Write an Effective Resume Objective

An effective resume objective immediately captures the hiring manager's attention. It tells them that you are seeking the job they are offering.

The objective is generally 1-2 sentences long. One sentence is best. If you have enough to say in more than two sentences, perhaps you should consider a career summary instead.

Be specific. Tell the employer exactly what position you want or what career field you want to work in. This will increase your chances of being considered for the position.

Customize your job objective to the position you are applying for.

You have less than ten seconds to make a good impression with your objective. Take your time to get it right.

A hiring manager may receive hundreds, sometimes thousands of resumes for one position, so he or she won't have the time to figure out what your interests are or what job you want.

You have to tell them. Be clear and concise and tell them what you want. This will increase your chances of being considered for the job.

The resume objective serves two purposes. It:

• Tells the employer specifically which position you are seeking.
• Indicates that you are clear about what opportunities are available within the company.

  When possible, check the company's website to determine what positions are available. Their websites are great tools for deciding which position(s) the company has to offer.

The resume objective contains four parts:

• Position title
• Skills you plan to use in the position
• What you can do for the company
• Field or industry

The following chart can be used to build your job objective. The left-hand column (Column A) identifies the four parts mentioned above.

Instructions:

Easy enough? Let's give it a try!

Substitute the information in Column B with your own information.

Example # 1 - Customer Service

Once you fill in the blanks, you can use that information to build your resume objective as follows:

Job Objective: Customer Service Representative in the healthcare industry, looking to apply superior customer service and communication skills to strengthen customer relations.

Example # 2 - Management

Notice how each of the items in Column B are blended together to form the resume objective as follows:

Job Objective: Regional Manager focused on increasing automotive sales through the development and motivation of a dynamic team of direct reports.

Example # 3 - Sales

Remember to be as specific as possible.

Job Objective: Independent sales representative with a proven track record of sales results, will apply 6 years of outside sales experience to substantially increase property and casualty insurance sales.

• Avoid the word "I." This could be perceived as being self-centered. It's not about you. It's about the company. Tell the hiring manager what you can do for the company, not what you want for yourself.
• If you are applying for more than one position, create a separate objective for each position, based on what each company is looking for. This is extremely important. A hiring manager is likely to ignore a generic job objective.
• If you need help understanding what the company is looking for, review the job description. Job descriptions are filled with keywords that you can use in your objective. Tailor your resume to show that you can do what the job description asks for.

This means you may have more than one resume - one for each objective. The extra time spent creating more than one objective will be well worth the effort to increase your chances of a call for an interview.

Before you make a final decision to create an objective, take a few minutes to decide whether a career summary may be a better fit for your resume. Click here to find out the difference between the two.

This is your first opportunity to interest the hiring manager. So take the time to get it just right, regardless of which option you choose.

Now, let's move on to the Work Experience section.

Other resume sections:

• Contact Information
• Resume Statement
• Career Summary
• Work Experience
• Education
• Skills
• Optional Sections