Step 5: Your Resume Job Objective

There are four ways to make your resume job objective clear to an employer. In this post you'll learn when and how to write a good job objective statement and, as well as some good alternatives to an objective statement.

By starting your resume with a Job Objective section, you immediately tell your potential employer:

1. What position you are looking for. A resume without a job objective statement effectively says, "This is what I've done. Could you figure out what I should do next?" — a weak approach. By stating an objective you give your resume focus and strength.
2. What level of responsibility you are seeking.
3. How to interpret all the information on the resume. The job objective tells the reader, "Everything that follows is relevant to this position." That's an important statement to make! This is a marketing piece, not your life history!

How you should word your job objective statement
Your job objective statement should be as concise as possible. Some resumes mistakenly have fluffy opening statements with job objectives buried in them. They use phrases like: "challenging position," "room for advancement," and "opportunity to grow." Cut out the fluff since it doesn't say much to an employer. Here's what employers need to know:

• The area of work ("Marketing," "Sales").
• The title, if you know it ("Manager," "Sales Representative").
• Areas of specialization ("with an emphasis on new business development," "focusing on graphic design"). This should be used only if a simple objective statement needs to be more clearly defined. In most cases it isn't necessary.

Here are some examples:

A position as Sales Representative
Director of Marketing
Administrative position with a focus on finance.
Associate Field Producer, TV Programming

If your situation requires a more generic approach, try something like:

A position in Sales
An accounting position

An alternative to the job objective statement
You could use a title next to your name or near the top of your resume.

Sally Jones
Marketing Professional

Henry Mathews
Investigative Reporter

To see a sample of a professional title used instead of a Job Objective section, check out this sample resume.

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