Education Resume

The idea of sitting down and writing a resume is enough to make you break out in a cold sweat. While the education and employment portions of your resume are easy enough, each resume requires that you also write an objective or a mission statement. Basically, this is a short blurb telling what you hope to gain from your next job. This isn’t always easy.

Challenges you face
There are several challenges that you face when you are writing an objective for your resume, some are:
• Not specific enough – your objective must be fairly specific to show that you are good match for the role you are applying for;
• Overly aggressive – if you aim too high in your objective, potential employers could see this as a problem and immediately dismiss you as being “over qualified” for the role;
• Under aggressive – objective statements that are seen as weak can result in you seeming like you lack the drive or desire to get ahead in your field;
• Too specific – ironically enough, you could create an objective that is far too specific and land your entire resume in the round file. If you provide too detailed an objective, you could talk yourself right out of a potential job

What type of statements work?
There are a couple of ways that you can proceed to write an objective that works well for potential employers. Both of them have a primary as well as a secondary focus, one focus on you as the employee and the other the focus on the employer. Both focuses are required in all objectives on resumes. Here are some objective statements that could work well for you:
- seeking (name of position) with a company with a strong track record that allows me to contribute to (type of contribution) utilizing my skills in (type of skills);
- committed to using the skills I have learned in (field) to further enhance the (department type or project type) in a company that is committed to (field, quality etc.)

Why these statements work
It is important to remember that when a hiring manager is reviewing resumes they are looking at not only your skills but what your overall work ethic is. Much of this can be defined by how you approach your job search. If you are looking for a “job” versus a “career” move, it could be detrimental to your search.

These types of statements not only help add to your credibility as a qualified individual but they focus on what you bring to the table that can benefit the employer. Employers see hundreds of resumes in a given week. Creating a resume that has an objective that not only focuses on you as an individual but focuses on them as a company allows you the unique opportunity to stand out from the crowd.

Summary
Writing a strong objective statement for your resume will help you gain the attention of potential employers who are looking for strong contributors. If you fail to provide a well rounded objective that includes your personal goals as well as your goals for the role you are seeking, you could find your resume in the round file.