Is it Time to Give Up Your Career Objective for a Professional Profile?
By Tim Backes
Do you finally have a solid chunk of experience under your belt and feel it’s time to upgrade your job or career? If so, that means you’ll need to dust off your old resume and shine it up a bit.
But, is the old resume you used when you were very inexperienced going to fit the bill now that you are accomplished? Of course it isn’t.
Many us started our first resume by using something called a Career Objective. When written correctly, this is a basic statement that explains why you can help the company to which you are applying.
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with leading off your resume with a Career Objective, but when you have more experience, you might want to upgrade your opening to something that can really highlight all of the skills and experience you’ve gained over the years.
It’s Time for a Professional Profile
In case you’re not aware, there is more than one way to start your resume.
A very eye-catching yet efficient option is the Professional Profile.
Sure, a Career Objective lets the human resources representative get a quick idea about the type of candidate you are, but that’s about all it does. A Professional Profile gives you the same option, but it also allows you to go into a little more detail.
The ability to go into more detail is extremely useful for when you have years of experience under your belt.
Best of all, a Professional Profile shows a hiring manager much more than just how many years experience you have – it also lets you show them what you’ve accomplished and learned over those years.
The typical Career Objective consists of:
- How many years of experience you have (if any)
- The position that you are looking to fill
- Any relatable skill you have that is useful for that position
For many people and many job openings, the Career Objective provides plenty of information. If you are looking to get your first job out of college, or you are looking to fill an entry-level or seasonal position, there really isn’t any reason to go above and beyond what the Career Objective offers.
But, when you want to move into management, or you want to step up your game from selling magazine subscriptions to selling houses, you might want a resume that allows you a little more opportunity to sell yourself. You can do that, and do it quickly, with a Professional Profile.
The typical Professional Profile consists of:
- How many years of experience and/or education you have
- The job or skill that you special in
- The other relevant skill you have
- Job or career achievements realized
As you can see, it’s only one more sentence, but that one sentence opens up a lot of room for valuable and relevant information.
Career Objective vs. Professional Profile Examples
To further show that a Professional Profile is the correct choice for you once you have a reasonable amount of experience and a useful skill-set, take a look at these examples.
Here is a sample Career Objective for a marketing specialist:
'A proven professional marketer with over 3 years of experience in channel marketing. Currently looking to fill the Junior Marketing Executive position for you organization. Possess an excellent analytical mind perfect for data and market analysis.'
Now let’s look at the same applicant when they choose to use a Professional Profile:
- Over 3 years of experience in channel marketing
- Excellent data analysis skills leading to identifying underutilized channel worth an additional $25,000 annual profit
- Adept in building new relationships with manufacturers from foreign markets
- Awarded company Marketer of the Year 2 years in a row
It’s quite clear that it’s much easier to quickly show some quantifiable evidence of your learned skills and professional achievements in a Professional Profile than in a Career Objective.
If you are ready to make some serious strides in your career and are in the process of updating your resume, you might want to consider ditching your old Career Objective and opting for a new Professional Profile.
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