Samples of Objectives for Résumés

A well-written career objective can provide a basis for interviewers' questions.

Including a career objective in your résumé helps potential employers match your goals to the goals of their organizations. Career objectives should be short and balanced between being too general and too detailed. Place a career objective at the top of your résumé beneath the heading and before your work experience entries.

Writing an Objective Statement for a Specific Job

Specific objectives within a career field suggest your interests and abilities.

Research the employer and job description for the position you want. Align your objectives with the goals and objectives for the job. A sales job might include an objective of "exceeding assigned sales goals by 10 percent or more each month." Address this goal in your objective statement using this information, but not quoting it verbatim: "Primary objectives as sales lead include consistently exceeding assigned sales goals and working with sales team members to ensure all sales goals are met or exceeded."

Creating an Objective Statement for a Career Field

Make your résumé stand out by identifying specific career interests in your objectives.

When sending out hundreds of résumés, creating a statement of career objective provides general information about career interests and goals. Career objectives for a K-12 teacher might include, "Studying and employing multiple teaching methods suited to students' individual learning methods," or "Identifying obstacles to learning math and employing teaching methods for helping students overcome math phobia" and "Encouraging students to excel in learning based on their interests and abilities."

Pick Me! Getting Attention

A dog trainer's objective may be stated in terms of solving problems.

Include a hook or a twist in your objective that makes it distinctive. Avoid writing catchy or trendy objectives using jargon or slang. Share enthusiasm for your career or a job without going overboard. A dog trainer might write an objective this way: "Working with owners and their dogs to save couches, carpets, relationships and everyone's sanity by employing standard obedience training techniques combined with an assessment of each dog and owner for determining and meeting individual needs."

Writing a Statement of Objective for Specific and Technical Jobs

Use technical language and appropriate for stating your career objective.

When writing a objective for a highly specialized or technical position, create objectives demonstrating your knowledge and competency in your profession. Writing objectives for medical, scientific and technology jobs may require using technical terms specific to these fields. A hiring committee of physicians will understand your objective of "researching causes of benign meningiomas occurring on the eighth cranial nerve" along with scientific names of body parts and disease processes.

References

• Freedonia Career Development Office: Writing Career Objectives