Objective Statements

Including an objective statement is common among resumes, but how often have you taken a close look at what your objective statement actually means and what it says about you ? Normally, objectives are almost thought as a given and that some form of an objective statement must be included in a professional resume. But, most objective statements are self-centered and extremely generic. Not only are most objective statements generic, but they also take up prime real estate on resumes, either located at the top or the center of the resume. The real estate on your resume is a precious resource, don’t waste it with generic tripe that will be glanced over by employers with rolling eyes.

Most objective statements begin something like this, “ Hope to obtain a position that will challenge me to reach my full potential and will  lead to advancement opportunities”. Now there are a few things wrong with these types of objective statements. First, they are self centered. Remember, applying for a job is basically trying to sell yourself to the employers, so do not try to focus your objective statement on yourself. Focus on what you offer to the firm and how you can make their lives easier and more profitable. Second, these types of objective statements invite employers to quickly scan or just skip your objective statement entirely, because they are boring and your employer has probably seen hundreds of objective statements that say the same thing.

Every inch of your resume is a precious resource, because it can potentially lead you to the jobs of your dream , or another day scouring the online job boards, so do not even waste an inch of it. Design an objective statement that focuses on your employers needs, sell yourself, sell your benefits. Ask yourself, what and how does this position help the firm ? Then position your objective statement to match the firms needs.

If the position is IT support, explain how your goal or objective is to effectively use your experience to maintain a smooth network and to aggressively protect the integrity of the firms data. This type of objective statement explains exactly how your goals match the needs of the firm, which will make them excited about you, “Finally after thousands of resumes, we finally found somebody that has the goals that we seek !”, they will say.

Hopefully this post will encourage you to examine the often neglected objective statement and to better position your resume to sell yourself to employers.