Just Say “No” to a Resume Objective!
Many people still begin their resume with an objective statement. In this opening statement, they tell the employer what they are looking for (“seeking an opportunity to use my sales skills with a growing company”). My question is always: why? Why are you telling them that?
Why should the employer – a total stranger – care about your objective? She shouldn’t, and she doesn’t!
An objective is all about you (“seeking employment with a progressive company with strong growth plans blah blah) but your resume should be all about the employer.
If that’s sound counter-intuitive, think about this. The employer is hiring people to fill a business need. She wants to know how you will help to meet that need. An objective does nothing to tell her that.
So change the focus of your resume from yourself to the employer. Start with a value statement – something that shows her why she has to hire you.
Try something like: “Sales Manager with 10 years experience in the widget industry” or “Marketing Executive who drives double-digit revenue gains” or “Customer service rep who has won 5 awards for excellence in just 3 years.” (Note: it is important to state what type of position you’re targeting right up front just to make sure the hiring manager is clear on that).
Decide what will make you most attractive to your target employers, and then lead your resume with that information. It’s so much more effective to share your value rather than your personal goals.
Read more about Resume Writing.
About the Author
Louise Fletcher
I completely agree! Objectives can even hurt a candidate, when they’re not related to the job being applied for (which is often the case).
Personally, I prefer – and use – a profile statement or “value statement” as you described above. However, if I work with students on creating objective statements, the statements we craft DO emphasize what value the student can bring to the employer. I completely discourage writing statements that emphasize what the student hopes to get from the employer, but rather emphasize what skills/experiences the student brings to the table. I tell students to think of the objective as something like a thesis statement(familiar territory for many students). I ask them to state the type of position (a summer internship), the type of organization (a history museum), and the skills/experience they have to offer (curatorial experience, archives training and knowledge of museum database software) that will be useful for this specific employer and this specific position. The rest of the resume acts to PROVE, with evidence, that the student has the skills/experience/knowledge they claim to possess in the objective statement. For students who have a variety of work experience that’s (on the surface) unrelated to their chosen field, an objective statement can help them bring focus to the resume.
Grace I think you and I are using the same approach just calling it something different. I still see your ‘objective’ as a value statement since they’re expressing how they will add value. I too do something similar with clients who are recent graduates.
Louise, yes, as I was writing my comment, I was beginning to think this was a matter of semantics than anything else. =)
Thanks for this great article, though. I’ve been sharing it with a number of colleagues!
Great example. You can also use the term “Career Summary” or “Qualifications Profile”, just to be a little different.
Oops, typo in my link! lol
Louise, I agree with you. I like starting a resume with “value to the employer”! As a hiring manager, especally now when one opening can generate dozens of resumes, I want to see the value to me quickly. I’m much more likely to keep reading the resume.