Blog Post: The Verdict is In, You Need an Objective

The Objective section is occasionally replaced by a Summary of Skills section, or some other section that provides a summary of the candidate's key strengths. However, in this change, one important part was lost.

The Objective typically indicated the specific position or the type of position the candidate is interested in. Other sections replacing the Objective tend to not have this detail.

As a candidate, when you submit your resume into the company's database, the resume is tied to the position you applied for. However, it also gets dropped into the massive pool of resumes the company currently has active in its database. You may not be called for the original position you applied for. As other positions open in the company, the recruiters will search the database to look for qualified candidates that have already submitted their resume.

When your resume is considered for another position, recruiters will not know what type of position you were originally interested in. Candidates that do not have an Objective on their resume that states the type of position they are looking for, tend to loose out to candidates that do include this detail. The reason is, with so many resumes coming up during database searches, recruiters cannot follow up on all of them.

Recruiters are left with reading the resume and trying to discern whether the candidate would be interested in this new position, whether it meets the candidate's salary expectations (which they can guess by what types of positions the candidate stated they were looking for), and whether the position meets their expectations regarding the level of responsibility. A candidate without an Objective would require an e-mail for the recruiter to understand if the candidate would be interested in the position. You had better believe the recruiter is not going to take the time to e-mail the candidate. Instead, the recruiter will spend time on the candidates whose resumes indicate that they are interested in that type of position.

By having an Objective that states the types of positions the candidate would be interest in, the candidate is assured that, if a recruiter comes upon the resume during a later search (which happens frequently), the recruiter will be able to more actively consider the resume.

As for the Summary of Skills section, it's your call. A well written, brief objective should contain virtually all of the pieces that would be in a Summary of Skills. If that's the case with your resume, then you probably don't need both.

For more resume feedback and info on the latest trends with resumes and interviewing, register for our seminar taking place this Saturday. More information at www.careerdevelopmentaz.com/seminar.html.

Good luck in your search!