How To Be Objective In Writing

Ms. Inglish is a successful Employment & Training pro, setting Midwest regional records with tens of thousands placed in gainful employment.

Writing a meaningful objective for a resume can delay the completion of the document. Don't let this happen to you.

Markus Winkler

What Is a Resume Objective?

Composing a meaningful resume objective—or objective statement—can be a roadblock to completing the remainder of a resume, especially on the first resume a new job seeker prepares.

From time to time, professional resume writers counsel their clients not to use objectives on any type of resume. However, an objective is highly useful if a job seeker is looking for a career change.

The objective, in this case, can be used to show how the worker's skills and achievements can transition directly and fruitfully into a new career field. For the new college graduate, the objective explains in short order exactly what type of position the job seeker is pursuing and often, where. In some types of resumes, a longer profile or executive summary may be needed instead of or even with an objective section.

The key word is "meaningful."

The composition of this objective statement can be very challenging, because many people simply do not know what to include in the statement. These individuals sometimes resort to over-used objectives given them by friends, sample resumes, or out-of-date resume preparation books.

An Effective Objective Is:

Specific—including the position you seek and your relevant qualifications,
Meaningful—not just an empty phrase or sentence,
Composed of proper grammar and spelling,
Illustrate clearly your personal brand, and
Include what you can do for the potential employer.

It may also include your own goals, but not at the expense of highlighting your outstanding potential contributions to your new boss. The objective should not be trite, fawning, arrogant, incoherent, overly long, or too simplistic.

The Objective as a Haiku

A clear objective will lead employers to you like a street sign. Writing an objective is a little like writing a Haiku poem—it should be brief but contain substantial information in meaning-packed words.

Tailor your objective and your entire resume and cover letter to specific companies and agencies—even to specific job openings. Keep a master resume as a template that you can pull up and change quickly as you need targeting adjustments for different positions.

Use NAMES—Names like specific job titles, industries or industry clusters, and career fields.

Match your most relevant qualifications to those required by a specific company or agency in a job title and/or industry. Take time to research the company well enough to learn what is required by the company culture and the job title in which you are interested. In this way, you can perform a proper matching of your qualifications with company requirements in your objective.

Other Designations for the Objective Statement

The Objective may be called any of these titles:

Objective
Objective Statement
Career Objective
Personal Profile
Professional Profile
Profile
Professional Goal

Another good one:

Professional Purpose

The titles of career objective, professional profile, and especially professional purpose help to establish the job seeker as a person that is serious about doing good work, exceeding standards, making a difference in the world, and developing a strong, recognizable personal brand and professional personality.

Good Reasons to Use an Objective

Placement and Samples of Objectives

The Objective is a signpost for "For Sale Sign" on places immediately below the contact information listed at the top of a resume. An effective objective will sell you to the person reading the resume and make them want to know more. For example, the top of the first page of a successful resume might look like this:

Randall Smith

12345 Oak St., City, US State Zip Code * (123) 456-7890 * smithpro@ex_ail.com

OBJECTIVE: To secure a responsible position as a Network Systems Administrator with a leading American corporation or agency and contribute my superior experience, insight and business results via continued growth, expansion, and profits.

Sample Objective Statements

On a USA Federal resume, the objective is simply:

Job Title and Vacancy Announcement Number: _______________________ (fill in the blank)

Outside of federal resumes, some effective objectives are the following:

Professional Profile

Committed to continuous improvement in Sales and Marketing through professionalism that consistently breaks sales and profit records. Highly organized, innovative, beats deadlines and exceeds company sales goals. Attentive to detail and follow-up, with superior written and verbal communication skills.

Profile

A success-driven professional that combines a strong Personal Brand of communication skills with uncommon success in Human Resources, Training, and Business Consulting in Information Technology to maximize client productively and profits.

Objective: A summer internship in the area of Sales and Marketing.

Career Objective

A position as a Training and Performance Specialist in the Environmental Industries. Committed to continuous improvement in ongoing performance development programs in the workplace.

Professional Goal

To secure responsible employment in Environmental Science in order to accept additional opportunities of bringing my Personal Brand of consistent business results to improving state environmental conditions.

Additional Examples

OBJECTIVE: To apply a demonstrated expertise and Personal Brand of top flight business results to an Administrative Management position with an Industry Leader in Automotive Manufacturing.

OBJECTIVE: To secure new opportunities to provide a superior Personal Brand of excellence to a leading company in Financial Services, Investment, Trading, Marketing, or Training.

OBJECTIVE: To secure a responsible position as a Program Officer in Youth Services and apply my expertise and demonstrated Personal Brand of success in administration and programming.

OBJECTIVE: To bring superior recognized Personal Brand of expert customer service to a leader in the Fine Dining Industry.

For a career transition:

OBJECTIVE: To provide a top Personal Brand of achievement by transferring optimum skills acquired in the military into a major company in the fields of Business Administration, Sports Management and Recruiting, or Fitness.

For transition to the military:

OBJECTIVE: To obtain a responsible position as a SMALL ARMS REPAIR INSPECTOR with the US ARMY TACOM. To support the Small Arms Readiness and Evaluation Team (SARET) for Fielding Operations. To apply my extensive productive military experience in Small Arms to promote a continuing brand of outstanding client service in small arms and equipment inspection, maintenance, overhaul, and repair.

Objectives for New College Greaduates

Weak Objectives

Avoid objective statements such as the following statements that have actually appeared on resumes:

An internship to permit me to utilize my skills and expertise in different areas.

To work for a friendly agency that pays high wages.

To obtain a job in sales with a company that will appreciate my skills.

To obtain a position where I can maximize my management skills, program development, and training experience while I work toward promotion..

A position as Sales Representative.

Position in Development

This article is accurate and true to the best of the author's knowledge. Content is for informational or entertainment purposes only and does not substitute for personal counsel or professional advice in business, financial, legal, or technical matters.

Patty Inglish MS (author) from USA and Asgardia, the First Space Nation on June 03, 2015:

You're welcome and I hope it is useful to you! Thanks for reading.

Covington Professional Resume Services LLC from Philadelphia, PA on June 03, 2015:

Thank you for this very informative article.

kripa singh on November 08, 2011:

thank you..very helpful resume guidance....

pamela on November 01, 2011:

i like the article,its very educating.keep it up

RUDHRA MURTHY on October 16, 2011:

THANKS FOR SHARING YOUR KNOWLEDGE....I GOT 100% BENFIT.. A SPECIAL THANKS TO YOU BY ME..

vinayezone from Banglore on September 12, 2011:

Thank you for sharing your knowledge....it is very useful and so so informative..!

maran on November 18, 2009:

can i get a sample resume for an engineer

caredy on May 04, 2009:

it's so nice to know about your article. your articles are so informative and tends me to copy it to my pc. if its okay!!! hehehe....

well done patty. keep it up.

MoneyCreators on April 06, 2009:

Nice. Although I dont believe in jobs, this is useful to the people who do.

pkoson on April 04, 2009:

Resume Objective

Good point. I hope the rest of the Asteroidea class welcome me with five arms wide open

ontheway on April 02, 2009:

Resume Objective

well written, I come on , welcome to my hub

Goals on March 30, 2009:

Nice hub! Good information with an excellent choice of videos to supplement your article. This information is especially timely right now with the current economic downturn and high employment. Thanks!

Patty Inglish MS (author) from USA and Asgardia, the First Space Nation on September 30, 2008:

Thanks for reading this and using the information it contains!

christopher247 on September 30, 2008:

Woow !

Thank you for creating this great hub!

Keep up the good work!

blogit2050 from india on September 19, 2008:

thanks

very useful and helping article...keep it up

greathub from Earth on August 02, 2008:

your articles are so informative that I have started to save your pages on my PC.

Barry Rutherford from Queensland Australia on July 16, 2008:

good important detail. The small differences I can see would make a difference...

Kevin28 on May 31, 2008:

TELL THE EMPLOYER WHAT YOU CAN BENEFIT TO THE COMPANY FIRM AND CONCISE. ALL THE BEST TO ALL :)

WELDONE PATTY, KEEP IT UP THE GOOD WORK :)

aju on May 19, 2008:

Posted this link in www.surfurls.com.Its a social bookmarking site.

Patty Inglish MS (author) from USA and Asgardia, the First Space Nation on April 30, 2008:

If you use a picture, just do a VIDEO RESUME.

It violates the purpose of Equal Opportunity laws to place personal pictures on resumes. Although, this used to be done regularly on academic CV's for professorship positions, etc.. Once you open the can of worms about gender, sex, race, etc., etc. with a picture or by volunteering info, you can be discrimated agasint more easily without recourse. However, you nephew achieved success!

VioletSun from Oregon/ Name: Marie on April 30, 2008:

Patty: Wished I had come across this article when I was job hunting in the corporate world, always something to learn.

My nephew did something different, don't know if its acceptable with interviewers, but he was teaching in Thailand and added a small pic of himself in the 300 or so resumes he sent out, as he was applying for a job back in the States. A few schools replied, but wanted a face to face interview, but another school called, and he had a half hour job interview while in Thailand with a schoold principal in NY, and was hired right away. The pic, I think helped besides his resume.

Patty Inglish MS (author) from USA and Asgardia, the First Space Nation on April 29, 2008:

Much success to you rmr! - Let us know how it goes.

rmr from Livonia, MI on April 29, 2008:

Very helpful. I always struggle with the objective section of my resume. You have given some excellent examples, which I will try with my next resume update.

Patty Inglish MS (author) from USA and Asgardia, the First Space Nation on April 22, 2008:

Thank you! I hope this Hub helps if you ever need a new Objective. :)

Hazok from Malaysia on April 21, 2008:

Thanks. very helpful as usual. ~bowing~

Patty Inglish MS (author) from USA and Asgardia, the First Space Nation on April 20, 2008:

That is a wonderfully effective comment you have made, Mystic Biscuit. We can promote an effective and practical global workforce with Hub Pages. Thank you for your visit.

Cheers!

Mystic Biscuit from Phoenix, AZ on April 20, 2008:

Well done, Patty!

I see lots of resumes and even college educated professionals are not always good at this skill. The quality of the resume absolutely reflects on the candidate. It is so advantageous to have a professional looking and well done resume - especially when there are ten candidates and only one opening!

Patty Inglish MS (author) from USA and Asgardia, the First Space Nation on April 20, 2008:

Thanks SweetiePie! Once finding that the Objective can really be pretty useful on several types of resumes, I decided that it should be put to full advantage. Folks I have written for have reported good results thus far. Thanks for you comments and visit!

SweetiePie from Southern California, USA on April 20, 2008:

Thank you for sharing all these ideas about resume writing. This is a very useful hub.

Patty Inglish MS (author) from USA and Asgardia, the First Space Nation on April 20, 2008:

Thank you everyone! Slarshingels - thanks for the encouragement on the visual display - that's important to me more and more.

Eileen - yes, I hope readers can formulate distinctive Objectives with this help. At some companies, when HR reads resumes manually, if the Objective is empty or trite, the resume goes into the DISCARD pile. I've done that myself, especially when I had 500 applications for a single position.

amy jane and dlhoh - thanks for the confirmation and visits!

amy jane from Connecticut on April 20, 2008:

Excellent advice, as always! :)

dlhoh on April 20, 2008:

This is a great article. Thank you! There are many people today who just do not have a career objectives.

solarshingles from london on April 20, 2008:

I like your visual presentation, very much!

Eileen Hughes from Northam Western Australia on April 19, 2008:

Very helpful and informative resume guidance. This should make people think about how to write that special one.