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Developing
the Career Objective
The format for the career objective can be
arranged to a person's unique background or
wishes, and is of great help in organizing this
difficult portion of the resume.
At the simplest level, the career objective may
be stated as a professional designation,
followed by a specialty area in that field.
e.g. Electrical Engineer - Research & Design, or
Public Accountant - Auditing and Taxes, or Sales
Representative - Industrial Hardgoods and
Equipment.
The next level of sophistication in a career
objective statement may simply state that an
entry-level position is desired, followed by a
comment on the functional area of work, e.g.
Entry-level Bank Management Trainee-Loans, or
Entry-level Store Management
Trainee-Merchandising, or Social Service
Trainee-Child Welfare.
After these simple formats, the matter becomes
more difficult. There are a number of ways to
organize career objectives.
The Short-Term/Long-Term Format
Immediate Objective: Entry-level Accounting
Trainee with an Industrial Firm.
Long-Term Objective: Progression to
Comptroller function, with responsibilities for
a number of accounting systems and policy
responsibility for fiscal affairs of a
corporation.
The Functional Format
Functional Work Objective: Position that
includes responsibilities for systems analysis
and creating data systems for maintenance of
records, evaluation of programs, and projection
of future sales trends.
The Skills Format
Skills Objective: Position that requires
knowledge of decision-making models, and
application of models to marketing and
production planning.
Functional/Industrial Format
Functional/Industrial Objective: General Sales
Representative with company that produces
soap, toiletry, or food products.
Skill/Industrial
Format
Skills/Industrial Objective: Position that
requires knowledge of COBOL, RPG II, and BASIC,
and that requires sales/customer service
abilities in the software industry.
When functional or skills types of objectives
are used, the work experience section or the
education section of the resume should reflect
the abilities and wishes set forth in the
objective statement.
Career objective statements should avoid terms
such as: opportunity for advancement; a
challenging position; position dealing with
people; a progressive company; position that
requires creativity; a company that
recognizes...; a chance to...
While these terms may sound nice to the job
applicant, they have little meaning to the
person who will make a decision for an interview
invitation, and in fact may indicate that the
candidate has no idea about objectives. The
candidate who applies vagueness will get a vague
response in return.
Copyright CPC Annual. Reprinted with permission. |
