Should a Job Resume Start With an Objective?
One of the quickest ways for a résumé to find its way to the round file, or the no thanks stack, is to start it out with the ho-hum, everybody does it, old school approach of The Objective. The Objective – the phrase sounds like it should be the name or the title of some drama based TV show or motion picture. When it comes to a job résumé, everybody knows what the objective is – and that is to get a job – wrong (tricked ya), it is to get an interview. Don’t bring drama into your résumé with The Objective – or you run the risk of the reader turning your résumé into a small basketball used to shoot three pointers at the buzzer from the comfort of the office chair. This is not going to get you any closer to your personal goal of getting hired.
To effectively start the bridging process, taking you from where you are in your job search process to where you want to go, the résumé opening needs to start out with some real POP. It needs to set the tone of who you are, what you do, and why you are good (or the best) at what you do. If you don’t immediately start to differentiate yourself from other jobseekers, then the odds of you getting noticed start to drop faster than the stock market.
Results-Oriented, Self-Starting, Motivated, Great Communication, and Good Time Management are all samples of what not to include in the opening of a résumé. Why? Because, these are traits or actions that are fundamental and basically expected of every employee, so you should avoid using these general phrases and elevate the content to a higher level.
Think of it this way – if you could make the opening of your résumé read like a well designed billboard along a busy city street, what would you have it say?
Do you have career, job search, résumé, networking or interview questions? If you want to remain anonymous in your job search, feel free to send your questions to my personal email. I will do my best to answer as many questions as possible (including in my blog) while keeping the sources of questions confidential.
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Tags: career change, How to Write a Resume, Job Search, job transition, resume help, resume writing