Good Resume Objective for Effective Resume

What is Resume Objective?

The resume objective is the resume statement to discuss your career plan with the employer. This section should be written in compliance with what the employer is looking for. It is always present in the beginning of resume immediately after the contact details of the applicant. When you are writing the resume objectives, make sure that it is in accordance with your applied job profile and don't provide any vague details in it. Here we discuss the tips for customizing the objective for resume and making it more relevant and job specific.

This is an important section in resume. It tells the recruiter about the short term goals of the applicant that he has set in order to accomplish self growth along with benefiting the company. It is recommended to write your objective statement in two-three lines and do not exceed it; however you can also list the summary of your career profile instead of the objective statement.

Need of Resume Objective

This section is present in the initial part of the resume. It introduces the candidate to the employer. It is the appropriate place to convince the employer that you are most suitable applicant for the position and you can handle the responsibilities very well than any other applicant. A poorly written objective statement can take away your job opportunity and land you in trouble. It is important for you to include all the related information in your resume and design your career objective in an outstanding way as it is in the beginning part. You need to spend considerable amount of time writing your objective. You need to outline your strengths, abilities, and job relevant qualifications and compare them with the requirements of your prospective profile.

The main purpose of including this section is to increase your chances of getting positive response from the employer. Your objective must encourage the employer to read the resume further. If effectively written, this section can make a great impact on the employer. It is also important to keep in mind the requirements of the applied position and design your objective accordingly. When you are applying for any position in the company, your first task is to know the skills and qualifications required for this position. See whether these criterion's are satisfied by you. Knowing these basic requirements of any job, you can design an effective objective. In this section, you need to tell the employer what your goals are and how you are going to achieve these goals. Also, while achieving these goals how the company can get benefited.

When you have limited work experience, this section can divert the attention of the employer and he may neglect your least job specific experience and call you to discuss further details. When looking for hopping jobs, you can focus on the qualities that can help you in your prospective profile. Your accomplishments, abilities and special traits must all reflect in a single objective statement and it must convince the employer in an effective way.

How to write the Objective for Resume?

When you are writing the objective in the resume, make sure that this statement does not exceed a sentence or two. It can however include up to three sentences. Clearly mention the position you are seeking in the organization and focus on how you can benefit the organization rather than how you will benefit from the organization.

The very first sentence should reflect that you are the most appropriate candidate and you can make considerable changes in the organization and benefit the company.

When can you use the Resume Objective?

You can use the resume objective when you are targeting any particular job. If you are writing the resume for generic purpose, to apply for variety of jobs, you can use summary of qualifications instead of objective statement.

People with 1-2 years of experience must use the objective statement in their resumes. Also, entry level applicants, recent graduates, people changing their careers, mothers returning to work after long time, people with diverse work experience, etc. can all use the objective statement in their resumes.

It is good to stay prepared with different resumes written for different jobs. You cannot use the same resume objectives for these resumes. Hence, it is important to know how to write this for different positions and use it accordingly.

How to Write Powerful Objectives

Objectives are specific statements that describeoutputs or results to be achieved. They are quantifiable, observable achievements that can be measured. Objectives do not tell what activities are needed to implement the objectives.

Effective objectives should answer the question "What do I want to have happen as a result?" The answer to this question should not be a list of activities that may not produce the desired end result. Avoid the activity trap. They should also:

    Focus on and describe the desired outcome.
    Support the Company's vision and business strategy and your employee's performance plan and career objectives.
    Stretch the employee, but are realistic and achievable within a specific time frame.
    Are capable of being measured or observed.

An easy way of developing objectives is to use the SMART criteria:

1. SPECIFIC - The objective should be easily understood and targeted. It should be concrete, not vague or abstract. It should create a clear picture of the end result. Avoid the use of adverbs - e.g. more, less, quickly - since they are not specific. Always start with an action verb.

2. MEASURABLE - The objective should be measurable in terms of evaluating progress in meeting strategic business and professional development objectives. "How will my results be measured?"

Measurements taken over a period of time reveal trends in the business, representing progress toward improvement or a drop in profitability and productivity. Measurement provides information to maintain a correct course of action. The end result helps us manage the quality improvement process in a more effective manner.

Some typical measures include direct counts - e.g. dollar volume, overtime costs, number of units, number of defects or ratios - e.g. percentage of schedules met on time, cycle time reduction.

3. ATTAINABLE - Although objectives should stretch and challenge your employee's capabilities, they must be within reach. Your employees can become frustrated if expectations are beyond their reach. In fact, if an objective is too high, they might give up and ask, "What's the use?" Objectives shouldn't be too low either. They need to be challenging.

Objectives should also be within the employee's influence. They need to include expectations that the employee has control over. For example, any revenue objectives should reflect how much influence a person has on sales. Or, if a team commits to accomplishing a project or segment of a project that requires data or support from other partners, the objective should be stated as such.

4 RESULTS ORIENTED - The objective should be worth doing. For example, there should be benefits to internal or external customers. It should also align with each of the objectives that have been established by your work unit or business (vertical alignment) and/or aligned with your customer's expectations (horizontal alignment).

5. TIME DATED - Objectives should be realistic and achievable within a specific time frame. There should be a deadline for completion of the objective.

Writing SMART objectives is the first step in achieving success. In next month's newsletter, I'll provide you with some practical tips on how you can accomplish your objectives.

Dave Hagel is a Certified Human Resources Professional and President of High Performance Human Resources, a company that specializes in developing tomorrow's leaders. You can reach him at dave@highperformancehr.ca or visit his website at http://www.highperformancehr.ca

Why Writing Objectives for a Resume Should Be Taken Seriously

Take for an instance that there are two employees applying to be operations manager of the same company. Both have strong credentials and impressive working experience that the employer cannot decide which one they should hire. So for good deliberation, they reviewed the two resumes.

One reads on the very first section, the objectives, written: "Seeking for a job that will best suit my background and interests." Then the other reads: "Efficient, goal-oriented civil engineer looking for a post where 5-years experience as an operations supervisor will be of great value."

Who among the two prospects do you think will they hire?

Even if the said situation seldom occurs in companies and employers, just consider how human resource personnel ever endured to reading cover letters with the same intent over and over again. Boring eh? Well, even HR's are humans. Most of them might pay just little attention to the cover letters and proceed to focus on your resume.

Yes you may assume that your letters will be read but that does not guarantee that it will be given full attention by the employers. And what will happen if in case it was lost on the desks of the HR? Of course, they will refer to your objectives to see which particularly is your intent, to know what you want from them so as to make sure that they evaluating you based on the qualifications of the right post.

This also comes of big help especially when an applicant only has few experiences for the job. The section is where you can justify your application. It is where you can explain what you can contribute despite being an entry-level candidate.

Creating a compelling description of your aim will help you set in your best foot for tough competitions in the job market. Likewise, it is the only section where you could expressly promote yourself as the best candidate for the position. Writing a well-composed purpose section will always be a critical advantage to applicants who are:

· Contending for artistic careers, where the extent of the creative abilities of the applicant does not reflect much on his experiences. Elaborating how one's expertise will help the organization can do wonders.

· Trying to enter a new career path. Indicating what your previous experiences can introduce to the business can be a plus point. It is highly advised to elucidate how the assortment of your skills will positively affect the way you work.

· Targeting a particular post. If you are a writer, here's where you should indicate what specific tasks are you expert at, so that the hiring manager won't guess whether to group you in an artistic section or in a technical one.

Writing objectives for a resume does not only give an applicant the chance to endorse himself. It also keeps them away from the pitfall of sending aimless information that will confuse the employer where to put you in the company.

Kate Ross-Myers works for a New-York based human resources magazine. She has a broad experience in preparing resource materials on hiring, recruitment, and training. Kate also speaks on forums and conventions on employee wellness and growth.

Writing Resumes - Resume Objectives Give Your Resume Focus

When writing resumes, consider a resume objective. Resume objectives can give your resume focus, so it stands out in the stack.

What are resume objectives?

Appearing near the top of your resume, these statements tell an employer why they received your resume, what position or area of work you desire, and your qualifications.

Should you use an objective statement on your resume?

There is an age-old argument of whether one should be included on a resume.

On the positive, resume objectives help give your resume a focus and a target.

On the negative: narrow resume objectives can be used by employers to eliminate a candidate, and often objectives are over-used, generic, and state the obvious.

Setting these valid arguments aside, the real question to ask is:

Should your resume have a focus in order to increase your odds of landing a job interview and getting the position?

The answer is emphatically, YES!

Imagine being a hiring manager with a stack of 100 resumes to go through for a position - with none of them with objective statements on them or having no real focus. How would you choose the right candidate?

If your resume has a clear focus using a resume objective statement, yours will stand out.

Or imagine the worst case that your resume is one of the few in that stack that has no clear focus? Your resume would likely be tossed immediately, even if you were the most qualified candidate.

Your best bet is to write an objective statement for each general type of position you are seeking, and write it more as a qualification brief, summary or profile that is specific to that position.