Q: I’m working on my résumé and some people have told me to start off with an objective line. Others say I shouldn’t. What do you think?
L.L., Detroit
A: A career objective on your résumé can be a big time-saver to a recruiter, but it might not help you at all.
If your objective line says that you want something other than the available job, you are practically begging for a rejection letter. If I get a résumé that says the candidate’s objective is to work in broadcast (and I do), I can stop reading immediately. I recruit for newspapers.
Although objective lines send many résumés submarining to the bottom of the stack, few are so good that they make résumés float to the top. Objectives that miss are deadly, objectives that are right-on are rare and those that are in the ball park generally don’t make a lick of difference anyway.
The only time an objective line really helps is when it is honest, specific and matches the job for which you are applying.
That is a pretty tough prescription, but research and computer-generated résumés will allow you to get very specific. But career objective lines on résumés have a nasty side effect — they have shelf life. An objective line that is tailored for today’s job will stay on your résumé for the next job, and the next job and the one after that — all jobs for which you might have an interest, but for which your objective line might be inappropriate.
Here’s an alternative: Don’t put a career objective on your résumé. Put it in your cover letter. Unlike résumés, cover letters carry dates. This gives them the quality of standing at a certain place in time. It is only natural that objectives will change with time, and subsequent cover letters can even explain a changing or expanding career goal. The cover letter also gives you more room to explain your career goals. And this approach answers another question, "What do I say in my cover letter?” For more information on cover letters and résumés, go here.
