Resume Writing - Shouldn't I start my resume with an objective?

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Host: Shouldn't I start my resume with an objective?

Louise Kursmark: A lot of people do start a resume with an objective and that is the old fashioned way to do it. It used to be that you would state here's what I want and then here are my experiences and qualifications for that position in a resume. There's nothing wrong with doing that, except that that is very focused on you and I recommend that you make your resume focused on what the employer values and that would be value that you bring to the employer, key skills and qualifications, experiences and benefits for the employer as opposed to yourself. That's going to make it a more positive impression on the employer. Plus, an objective is typically, one sentence or two, quite short, it doesn't allow you much scope to describe much about yourself. So, I would suggest that instead of an objective, you start your resume with a summary, profile, introduction, skill summary or some other introductory section that you could use and any number of titles for. But a brief introduction that's going to capsule form, give information about who you are and some highlights of your value that you will then detail farther down the resume with a lot more specifics. A key thing that you want to do in the introductory part of your resume is tell the employer who you are. You need to give them very quick information that identifies you, maybe by a job title or an area of expertise. They need to be able to within seconds, determine who you are and then they get into more details about values that you can bring. If they can't quickly sort your resume into the right pile, chances are it's going to get into the maybe pile or the no pile and it's never going to make it to yes. I like to use a headline format that's going to put your job title right upfront and center, Marketing Director, Sales Professional, Java Programmer, whatever it is. That's my favorite technique, but it doesn't have to be the one that you use in your resume. You can use a paragraph format that might describe you as an accomplished Java Programmer with three years of experience in a particular computing environment. That's good too. As long as you make it easy for the reader to instantly grasp who you are, then you will be able to move on down with some meaning into the rest of the resume.

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