How to Write a Career Objective on a Resume

What is your career objective?

Resume writing isn't complete until you write a career objective on your resume. Career objectives state to the world (at least the world to which you're applying for a job) what you want in a career.

Career objectives will be different for the same person as they progress in their work life. Remember that a career objective is simply a mission statement telling the prospective employer what you want, but be sure to phrase it in a way so they'll want you to work for them.

Things You'll Need

• Resume
• Career objective

Instructions

1. 

   Decide what you want and what you have to offer.

   Once you have an idea of what you want in the job you are seeking, writing a career objective will be much easier. Before tackling resume writing, sit down and list your qualifications, education, strong points, skills, knowledge of computer programs, and anything else that will make you stand out to a prospective employer.

   Just starting out in a career, a person may want a job for the money alone. But this is not a good career objective to list. Instead, state your career objective for an entry-level office position in simple but honest terms:

   Recent college graduate seeking entry-level position to use business education and computer skills to benefit your company.

2. Word the career objective to match the job you are applying for.

   Use the "help wanted ad" to help write your career objective. If an employer in the financial sector asks in the ad for a self-starter with five years of management experience, write a career objective that states those facts, such as:

   Detail-oriented self-starter with seven years of experience managing 20 to 30 employees looking to advance my career in a financial setting.

3. 

   List your experience, carefully.

   If you are a mature worker with many years of experience, keep yourself looking young and fresh to prospective employers by generalizing all of your years of experience (that is, list 28 years of experience as 'more than 20 years of experience'). Instead, list the skills you will bring to the job along with your maturity:

   Supervisor with 20+ years of experience in the health care and financial industries seeking a supervisory position to use my organizational and communication skills to our mutual benefit.

Tips & Warnings

• In today's job market, stay on top of what employers want. Learn new computer programs if needed.