The Objective Statement: Unique and Effective

About the objective statement

As you may already know, the career objective on many standard resumes is often listed as just “objective;” but such a listing is, in fact, a statement of your career goals, and the message intended is generally a simple one: that you want to get a good job which will allow you to utilize your experience and education in a way that will maximize your earnings.

However, this is the most difficult part of a resume to compose, based on the restriction of one to two sentences in which you are expected to convey your professional expertise.

In other words, conveying a clear and concise message which includes expectations from a job and an organization, as well as goals for your professional growth in a space of only one to two sentences is really not an easy thing to do, unless uniquely descriptive terms are used; and in order to use such terms you will probably need to devote extra time to consulting your dictionary and thesaurus several times during the process.

This exercise can almost be compared to getting an intelligent point across in 140 characters; and we all know that many of those tweets are a far cry from intelligent.

Misconceptions about the objective

The extra time, study and frustration involved in composing an effective objective statement cause many people to make the mistake (often repeated) of not listing one at all, thereby relegating themselves to join those who operate under the false assumption that an objective statement is not necessary in a resume, because it states the obvious: that your objective is to get the job for which you are applying.

But such exclusion and rationalization is misconceived, because employers are looking for an objective since they want to know what you are really looking for in order to determine whether or not you’re a good match for their company.

Another common mistake many individuals make when preparing their resume is including a career objective that doesn’t actually express their goals and qualification. For example, a statement like the one which follows is commonly used in resumes:

“To obtain a position where my experience and education can be utilized and expanded.” But take a closer look at this statement and you’ll find it doesn’t say anything specific about what is being sought in terms of professional growth.

Generic statements send wrong message

When preparing your resume, make it a point to avoid the use of generic statements like the one above; because such statements will hurt you more than help you in your job search. Using such statements will cause your potential employer to be be left with an impression that you don’t have a set a goal in mind, which essentially defeats your purpose for preparing a well-written resume in the first place; don’t you agree?

By now, and in view of the above, you should have a pretty good idea of what not to do about including or omitting an objective statement on your resume; but how about some ideas that could be helpful in your day-to-day resume preparation tasks and job search goals?

The following paragraphs consist of a few ideas you may find helpful when creating your own winning career objective that should get your well-written resume noticed and get your foot in the door.

Objective statement writing tips

First – Make your career objective personal. In other words, think of your whole resume as a sales tool with your career objective as your opening statement; because you want your employer to know what you want, and not just restate what other people want.

Second – You want to state your commitment to your career goal; because if you are unsure of what you want, how is your employer expected to believe that you really want the job at their organization, and you are not just applying because you want to get out of your current work environment? Don’t be afraid to state what you want from a job and from an organization.

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Third – While you want to state your commitment, you also want to show that you are willing to take action to achieve your goal; so indicate what direction or action you are willing to take in order to accomplish your career objective.

Fourth – What might be the most important factor in a successful career objective is being specific about what you are looking for in a work situation; because while you can say that you are looking for a “challenging” environment, this doesn’t mean anything to your employer, since people define challenges in various ways. So avoid using generic and broad terms and simply state what you want, as well as what you’re willing to do to get it.

Sample: An effective objective statement

Keeping these criteria in mind, let’s revise the above career objective statement so that it effectively states what you want:

“To obtain a position of a sales representative in a health insurance industry, where I can utilize my management and customer relations skills, with the opportunity for performance-based advancement.”

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The above statement – revised from the earlier generic one – tells a potential employer that you know what kind of job you want, what experience you have in order to get the position, and what you are willing do to become a successful professional with the company.

Thus, you have just created an effective objective statement which transforms into a winning career objective to enhance your resume and increase your chances of landing the job you really want.