The Impact of a Resume Objective Statement

A quick review of articles, blogs and books on resume writing techniques reveals two philosophies regarding the use of resume objective statements. One philosophy cautions against the use of a resume objective because it limits the potential job opportunities the resume owner could be considered for. The other philosophy recommends the use of a resume objective statement because it assists recruiters who are looking for a job candidate with a specific set of skills and experience.

On the face of the matter, both of these philosophies sound sensible. But when they are considered in the context of the today's job market, which is best described as weak-to-moderate demand and possesses a lot of available talent, a one-size-fits-all philosophy regarding resume objective statements may be unwise. So, let us examine in this piece a resume with three types of objective statements: none, weak and strong. How do these three approaches impact the resume in terms of its ability to attract a busy recruiter in a competitive field of qualified candidates.

No Objective: Resumes written with no objective statement are like college compositions or essays without a theme statement. That is, they are difficult to begin because without a distinct theme, they lack a clear purpose or direction. Without a clear direction, the writer has a tendency to include irrelevant information. Perhaps the most egregious example of irrelevant information included on a resume is marital status. More common types are hobbies or personal biographies. Sometimes this information was included on resume in the distant past when it was common to have a mere handful of job candidates sourced through newspaper ads and the adherence of EEO guidelines was perhaps lax. However, today's generation of recruiters are seeking specific skill sets that match the requirements of a client's job requisition. When there are too many lines of irrelevant information in a resume, it is harder to skim, read or digest rapidly. In other words, the resume has a lot of "static" and has a greater likelihood of being set aside.

Weak Objective: One of the most common objective statements on resumes is written in the general form of  "I am seeking a career opportunity where I can use my skills to the benefit of the organization." There are different iterations of this type of objective statement that may include the type of skills or the desire to add new skills as the result of being hired. This type of objective is weak because it is a job seeker centered objective statement, rather than an employer-centered statement. In other words, it is written from the job seeker's viewpoint and in terms of what the job seeker wants from an employer. While most employers like to know at some point in the hiring process what job seekers like to do in order to hire someone who enjoys her/his job, during the sourcing process, most recruiters are attempting to target job candidates who are likely to satisfy the needs of the employer first. A weak objective statement is an improvement over a resume with no objective. At least the job seeker is focused on his/her need to identify or communicate relevant job skills. Hence, this type of resume will not have as serious of an irrelevancy problem as the "no objective" resume. But since it is written from the viewpoint of the job seeker, it will tend to be written as a personal career biography. In other words, it will be a job history document rather than a comprehensive, job marketing document. Since it will be crafted only in terms of what a specific job seeker has experienced, it may lack communicating the full range of capabilities of a job seeker. Compared to other qualified job seekers with either more experience or a more comprehensive delineation of capabilities, the job candidate may risk being passed over.

Strong Objective: This type of objective statement is commonly called the "targeted objective" for a resume that is written for an employer in a specific industry who is seeking a job candidate with a specific skill set or job role experience. A common way to craft this type of objective is "I am seeking a career opportunity as administrative assistant in the financial services industry where computer proficiencies in MS Word, Excel and Access are critical." This statement provides a very detailed portrait of what the job seeker hopes to provide to the employer upon hiring. In this respect, it is an employer-centered objective. It communicates in a direct and confident manner that invites a recruiter to spend more time with the resume. In this way, it is much more of an effective job marketing tool. But the primary impact of the strong objective is that it sets the rhetorical control (theme) of the resume and holds all the resume components together in a cohesive fashion. Each section of the resume -- summary, profile, experience, education -- will be written such that they will support this strong objective. This type of resume can be skimmed very fast and its information is easy to digest. It has a greater likelihood of receiving a callback simply because it is both persuasive and has maximum market differentiation. The common complaint is that the strong objective is much too specific and will prematurely eliminate the job candidate from other open positions. This complaint does not necessarily reflect reality. When a recruiter sees a candidate who really stands out from other candidates, the recruiter is likely to contact the candidate to begin building a relationship.