Do You Need an Objective?
Do you need an objective on your resume?
This is a highly debated topic in the career coaching world. I know, lame that we debate these type of topics. However, you may be debating this very topic for your own resume. Here are some pros to why you might choose to include one.
1. You are showing the employer that you have tailored your resume. Usually an objective goes right under your heading on your resume so that means it’s starting off showing that employer, right away, that you have done some work to your resume and aren’t just submitting the exact same resume to 500 employers. Of course this is probably an exaggeration. It’s nice for them to know that you’re invested enough in the position to spend the time to change a part of your resume specifically for the job. You should also be tailoring the rest of your resume, so if you need help with this come to a resume workshop or appointment.
2. You can show you have some of the key skills they are looking to fill. If you can look at a job posting and narrow down a few skills that they seem to really be searching for this can help you show off what you have that they need. A tip for figuring out the top few skills is to copy and paste the entire job description into a word cloud. Use your own judgement and research to be sure these are good skills to choose to highlight. Make sure you are confident in the skills you say you have. It’s always a good idea to be honest with your skills on your resume, and in an interview.
3. It can fill up space if you are lacking content to fill an entire page. When you are first creating a resume for professional positions, or even part time positions, you may not have enough content to fill one full page. That’s ok though, because you have an objective that can help you fill up the page, and add helpful content for the employer to see (see above tips). Conversely, once you have more experience, activities, honors, etc. you may want to remove the objective because you have more relevant things to fill the space on your resume.
If you are struggling with what to include or NOT include on your resume please make an appointment with us in Handshake, view our resume content online, come to a resume workshop, or view our resume workshop on our YouTube channel.