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A complete guide to writing a job-winning resume objective + career objective examples for all professions and industries!
A resume objective is an optional part of a resume that states your career goals and outlines your best skills. To write a resume objective, mention the job title you’re applying for, add 2–3 key skills, and say what you hope to achieve in the job. Keep it 2 to 3 sentences long.
Why do you need it?
A well-written career objective will prove to the recruiter that you’re just the candidate they’ve been waiting for. Even when you’re just starting out.
And you came to the right place to learn how to write one.
This guide will show you:
Here’s a sample resume with a career objective. We created it in our builder.
Notice how the career objective statement stands out!
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Sample resume made with our builder—See more templates and create your resume here.
Before we dig deeper, have a look at these examples to help you write an effective resume objective:
In the next two sections, we’ll explain when exactly you should use a resume objective and how to write yours step by step. We’ll also explain differences between a resume objective, resume summary, and a resume profile. Everything you need to know about how to start a resume with an objective.
1
Let’s start with the basics:
A career objective on a resume is a top paragraph outlining relevant skills you’ve mastered so far and explaining what career you’re seeking at a given company.
Resume objectives should be used by candidates who don’t have much work experience in the industry they’re applying to: typically, entry-level job seekers or career changers.
Although it’s called an “objective,” you shouldn’t focus your resume heading statement only on what your actual objective is. It is to get a job, everyone knows that. Writing things like “I’m looking for a challenging role where I can expand my skill set,” is a relic of the nineties, according to HR experts. So be careful not to turn it into a personal mission statement.
Nowadays, you need to use your objective on a resume to show recruiters how your qualifications can translate into their success.
See these general resume objective examples written for an administrative assistant position:
right |
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English graduate with proven communication, travel planning, and email management skills. Seeking a position as an administrative assistant at Acme Inc., to leverage organizational and research skills to support internal and external communication. |
wrong |
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Looking for an admin assistant role where I can apply my skills. Not much office experience yet, but I’m a self-starter and I want to make a difference. |
The twist?
Both of these job objectives come from the same candidate!
In the right example, she refers to skills she learned through internships, volunteering, and in college. And she clearly shows how her qualifications will benefit the employer.
In the wrong example, she just said what she wanted out of the job. That won’t be enough to impress recruiters. All other candidates are looking for an admin assistant role.
As we explained earlier, career objectives for a resume should be used by candidates with little or no professional experience in the industry. These are:
If you are in one of these groups and need good resume-writing advice, make sure to see one of our dedicated guides:
Got years of experience under your belt? There are a few other types of resume introductions for candidates with relevant work history in their industries:
Not in the mood to read all that stuff? Have I got good news for you!
Our builder takes the hassle out of writing your resume: with a single click, you can a add pre-written career objectives, customized to fit your job title and level of experience. Start building your resume here.
When you’re done, Zety’s resume builder will score your resume and tell you exactly how to make it better.
2
They say: State your objective, but...
Here’s a useful trick—
Before you write your resume objective, write the rest of your resume first.
Then, skim the cream—
Pick the most important skills and qualifications you have. They all need to appear in your career objective.
Here’s how to write an objective for a resume:
Have a look:
Hard-working (strong trait) retail associate, skilled in POS tech and inventory management (2 key skills). Seeking to increase sales and customer loyalty (what you hope to do for the company) as a Sales Associate at Chiller Outfitters (the position and company name). Built volunteer retail experience at Goodwill as cashier and restocker, receiving management commendation for excellent customer communication.
And there’s one more thing—
You can’t just write one general resume introduction and put it on every resume you send out. Employers will tell it’s generic copypasta.
You need to tailor every resume objective to the description of the job on offer. Look for keywords related to necessary qualifications and responsibilities. Then, mention those in your objective.
See how writing a targeted resume works in practice.
Here’s a description of a legal assistant job with the most important keywords marked:
The candidate applying for this job hasn’t worked as a legal assistant yet. But—
She held a few part-time personal assistant jobs where her responsibilities were similar to those listed in the job ad. Plus, she completed a legal assistant course and got a certification.
Here’s her tailored career objective for a resume. Notice how the highlighted fragments match the job description:
Engaged, organized graduate with Duke Continuing Studies Legal Assistant Certificate, specializing in real estate law(1). 2+ years of experience in coordinating and organizing(2) key communications(3) and scheduling executive calendars(4) for the Tiffany Group team. Seeking to join Hogan & Partners to deliver excellence, timeliness, and attention to detail preparing wire transfers(5), arrangements, and expense reports(6).
See that? For your career objective on a resume to work equally well, you need to pick those nuggets from your experience and education that fit your desired job like spandex.
For more information on how to tailor every section of your resume to fit the job requirements, see: Targeted Resume: How to Make a Resume Match the Job
3
In the following section, you’ll see career objectives for resume for virtually all professions and industries.
But before we move on to that, here are some personal profile samples for people in specific situations.
Let’s say you never worked full-time. Maybe you also don’t have higher education. Fret not. You can still write a stunning resume objective and land your dream job.
In your career objective statement, include:
See the sample career objective below.
Organized and motivated employee able to apply time management and organizational skills in various environments. Seeking to join Acme Corp as an administrative assistant to help ensure good internal communications and budget management.
The bottom line?
“I know what your business goals are and I can help you achieve them.”
That’s music to every employer’s ears. Despite having no experience, the candidate makes a clear offer.
Here’s how to write a resume objective if you’re entering the workforce after having graduated from college:
Highly-motivated (strong trait) Business Administration graduate with a 3.9 GPA (education) looking to fill a position as a Management Assistant at ABC Corp (position and company). Wishing to use strong data-analysis and management skills to help the ABC Corp with your upcoming challenges (added value).
What if you’re still studying in college and looking to get a side gig to earn some extra cash or find a short-term position during holidays? It doesn’t make that much of a difference. Let’s go through writing a resume objective for college students:
Senior year biology student at Anytown University (current GPA: 3.7) (education), looking to join XYZ State University Department of Marine Biology Research Team as a part-time research assistant (organization and position). Seeking to leverage strong data entry and lab maintenance skills (skills) gained through volunteer lab experience at the campus to ensure all research databases and libraries are easily accessible to XYZ State’s students (added value).
What if you’re looking for a full-time job but only graduated from high school? No worries! Here’s how to write your job objective on a resume:
If you're applying for your first job, focus on the traits that will make you a good employee.
Look back at your accomplishments and activities as a student. Find traits that are easily displayed during those activities.
Here’s what to include in your objective on a resume:
If you have any work experience, including part-time jobs or volunteering, mention that in your high school resume objective too!
See the below career objective example for reference:
High School Student Resume Objective
Dedicated team player (captain of the swim team 2 years) (strong trait) with proven leadership and communication skills earned as an editor-in-chief of the official school blog. Seeking an opportunity to leverage my talents as a server at your restaurant (position you’re applying for). I have the follow-through and positive attitude that will allow me to achieve company targets (added value).
Got job experience but not yet in the industry to which you’re trying to transition? Here’s how to craft your resume objective:
See resume objective statements samples below.
The first one comes from a customer service rep wishing to start a new career as a delivery driver.
Diligent customer support representative with 3+ years experience at high-volume call center. Seeking to leverage fast-paced work ethic with top-rated customer service (100%) to help DHL grow and meet future demand as the new delivery driver.
And here’s another example from a candidate who has some freelance experience as a software developer and wants to start her first full-time job in programming.
Results-driven freelance software developer, seeking to use proven Python and Ruby skills to deliver coding excellence to Cryptoconic, Inc. Have developed 3 webapps and 5 mobile apps. Contributed to 7 GitHub projects and debugged 17 apps. Wrote back-end code for 40 working business websites.
Time for a recap:
Here’s what a good objective for a resume should contain:
Do you have any questions about how to write great resume objective statements and start landing more interviews? Leave a comment. I’ll be happy to help.
Should you save your resume or CV as a .pdf or MS Word .doc file type? Does it matter what document format you choose? Here's the answer.
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