Resume Objective Section

The Objective section is commonly missing from most resumes, yet it can be powerful and set your resume apart, when used properly. Many job seekers do not list an objective because they do not have a clear idea of what they want to do. However, providing a resume without an objective will not increase your chances for being discovered, it will actually decrease your chances.

Here's why: the first person to review your resume (usually a Recruiter or someone in HR) has the power to reject you in the initial 2-3 second scan. If you're not deemed to be even close to the target, your resume goes into the wastebasket (real or virtual). You may never get a second look.

If you truly don't know what you want to do, you need to go back to square one and review the information about career selection at our site. Most people have a general idea of what they want to do, it's just that they have several areas where they might have an interest, but don't want to limit it to just one. The answer to this problem is to create a separate resume for each area of interest. And yes, it's even OK to customize your resume to a specific employer or even a specific job at a specific employer.

There are three qualifiers which can be used to help define and narrow your resume objective:

Job type: based on the type of job you are seeking (along with "position" or "role" added as an option). Can be either a specific position title (such as "Accountant position...") or a generic role (such as "Accounting role..."). Examples: "Electrical Engineer position..." or "Sales Representative..." or "Software Development Engineer role..."

Industry: listing either the industry in which you are seeking a job or the broad category/field. Usually best to capitalize the first letter of the industry. Examples: "...in the Insurance industry..." or "...in the Automative industry..." or "...in the Telecommunications industry..."

Geography: where are you open to considering a job? Is it broad (such as "...in the Eastern United States") or narrow (such as "...in the Charlotte area")? If you are open to relocation, say so. And if you have dual citizenship, make note of it. Examples: "...in the Seattle area." or "...in Washington State." or "...in the Pacific Northwest. Open to relocation." or "Open to roles anywhere in the U.S. or Great Britain (dual citizenship)."

You can use one, two or three of these qualifiers to narrow your objective. It usually works well to include something about your search geography, even if it is "...open to relocation globally."