Re: Objectives on resumes and other stuff

[Stuart Burnfield <slb -at- FS -dot- COM -dot- AU>]

"Wiley, Karen P." <WileyKP1 -at- APLMSG -dot- JHUAPL -dot- EDU>
> Also, for a person just seeking that
> first position, objectives are often canned and shallow, telling HR or
> anyone else little about the goal of that person.

True, but this isn't an argument particularly against objectives.
There's no room in your resume for *anything* that comes across as
canned and shallow.

Having said that, I would leave the objective out in most cases. I
would mainly use it to explain a career shift or to counter a possible
wrong impression that the hirer may get from the rest of the resume.

Mythical example: my job history and qualifications might be weighted
toward programming, with only nuggets of TW experience. A hirer might
assume from this that programming jobs are scarce and I'm merely wanting
a TW job to tide me over until something better turns up.

I would use the Objective to counter this impression by trying to show
a logical progression from my background to my present urge to make a
career in technical writing.

> When in doubt, I vote
> leave it out. Spell it out in a cover letter or verbally at a job fair,
> don't have 50 copies made with the same objectives.  Honestly, most of
> those objectives state that you are looking for  a position that has
> upward mobility to use your education blah, blah, blah...  Space is
> better used otherwise.

Yes -- this sort of bean-bag filler in a resume really annoys me.

Regards
---
Stuart Burnfield                   "Fun, fun, fun
Functional Software Pty Ltd         In the sun, sun, sun. . ."
mailto:slb -at- fs -dot- com -dot- au