and wording”) can off-put jobseekers who sometimes loathe the resume-writing process. =]
Jobseekers probably wonder about the hubbub, too, especially since resumes are “read” less and less as resume management systems become more dominant within the candidate selection process.
Plus, objective statements are traditionally used by individuals who are entry-level, new graduates, for example. How many different ways can a new grad write an objective statement, especially when that person is targeting only one type of position?
Major tweaking of an objective statement is most important, I believe, when the individual is targeting significantly varying openings. For example, compare the job roles of a Marketing Analyst versus a Sales Rep — similar skills are present within each, of course, but they also possess different tasks as well. Objectives traditionally go beyond a mere target job title, specifying a bit of detail of the jobseeker's current, relevant skill set, or going into the jobseeker's capabilities or educational foundation consistent with the target job title. Does that make sense? Hopefully I explained my thoughts properly.
@teenarose
You should use every opportunity available to you to increase your chances of being hire with a well positioned objective resume
Great advice! Having a few different resumes may sound like a daunting task but it is merely a few tweaks in the layout and wording. If you can't take the time to do this and gear your resume and job search towards a specific job, then what are you wasting your time doing?
You mentioned you advised your clients to do this, what do you do?
Hey Trace. I totally agree. I suppose jobseekers cringe at the thought of writing one resume, so suggesting additional versions (like you said, even with only a “few tweaks in the layout and wording”) can off-put jobseekers who sometimes loathe the resume-writing process. =]
Jobseekers probably wonder about the hubbub, too, especially since resumes are “read” less and less as resume management systems become more dominant within the candidate selection process.
Plus, objective statements are traditionally used by individuals who are entry-level, new graduates, for example. How many different ways can a new grad write an objective statement, especially when that person is targeting only one type of position?
Major tweaking of an objective statement is most important, I believe, when the individual is targeting significantly varying openings. For example, compare the job roles of a Marketing Analyst versus a Sales Rep — similar skills are present within each, of course, but they also possess different tasks as well. Objectives traditionally go beyond a mere target job title, specifying a bit of detail of the jobseeker's current, relevant skill set, or going into the jobseeker's capabilities or educational foundation consistent with the target job title. Does that make sense? Hopefully I explained my thoughts properly.
@teenarose
Shouldn't exceed in two sentences? thanks I will definitely keep this up in mind
What is the first line of our resume that we mention normally as objective?
is it must to mention our objective as we are strongly willing to work for that job?
Thank you very much for your great advice about resume writing .This is very useful to job seekers.
Interesting post Adrienne !!Yes while writing a resume everyone should write a career objective as it is expected by employers. One should write objective in such a way that it shows your expectations from job, what can you give to the company, how the applied job is helpful for you and the most important “Growth” for both you and the company.
That’s a good post, Yes, today it is controversial issue some people agree with this and other are not. Career objective is essential parts of resume. It shows your expectation from job. You can show what can you do. it is always helpful to get your right job. I agree with you, write objective like questioner.