Does anyone use an objective?
I don’t have one as I didn’t thought it was necessary but a reference passing my cv internally for a equity analyst position asked me to include one. Probably because I’m trying to move into a new industry…
I know the below one is bad, but it’s what I came up with in 20minutes and I honestly don’t know what to write.
Any suggestions?
To provide high quality, independent equity research in an equity analyst position working for a performance driven organization.
I intensely dislike objectives. Total BS, and I don’t give a crap
I filter any resume I get with an “objective” statement directly to my trash bin.
I think objectives were for people who are fresh out of college. How about a summary instead?
Summary is more acceptable, but shouldn’t exceed three lines. Better off conveying this stuff in a brief and succinct cover letter.
BTW, regarding “objectives” – am surprised nobody has mentioned anything about a rusty hacksaw yet
Time to 'slang the saw on the sack.
I have a “Work Statement” at the beginning of my resume that’s similar to OP’s objective. I’ve actually had good feedback for my resume and a decent hit ratio for the jobs I’ve applied to.
@numi - Are you that turned off by one? Serious question and am wondering if I should remove it.
Work Statement: To engage in the decision making process for security selection through meticulous research and analysis.
Really. Having an objective makes you trash bin it immediately?
I can see it counting against the candidate, in the sense that “the objective better communicate something useful,” but are you really saying that the presence of an objective statement nullifies any other possible qualification in the resume to the extent that there is no point in looking at it?
Do you also stop the interview if the candiate’s tie is the wrong brand too??
My friend asked me to critique his resume. The first thing I told him to do was delete the objective. I told him, “It’s way too self serving and better fit for the cover letter.” Glad to see Numi agrees. I don’t hire people, but generally feel like I’m a good judge of character and a good bullshitter. The thing about all these paragraphs are they come across way too try hard and forced.
“I want to work in a dynamic organization where I can make decisions that BOILER PLATE LINE.” Aka… “I want to work in a good company and not be the bottom b*tch.” If you had these skills you would just list the experience: “Responsible for decisions that BOILER PLATE LINE.”
I guess I don’t like people thinking they’re clever by putting some well crafted sentence made of buzz words. Actions speak louder than words.
If you’re going to put an objective, may as well hacksaw it all off now.
A short sentence labeled “Objective” is bad. But rename it “Summary” and add two more lines for the reader to digest, and you’re golden.
i just think rules like these are so random as to be pointless. The goal of the resume is to answer the question “why should I be interested in asking you to come in for an interview.” If you think objective does that better, go with that, if you think summary does it better, go with that, if you think a crisp $100 bill and photos of the hiring manager naked with his mistress does it better, go with that.
That said, the hiring market is a buyer’s market right now, which means that whether their job meets your objective is less relevant than it would be in a seller’s market. So that may be why so many people are on the “objective” warpath. It’s just not “client focused” enough for the current environment.
Reume styles go through fads not unlike women’s clothing, and right now “objective” is not fashionable. But if your résumé is otherwise good, it’s best not to spend too many sleepless nights over it. But if someone at a company says to resubmit your resume to them with an objective statement, I’d recommend taking their advice (though perhaps phrasing the objective in terms of the value you want to bring to them rather than the vice versa).
Cover letters are a sensible place to put a few key bullet points, but remember that a lot of cover letters don’t end up getting read at all.
If a person can’t convey your purpose for a meeting in a brief e-mail or cover letter, and the rest of your resume doesn’t show why a person would be qualified for this job, then I don’t see why I would want to hire that person. A huge part of job success is effective communication and persuasion. In just about every case that I’ve seen, an objective statement either re-states something that I already know, or doesn’t tell me anything new (i.e. it is generic).
That has nothing to do with a tie brand. I actually have a pretty sizable tie collection so I suppose if I didn’t like a person’s tie, I’d just give him one of mine.
spunboy - in my view there is a difference between “objective” and “summary.” Normally I think a summary statement is not necessary, but it may be useful if you have a long career that you’re trying to capture in a pithy fashion. I see that more as an “elevator pitch” which is OK. I only recommend a summary statement to clients that have 10+ years of work experience and many job transitions though, so it is a pretty exceptional case.
I do know from experience (on both sides of the hiring process) that resumes often get separated from cover letters. So betting on a cover letter to make a point for you that isn’t also made in on the resume is problematic. Most of the interviews I’ve gotten have been obtained without a cover letter (typically via referrals), or with a cover letter that disappeared as a resume got passed around to various people.
My point isn’t that objective statements can’t be bad or bland or useless - they often are. I’m just not prepared to disregard the rest of a resume summarily because “oh, it has an objective statement.” Indeed, an objective statement is so small that if it doesn’t resonate, I simply pass over it and typically forget it was even there, while I look at the rest of the contents.
Effective organization of the parts of a resume is more important. If the resume as a whole can’t communicate value or potential and quickly, that’s the reason to toss it. Whether you have an objective or not might matter on the margins - the biggest margin being whether your competition has made a better case for itself.
All that said, summaries are more in fashion in this market because they focus on what you can bring to the employer, not how the employer can attract your interest. When it was a seller’s market, objectives were useful because employers wanted to know how to entice you to come work for them.
i know a guy who had ONLY an objective statement and the name of his school on his resume (top 2). the remaining 3/4 of the page was blank.
he got the job with no interview.
top 2 or hacksaw.
^ LOL
Thanks, very helpfull.
I agree with that if you have a cover letter an objective/summary is probably redundant but in the case of a internal referral I will add a summary “asking not what the company can do for me but what I can do for the company”.
yup
Why?
Well, I have a summary&objective section on top of my cv. The first sentence is a summary which outlines my work experience and since I plan to move to another city, I point out my intention of relocation in the second sentence as “objective” and also mentioned the designation that I plan to pursue…
I don’t see why it would take my resume to the recruiter’s trash bin…
lol well played