Hi Jessica,
I have found that perhaps the greatest challenge when assisting students with resumes is to get students to have a marketing mindset. This mindset leads to the "aha" moment for why the resume needs to be written as a value proposition to the employer - "what do I offer and what is the evidence that backs up my claims" are the questions a resume writer must answer. The formula provided in the course for writing effective objectives may help your students.
Robert Starks Jr.
Hi Paulette,
Thanks for sharing your personal preference and opinion. I think your perspective of what it means to be "professional" is interesting. I think people would have differing opinions on this as well so I'll ask for all other participants - Does "professional profile" necessarily mean one has been in the field for several years?
The issue I've observed with objectives is that they often focus on what the person wants vs. what they can offer the employer. However, this doesn't mean that all objectives are simply for an individual to obtain a job - this is simply because most people haven't been taught how to write them properly.
I see that yo used the term "Career Summary." When we try to teach people that resumes are marketing collateral and not summaries of our history, how might this term work against that fact? What do you do to help students who have non-related career experience focus on demonstrating relevance?
Thanks in advance for sharing your thoughts and personal experience.
Robert Starks Jr.
Due to the demographics of our school I usually have students write an objective. Our school has two main catagories of students. We have very young students that are fresh out of high school and have mainly worked part time, or summer jobs and then we have adults who are making a career change. Those making a career change may have extensive experience in another field. So translating that into a new field can be tricky. Having an objective works well for these two distinct groups of students. However, I do this with caution. When asking a student to write an objective they tend to make it very generic and do not put much thought into what the objective actually says about them. I look forward to using the knowledge i am gaining from this course to help them visualize what their object really is.
My preference is to have our students use a Summary of Qualifications/Profile/Overview/Career Summary. What they need to consider with the title they use is the content that they will provide with it; it has to match.
For example, it would not be appropriate for a new graduate to use the title 'Professional Profile' since they have not been in the field for several years and do not have the knowledge, skills and abilities (KSA's) that qualify them as a 'professional' in the field yet.
I am not a fan of the 'Objective' - their objective is to go out and secure a job; the valuable space on a resume is best utilized quantifying their accomplishments.
Hi Pamela,
Can you explain what you mean by a "quote" and what this looks like on a resume? When I think of a "quote," I think of an actual quotation. I'm thinking this isn't what is meant though - can you confirm? I'm also curious - can you elaborate more on what is meant by your employers viewing objectives as "stuffy." What specific feedback/observations lead you to this assessment?
Thanks!
Robert Starks Jr.
Objectives are used mostly be we encourage a quote. Due to the nature of our school most people are very holistic and sometimes an objective is too stuffy for them.
Hi Amber,
In my own experience, stressing to students the need to focus on communicating how they add value (in specific terms) to an employer rarely worked. I found that I needed to provide a writing model to help them communicate effectively. The model presented in the course is the one I used with success. If I may provide feedback on the objective statement example you provide, I'd argue that it is too vague and from an employer's perspective, communicates little value. What specific education? What specific skills and experience?
For example, what about specifying the education, skills and experience such as: "A Licensed Massage Therepist position contributing over 500 hours of education in anatomy, basic physiology and different massage and bodywork modalities as well as experience in educational sales and customer service in high-end retail environments that can be applied in the spa and resort industry."
It's important to remember that the content in the objective (if you choose to use an objective) is tailored to the specific company based on research that is done prior to applying. I'll share my personal preference on objectives vs. Summaries and headlines. For Career Changers, I avoid objectives. I use a combination of a headline and a summary. The headline acts as a powerful branding statement that immediately has an employer mentally categorize a candidate to a potential vacancy. The summary provides more room to further elaborate the qualifications of the individual.
I prefer objectives when working with more traditional students (18-24) with little work experience who also tend to not know much about the strategies of resume writing. I find that objectives (using the formula outlined in the course) can be a good tool to train them on writing value-laden content focusing on communicating what they can contribute to the employer. As a general guideline, I think the more specific you can be, the better the writing. The content that follows the headline, summary, or objective needs to back up the claims conveyed in the headline/summary/objective. In other words, "Show me where that experience was applied and in what context. Show me where that education was accumulated specifically, etc."
I look forward to your thoughts regarding this feedback.
Robert Starks Jr.
I think its interesting because similar to those prior to me, my students are primarily career changers as well so we encourage an objective statement.
However you brought up a valid point about the objective statement often focusing on the wants of the employee not the employer. This is something we do stress with all of our graduates even as students that "Its not what the employer can do for you, it's what you can do for the employer". We stress this by outlining in the objective that the student is working towards serving clientele so for example a generalized objective for us would be "To utilize education, skills and experience to best book and retain clientele in a holistic environment."
This is then immediately followed by an education section and a skills section in which the students/graduates will list things such a modalities or specific skills sets they utilize in their field that an employer would be looking for.
Hi Amy,
Regarding your preference for the Objective statement - thank you for sharing a bit about your reason/strategy. It has been my observation that the majority of people, when writing an objective statement, tend to focus on what they want from an employer and from a job vs. what value they offer reflecting a marketing mindset which so many job seekers lack.
Do you have a certain formula or writing style you teach to help students focus on what they offer vs. what they want?
I'd love to hear your thoughts on this.
Thank you.
I most always recommend that our students use an "Objective" since they are all career changers and as such, are just starting their new careers and are looking for their first job within their new profession. Once they are established in their new profession, I think it would make sense for them to consider transitioning to a Summary/Profile.
Since my students are all career changers, I recommend using an Objective Statement - at least for the first job search. Since the goal of the resume is to get the employer to call them in for an interview, we need to make it obvious what the candidate is looking for, especially if they do not have any experience yet. Later they can switch to a Summary/Profile once they have some solid experience.
Many of the students I work with are experienced, but after reading through this section of this course, I believe I may lean more toward a summary.
