Deniz Sasal (Executive MBA, 2013) currently works for PwC Consulting, and has started his own careers blog that will “share valuable insider information that most hiring managers wouldn’t share”.
We have been allowed to publish extracts from the blog. You can read more on thecareermastery.com.
Writing a Compelling Resume Objective & Resume Summary
Writing a well-crafted resume objective is as important as wearing nice shoes to an interview. Here is the catch, though, just as how you wouldn’t wear flip-flops to an interview, you wouldn’t wear your shiny shoes to the beach.
The point is very simple, you may not need a resume objective section at all if you fit in one of the categories below;
1) You have plenty of experience
2) Been in that industry for some time and have no intentions to go into a new domain
In that case, what you need is a resume summary. Resume objective may end up making you look like a fresh graduate or simply, an amateur… But if you are a recent graduate or looking to change your domain, then a basic resume objective or some sort of a resume goal/purpose statement is what you need.
What NOT to say in a resume objective section?
First of all, this is not a section where you write down what you have always wanted to be. Speaking of not to dos, here are a few more;
– Don’t use a general career objective statement for all your applications. It will hurt your chances more than it will help. You are trying to collect points in every section of your resume.
– Plus, resume objective is the first section in your resume so it’s even more important. Remember, that’s the first thing they see…
– Don’t use fillers. Whatever you say in your CV needs to serve a particular mission. It needs to help you position yourself for that role.
– Avoid writing long paragraphs. It should be short, simple, and effective. Hiring managers will only browse through it. They don’t have time to go over it in great detail.
– It’s not about you! It’s about what you give to the organization. Leverage your experience and skills and explain briefly how they will benefit them.
What to say in your resume objective?
Alright, let’s get to the good bits. The number one tip I can give you here is to make your objective as specific and as tailored as possible to the needs of the organization. By having read the job description, you have so much knowledge as to who their ideal employee is. So, you give it to them!
Essentially, you are looking to write down only a couple of sentences. That’s about it. The more you write in this section, the less attention they will have left for the rest of your resume. Ideally, you would want your experiences section to be the center point of attention, not the objective section.
So your objective needs to answer two questions.
– What position are you applying to?
– What’s your relevant experience and skills?
Continue reading this blog on thecareermastery.
How To Find A Job With A Letter of Interest
Don’t you agree with me when I say your confidence takes one heck of a beating with all those 100s of rejections?
It just blows…
It really does.
After 2 rejections, you think “Maybe the job wasn’t really suitable to my background”. After 20 rejections, you think “Maybe the competition was fierce. I should perhaps start looking at less competitive job posts” After 100 rejections, you think “What’s wrong with me? All this education, grade marks, was all of it for nothing? I should have studied at Stanford instead…”
You know what, you are really not alone. But I want to tell you something. Receiving 100s of rejections have very little to do with you. It really isn’t about you.
I know you came here because you are probably just looking for a sample letter of interest format for a job opening. If you bear with me until the end of this post, I will over-deliver. Not only will you get the best letter of interest sample and a template that you can use for a job application, internship, or a promotion, but I will also increase your over-all chances to get a job with a multinational company by a very large margin.
Stick with me, will you?
Essentially there are two reasons why you are receiving all those rejections all the time.
You are just using wrong methods. What I call “click-applications” won’t get you very far. For every job post online, there are about 3,000 applications. It gets a lot higher if it’s a renowned organization. Making those “click-applications” are so easy that the candidates no longer even read the job description. A couple of years ago, I was introduced to a recent graduate. He was a relative of a close friend of mine. Anyway, I got on a call with him and asked what he is doing to make applications. He gave me an answer that I don’t think I will ever forget for the rest of my life. He wrote a software that makes automated applications to all those job posts whenever certain keywords are mentioned in job post titles. He told me that his software made anywhere from 100 to 500 applications a day… I was definitely speechless when I heard it… He is smart for sure; but definitely misguided. Oh, he told me that he’s not alone by the way… Some of his classmates also employed a similar technique. In fact, they shared the software.
So, now you know what you are dealing with here…
The second problem is the jobs that you think you are applying to may not be real. This is a very controversial topic and got me in a legal trouble a couple of years ago. This was when I talked about it in an event and named those companies that were posting fake jobs. I also presented the proof. It didn’t take them long to threaten me with a 7-figure lawsuit.
Well, I no longer name names… But that doesn’t stop me from talking about it so you don’t fall victim to it.
Let’s start with the first one. You are using wrong methods to get a job. You already know from my above summary that the click-applications are not the way to go about finding your dream job.