by Linda Scrofano

Created on: April 30, 2010

What is the Objective of a Resume

The objective of a resume is to convince a prospective employer to interview the job seeker for a specific position.  It serves as a tool to market the applicant’s job skills, competencies and experience in the work place. The resume should be presented to the prospective employer in conjunction with a well written, specific cover letter.

A well written resume is crafted to show how the applicant’s skills specifically address the requirements of the position to which the applicant is applying. Hiring managers often skim resumes quickly due to the high volume of resumes they receive in response to job postings. Therefore, successful candidates typically put together a compelling professional summary at the top of their resume to showcase their skills which directly relate to the position they desire. This usually helps the candidate’s resume get a more thorough review by the hiring manager.

The human resources manager or hiring manager looks for a number of things within the resume to help him determine whether the applicant is worth interviewing. Most typically, the reviewer is focusing on:

positions held specific industry experience gaps in employment length of employment education level

Different formats may be used to highlight, or conversely, distract attention from certain aspects of an applicant’s work history such as gaps in employment or lack of experience. While a gifted writer can create his own resume to successfully land an interview, in some cases it is prudent to hire a professional resume writer to develop the resume to ensure a professional presentation to the potential employer.

Many companies incorporate verbiage into their hiring documentation which states that they may verify any data submitted to them during the hiring process. This means that the information put forth on the resume is expected to be reliable and verifiable. Therefore, a good resume should accurately reflect the talents and experiences of the applicant without fabrication. While a misleading resume may get an applicant the desired interview, a skilled interviewer will easily determine that the candidate has misrepresented himself at which point the interview is over and any potential future with the company is lost for good.

The interviewer will use the resume as a tool to lead the discussion during the interview process. Therefore, the applicant should be 100% familiar with and comfortable discussing everything on his resume. The candidate should keep a copy of his resume in front of him during the interview process if at all possible to pick up on highlights he wishes to express to the interviewer.

It is advisable to keep a generic resume updated at all times to use as a basis for crafting a more specific resume for each job posting of interest. Promotions, achievements and awards earned at work should be added to the generic resume so that they are not forgotten when it’s time to apply for a new position.

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