Have you submitted your resume about ten trillion times and … got no response? Are you sure you have top notch credentials, beyond reproach references, an impeccable work history, and even reasonable salary requirements? If so, your problem is not the content of the resume. It’s your objective statement.
Simply put, you have less than ten seconds to impress anyone reading your resume. And that’s in good times! Now, with an estimated 7.5% unemployment rate nationwide, it is vital to have the right tools, in the right place, at the precise time. There are no second chances. Those less than ten seconds from a year ago have been severely reduced to less than five seconds! With hundreds of resumes for each hiring manager to review, you need to maximize your chances for success.
What exactly is an objective statement? It is your personal 5 second marketing advertisement. It is your chance to state in a few simple sentences exactly what you are looking for in your next position. It is found right at the top of your resume, directly under your contact information.
You need to be as clear and as precise as possible. Don’t make people guess at what you want to do! If the objective statement is not clear, it just shows you really have no idea what you want, or worse, you are willing to do just about anything to get a job.
A hiring manager typically looks for the objective statement right away. He knows that a well written statement will tell him immediately whether you are a viable candidate. For instance, if he has one opening for a customer service supervisor on the night shift, and your objective statement says you definitely must only work the night shift, he knows right away that you might be just what he’s looking for, and will definitely go ahead and read through the rest of your resume. On the other hand, if your objective statement says you are no longer interested in customer service and you prefer to go back to tech support, so be it. Again, he knows it won’t be a good match for either of you.
What is important for you to know is that you can’t try to, and shouldn’t want to, please everyone. Don’t write generic statements hoping to gain the interest of many hiring managers. This does nothing but backfire on you.
A statements such as, “I am looking for a job where I can utilize my past experience and grow with the company” means absolutely nothing, and offers no insight into who you are or what you want. This statement could be made by a secretary, a web designer, an interior decorator, a magazine editor, or a nuclear physicist. If a manager gets this far on your resume it will be tossed, deleted, ignored, or even laughed at. You just wasted your time and blew your only chance to impress the one person who might have wanted to interview you.
A statement that explains exactly what you are hoping to find in your next position and company is absolutely invaluable as you persevere through the job hunting process. Let’s say you are an account executive who happens to be tired of traveling 90% of the time. That’s OK! If you are still interested in sales, you can tell managers right up front that you don’t want to travel that much anymore. It would be something like this: ”Having been an award winning account executive for the past eight years for the southeast territory, I now prefer a more office oriented position that would afford me the opportunity to increase your customer base without being on the road almost constantly.” This is perfect acceptable and much appreciated by anyone reading your resume. When a manager sees this he will know right away whether he should call you or not.
If not, that’s OK! You don’t want to waste your time at an interview for a job you don’t really want, right? If he really needs someone on the road all the time, there’s no sense in going any further.
Here’s an excellent example of someone who had such a useless objective statement that when she was called about an interview, she was upset because she would be interviewing for a job she didn’t even want! A resume was received by a hiring manager of a large computer firm. The resume was two pages of admin position after admin position. Nice titles, great qualifications. The objective statement merely said, “I am looking to grow with a company.” The hiring manager thought this was wonderful and had an opening working for a department manager. When he called to speak to the woman about this particular job, she all but screamed at him, “I don’t want a secretary job again! I want to get into your marketing internship program!”
She broke every rule and did everything wrong! A useless objective statement is just as bad as none at all. She wasted her time, she wasted an opportunity to perhaps even get invited to join the program (she should have stated that in her objective statement!), and she wasted the time of the hiring manager. The sad part was she had the exact qualifications of someone they had intended to invite into their marketing internship program. All because of a useless objective statement!
Simple rules:
- 2 or 3 concise, to the point, sentences
- Don’t be vague about anything
- Don’t try to please everyone
- Have a friend read it. Does he know exactly what you want to do based only on your objective statement?
Marie Duffoo owns and operates Miami Writing Machine, a leading provider of quality writing services. For projects requiring writing, copyediting, proofing, ghostwriting, or web content, you can can contact her through [http://miamiwritingmachine.books.officelive.com] Fast turnaround, reasonable rates, exceptional results.
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