| Change can be good. Sometimes there's merit in | | | | important unintended consequence is that it can |
| shaking things up just a bit, especially if you've | | | | exclude you from consideration for other jobs for |
| gotten into a rut. | | | | which you might be well qualified. Because you |
| When you wrote your first professional resume, you | | | | painted yourself into a box with your opening blurb, |
| may have opened with an objective statement. Many | | | | your paper gets tossed to the side. |
| updates later, you're still using the same basic design | | | | Finally, there's the issue of focus. By its very nature, |
| - and still leading with an objective. | | | | the objective statement is pretty much all about you. |
| It's time to kiss it goodbye. | | | | The problem with that? The hiring manager isn't |
| Three good reasons to get rid of it: | | | | considering your candidacy and your potential fit for |
| 1) It's too broad | | | | the position in terms of what's in it for you. He's not |
| 2) It's too narrow | | | | concerned with your objective; he's thinking about |
| 3) It screams out, "Me, me me!" | | | | his, which is to fill the position. |
| A broad objective statement is one that's very | | | | Leading with a pitch that talks about what you want |
| general and consequently doesn't say anything. It | | | | out of this job, then, is not the most effective |
| accomplishes only one thing: it takes up up space. | | | | method to capture the reader's attention. |
| Ironically, this is the most valuable real estate on your | | | | Your objective is to get a job. The reader doesn't |
| resume. | | | | need a statement to figure that out. |
| (i.e. To secure a challenging position in marketing | | | | My suggestion? Skip it. |
| communications with a dynamic company....) | | | | You've got a limited amount of space to work with. |
| Potentially just as damaging is the opposite...a narrow | | | | Make every line on that resume count. |
| objective statement. This one is too specific. One | | | | |