Monday 18 February 2013

Your Opening pitch

I've had opportunity over the last couple of months to review a lot of résumés. Some have been great with a lot of interesting ways to convey pertinent information. What I keep seeing time and time again however is the 'Objective' section just below the header of the résumé. Generally it says something like.... 'To work for your company,' or 'To obtain a challenging position where I can grow...'

A quick suggestion would be to remove this section. The very act of sending an application implies that you are looking for a job or wish to change jobs and work for that particular company. This is a very important piece of résumé real estate. Instead of a one to two line Objective statement try instead of giving a couple of lines explaining why you are the perfect candidate for that job. Make sure that you include key words relevant to that particular job (in case your résumé is first swept by a screening software) but focus on what makes you The candidate. Think of it as your 30 second elevator pitch. By the time your application reaches the hands of a recruiter you will want to make sure you open up with something that grabs their attention.