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Are Resume Objectives Passé
Nimish Thakkar, MS, MBA,
CCMC, CPRW, SaiCareers.com,
New York
December 22, 2005
An issue that has
divided opinions -- of career professionals and employers alike -- has
been the use of
resume objective statements on
resumes. Despite the
widespread debate on their usefulness (or not), there appears to be a
lack of clear consensus and the issue remains inconclusive at large.
Are
job seekers to continue using
resume objective statements? Or not? How to
write them? Well,
the decision to use
resume objectives is an individual one. If used, you must
always write an objective statement that does justice to your background;
avoid using
generic verbiage that appears like everyone else’s. Almost every
resume I read, has an objective that reads to the following effect:
Dynamic, motivated, hard-working professional seeking a position as
------- and opportunities that will be mutually beneficial … has a
proven track record …
If an HR professional,
recruiter, or hiring manager reviews a hundred
resumes with objectives like the one above, what was the purpose
served? If everyone was motivated and hard-working, a random selection
would then suffice, saving hiring managers countless hours of research and
interviewing.
Once you write your introduction (or objective), consider the
following questions: Did the objective differentiate you from other
candidates? Did it illustrate how you can make a difference to your
new employer? Did it quickly -- but powerfully -- summarize your
background? Did it describe how you made a difference in your previous
positions? Did it entice the reader to read further? If not, you need
to re-think your strategy. Even though I am of the opinion that the
entire
resume must be well done, I give special emphasis to the
introduction (whether you call it an objective, a header, or something
else). If the introduction is powerful enough, the reader will be
motivated to read through the rest of the document; or else, like most
resumes, yours will be abandoned without further reading.
Let’s consider the case of a project manager with the following
background: 15 years’ experience, few awards, PMP certification, MBA
from Harvard, and strong technical skills. I might use an introduction
that starts the
resume along the following lines:
AWARD-WINNING,
TECHNICALLY PROFICIENT PROJECT MANAGER
Offering 15+ years’ extensive experience, a distinguished track
record with Fortune 500 companies; demonstrated abilities in leading
multi-million dollar projects (from start to finish) -- on-schedule
and under-budget; qualified by PMP certification and an MBA from
Harvard
Do visit our
samples resumes section to review a few
more examples.
What is the first thing you notice in a newspaper story? The headline,
right? If the headline is interesting, you will consider reading what
follows or else move on the something else. The preceding example
though not an objective, serves a similar purpose and an alternative
to the cookie-cutter versions that flood most
resume banks.
To summarize, whether to use an objective or a different form of
introduction is an individual choice. What you use, however, must be
crafted to grab attention and to differentiate you from the hundreds
of
job seekers vying for the same position.
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We hope you enjoyed
the following article: "Are Resume Objectives Passé."
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