garthk's picture Submitted by garthk on
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[url=http://www.fracat.com/blog/2006/04/20/new-podcast-make-your-resume-shout... R. Sweet advises leading your resume with an Objective[/url] tailored for the opportunity for which you're applying, e.g. "I want to take my 15 years of security consulting expertise to the next step: managing the security team at a small to medium firm."

Does this fit well with the [url=http://www.manager-tools.com/2005/10/your-resume-stinks/]Manager Tools resume[/url]'s one page cram? Is it worth trimming your work history to lead your resume with something that tells the "HR drone", as Dan puts it in his podcast, exactly why your resume should survive the first few cuts?

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Submitted by Mark on Monday April 24th, 2006 12:16 am

Garth-

In general, no.

I don't know that many HR folks who focus excessively on the objective. First of all, jobs have so many confounded titles anymore, it's smarter for them NOT to do this, and that makes it scary for the job seeker who uses one. The screening is much more around skills. Is it possible that it would make a difference? Only slightly, in my opinion.

The DOWNSIDES are HUGE. If you're not dead on, it might work against you. Or worse still, you put an objective on there for what you think the job is, and that job isn't available, but another job you'd love is open... NOW the objective is a dead weight, and you won't be considered.

These considerations have nothing to do with space issues, which I think also weight against it.

[A process suggestion here. Remember what I said about keeping your resume current each quarter? In some cases, your resume will end up longer than one page, because you're not sure which way your career will head. You may want to tailor your resume sent to one company with certain accomplishments that highlight certain skills. In that case, I might have two resumes I'm working with (each new accomplishment goes on both), but each has a different objective that are both possible at this point in my career. The objective is more for ME.]

Bottom line: no. Could you? Yes. Will it help? Maybe. Could it hurt? Absolutely. Odds aren't in your favor.

Mark