Writing an Objective

A growing trend in new resumes is to give short shrift to or eliminate "objective" heading altogether. Here are some compelling reasons to include this very important career statement in your resume and a top-10 tips list for writing a memorable one.

Seizing an opportunity to submit as many applications as possible, some job applicants are omitting traditional objective statement element within their resumes. Rewriting objectives to accommodate every possibility seems challenging, while including over-generalized statements seems to do more harm than good. Nevertheless, when one considers real purpose of an objective, inclusion of it appears to be mandatory.

Whether written as "Career Goal", "Objective", or "Position Desired", time honored first statement is still worthy of its place in a successful resume. When a cover letter cannot be submitted, objective statement may be job seeker's only chance to introduce himself. Traditionally, objective statement has served two purposes. The first obvious purpose is to state clearly for record, what type of position an applicant desires. Second, this introductory sentence suggests to potential employer what type of skill set or qualifications applicant has. A third purpose for an announced career goal, one that is frequently misunderstood or under utilized all together, is implied employer benefits, or "what's in it for my company" angle.

Stating your career objective should include a real job title whenever possible. Sentences that skirt concrete job names, such as, "...seeking a position in marketing...", suggests two things to reader; one, applicant has no idea about what types of jobs may be available in marketing and two, applicant is desperate, and willing to take any job. Eagerness is good. Desperation is fatal.

Defining position desired is much more effective when company's own job titles are used, such as, "...seeking a Sales Management position..." or "...pursuing an entry-level Public Relations Specialist position...". If you are responding to an advertisement that you have seen, use terminology in ad, otherwise, do a little digging. A business's website can be very helpful for locating job title information specific to company with which you want to apply. Admittedly, it takes a little more effort to customize and rewrite each objective to match a potential employer's need, but benefits will outweigh time spent.

Capturing your qualifications in a one or two sentence resume objective can be a challenge, but by using identified job title combined with a descriptive term such as, "experienced" or "certified", challenge is easily met. Think about your skill set in broad terms. Are your employment skills developed in areas of administration? In sales? Perhaps you have been employed as a carpenter. Are you skilled in cabinet making or exterior framing? Identifying your general abilities will give you some good leading sentences for your career objective, even in cases where you are looking to change careers. Consider following examples:

It has been truly said, and history confirms, that growth of United States is due more to independent creative thinkers than to scholars and statesmen. We seldom consciously think about it, but we all share that unique capacity to THINK and are born with a potential of greatness that exceeds our wildest imagination.

We can all identify with French philosopher Rene Descartes who, as far back as 15th century, made a great discovery and announced to world, "Cogito ergo sum"...."I think therefore I am". We, too, upon awakening this morning, became aware of irrefutable fact that we are each an individual thinking entity. It is axiomatic that as conscious thinking individuals we have capacity to control and change our experiences by simply making disciplined choices as to what we think and how we think. All growth and achievement, prosperity and freedom is predicated more on creative thinking than on any other cause.

Creative thinking is defined by Webster as, "the ability to be productive through imaginative skills" and he defines imagination as, "the forming of mental images or ideas". Ideas are an omnipresent component of thinking process. Indeed, thinking is comprised of ideas. Ideas are not something that exists somewhere external to our thinking; they are already resident in mind, or consciousness, of each individual. We each have an unlimited inventory of ideas but we often find it impossible to find just right idea when we need it.

How, then, does one access flow of ideas in order that we may achieve success, prosperity and freedom to which we all aspire?

First, let's realize that this creative mental phenomenon functions separate and apart from conscious reasoning process. It is opening of thought to a dimension of awareness that involves perceptive capacities and an intuitive sense that cannot be measured or predicted. It is known and recognized only by its effects.