Resume objectives- are they really necessary?
The dream job is the final destination of every student or any working professional. The job interview is like a train through which we reach to our destination of the dream job; the resume plays the role of the ticket to the train. The only condition in this train or job interview is that not every person is allowed to sit. That is why the resume should be written in way that the employer is impressed; consequently the candidate gets the interview call.
In earlier days the condition of the job market was different, the jobs were more as compared to the people looking for it hence the resume writing followed a pattern; the resume objective, skills, experience, qualification and so on but in today's scenario the jobs are less as compared to the qualified employees as a result the role of resume has increased. It is expected to have a resume which catches the immediate attention of the employer from the number of other resume's they receive. When a person is looking for the job, the employer is on the upper hand as compared to the employee seeking for the job. Hence the resume should be written accordingly.
In the normal resume's, there is a practice of putting the resume objective in starting of the resume under the headline objective. It is supposed to highlight the key skills of the employee so that the employer is impressed at a first glance.
"Looking for a responsible and challenging position which provides the opportunity for advancement"; this is one of the example of the resume objectives. So the question now is does it is attractive enough to impress the employer.
The answer will be No; the reason being that the resume objective is focused more on the requirement of the employee than the employer. This is one of the reasons that the resume objective is not included in resume in many cases.
Reasons for not including the resume objective:
The employers have to the tedious task of selecting the appropriate resumes from the number of resumes they receive. So it becomes very important to have the right start fro the resume. This purpose gets defy by including the resume objective as in maximum cases the resume objectives focus on the requirement of the candidate rather than the employers."I am looking for the challenging role''-what if the job is not challenging? Therefore the resume objective becomes a setback for the resume in most of the cases.
Even if the candidates writes the resume objective keeping in view the requirement of the employer, the employer will anyways read the main points in resume i.e. the required qualification, the relevant experience if any. Hence including resume objective just increases the length of resume which is not required for.
Sometimes the job seekers write the resume objective without even looking at the appropriate job requirement; a candidate looking for the job of junior sales executive writes in his resume that he has a skill to manage people. The employers will be bound to think that a skill to manage people is not required for the position of sales executive as the position demands for the individual sales not the team management.
Resume objectives works in the some particular cases; in case the person who has an experience in particular field now wants to change his field, the resume objective helps in mentioning the purpose of change. In case when the employee takes a long break from the career the resume objective briefs about t the reason of break. Apart from these cases the resume objectives just makes your resume to fall in the category of normal resumes.
The most significant thing which a job seeker writing the resume should remember is that the resume should be what employer demands and not a vice versa. Even if, the resume objectives is included in resume it should be focused in the kind of job, the key requirements for the job. The words & phrases I, Me & myself does not work in any company and for that sake in any resume as well. So the employee should refrain from mentioning these in resumes.
Conclusions:
The resume objectives have now become outdated; the job seekers who are writing the resume objectives without any specific purpose are just doing it out of the normal practice followed. If a job seeker feels that there is need to mention about his skills or any other detail. They can write the resume summary which is in trend. A well written summary adds the spark to the resume. After going the details in resume when the employer reads a appropriate summary the purpose of resume gets fulfilled.