How to Write and Use the Resume Objective Letter

The following are excerpts from my books titled The Resume Bonfire and Employer Secrets.

Objectives often read similar to this:

Objective: Seeking a position where I can contribute to company growth through dedication and application of my ten years of experience, knowledge, and skills.

This resume objective is generic and unappealing. This does not offer much of value or make any direct connection with the reader: the employer.

Employers often cannot match your past with their future from your resume.

Why is that so hard? Because a resume contains only a small amount of information and your objective is likely contrary and at best speculative.
How can your objective possibly match anything an unknown employer is planning? The odds are not good. The very best a candidate can do is write an objective from the limited information the candidate has about the position, which has usually come from an ad or second hand.

In addition, most objectives are written before a candidate even knows where the resume is going. The objective is then generally if not exactly the same on every resume the candidate sends.

An objective that does not seem to match the company’s direction or the interviewer’s perception of that direction can eliminate your resume.

How can you write an objective with the employer’s best interests in mind if you have no idea what they are?

FACT: Most employers don’t care much about your objective.

I have asked numerous employers and human resource employees what the least important part of a resume is, and they almost unanimously and without hesitation answer, “the objective.”

In most resume formats, the objective gets top billing, listed first in the most important position on the page. This sends the message that the candidate’s own interest is the first consideration by the sheer definition of the word “objective” and the position. The candidate then has to backpedal to create a statement that offers conjectured contribution and a pledge of loyalty to an unfamiliar prospective employer. This is absurd.

Imagine if at the beginning of every advertisement the company stated their objective.

Example:

“We want you the customer, to pay as much as we can get away with charging for our products, and strive to avoid providing warranty service or standing behind our guarantees.”

Profits would tumble. The advertising would no longer get Attention, (very soon after the novelty of honesty wore off) and therefore would not generate Interest, Desire, or Action.

Could you omit the objective from your resume altogether? YES. Objectives can be omitted, incorporated into the cover letter, or;

I’d like to tell you a story of the most powerful objective
I’ve ever written or read.

I once applied for a Human Resource Director‘s position with an office technology company. At the interview, the President, Mr. Martinez, carefully described the present challenges the company and department faced. He described the direction he wanted the company to go. He informed that there were nine candidates being considered for the job.

When I arrived home I sat down with my notes and created a spreadsheet matching my experience, education, and skills with the requested qualifications. I then listed the challenging issues of the company and department. I spent the day researching the industry trends and positions of similar companies. After several hours of intense work, I restated each company issue and outlined how specific actions within the department might positively affect the company. I created several solutions for department issues summarized them each in a paragraph and included time lines for completion.

I then typed OBJECTIVE in a large font across the top of my proposal and concluded with this statement:

After my acclimation to your work environment and the successful completion of these issues, I would look forward to the challenges that lie ahead in our industry and your company in particular.

I included this note and mailed the package:

Dear Mr. Martinez,

Thank you for the opportunity to learn about your company and the interesting position. I was unsure of my objective before I met with you so please accept the enclosed copy.

Sincerely,

Phil Baker

I received a telephone call from Mr. Martinez himself the following day.

“Mr. Baker,” he resounded, “I must tell you that I narrowed the field to four candidates,” he paused, “ and when I received your proposal, well… I would like to offer you the job. That was the most powerful objective I’ve ever read.”

Later Mr. Martinez told me that although he had read my resume several times, he had never noticed that I had omitted an objective.

Topics: Cover Letter Guide |