How often have you flipped a book over to go through the summary? A summary of a book helps you understand the genre, tonality, and story outline. This enables you to reach a purchase decision of whether you wish to read the book, does it strike you as interesting or not.
Similarly, a company has multiple resumes pouring in each day. It becomes difficult for the hiring team to select the potential candidates and carry on with the selection procedure.
In such cases, an impressive resume not only helps you stand out from the crowd but gives you an added advantage in the selection process.
The career objective or the resume objective is like the book summary that gives a basic idea of the candidate’s skills, experience, personality, and educational background, making it easy for recruiters to scan, segregate and select candidates for interviews.
An objective or objective statement addresses the reason for applying for a particular role, your qualifications, and why you are the best fit for the organization.
The statement may differ based on the experience. If you are applying as a fresher, then the focus is more on how you are the ideal candidate for the job. But if you are an experienced professional looking to change your job or apply for ant different position in the same or different organization, then the objective statement should disclose your experience, skills, and a brief of your KRAs.
Here are 5 tips to write an effective career or resume objective –
- Job description – Carefully studying the job description helps you understand the what, why, and how of the hiring process. What are the key responsibilities areas for which the company is looking for candidates? The why is the reason and the position for which it is searching for candidates. The how is the recruitment process whether it is a telephonic or online interview, a walk-in or a personal interview. This helps you to decide how you should build your resume. Based on the role and responsibilities, you can shape your objective to suit the needs of the company.
For example – If the position is for a sales manager with 5 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, then the career summary will look like this;
An enthusiastic, motivated, and result-oriented sales professional with 7 years of experience as a Pharmaceutical Zonal Sales Manager. A professional with a strong work ethic, a wide people network, and a long-term relationship with clients. I possess a demonstrated success record, acute domain knowledge, and a proven track record of achieving targeted sales growth. Foundational in developing sales strategies, product pricing, and marketing strategies to achieve projected sales targets. A keen negotiator and closer.
- Focus – The primary focus of the objective should be on summarizing the qualifications, skills, and experience in a concise format. You need to be careful while drafting a resume objective as it may tend towards self-praise. Hence, a well-structured, grounded yet self-explanatory resume is the key that catching the eye of the recruiter.
To make your resume sound less boastful, focus more on your skills, qualities, and experience -personal or professional. If you are a fresher and do not possess the required experience, then shift the focus to your skills and qualifications. For example –
A recent PGDM graduate with a 3.3 GPA out of 4.0, possessing 1 year of part-time experience in telecalling and marketing activities. Highly motivated to learn, skilled in resolving issues via phone, email, or live chat, and a team player. Possess basic knowledge of Excel, Word, and Powerpoint. Seeking an opportunity to apply my business knowledge and managerial skills to a business development executive position in your company.
- Placement – The career objective should be placed at the top of the resume. It should be effective in grabbing the attention of the hiring manager.
- Language – The language and the tonality of the statement should be formal, concise, and in line with your resume. A poorly formatted statement can discourage the hiring manager from glancing at the reminder of the resume. Focus on the keywords like motivated, enthusiastic, self-driven, professional, team player, passionate, etc. Use adjectives that best describe your personality.
- Concise – Keep it brief, to the point, and accurate in delivering the message without making it look like an essay. The objective is expected to be a brief summary that helps management make the decision of whether to hire you.
Understanding these small yet important points in structuring s resume enhances your chances of getting selected for the job.
MIT School of Distance Education (MITSDE) is one such institution that understands the importance of a good resume and hence has a dedicated placement department to aid the learners with resume writing, organizes guest lectures on effective resumes, and how to crack an interview.