Crafting an Objective for your Resume: A Comprehensive Guide [+ Templates]

A resume objective is a one- or two-sentence summation of your most immediate career goals. While you don't need to include a resume objective every time you apply for a job, it may help a recruiter or hiring manager understand who you are, what you’re looking for, and why you’d be worthwhile to interview.   

In this article, we’ll go over certain scenarios where it may be worthwhile to include an objective on your resume, and templates you can follow to help you capture your unique story and career aims. 

What is a resume objective? Key facts 

When you apply for jobs, a resume objective is a tailored synopsis that helps explain what you're looking for. It's a way to answer the question: "Why this job?"

Strong resume objectives tend to include the following information: 

1. Who you are

2. What you want to achieve with your next career move 

3. The value you’ll add to a position or company 

What's the difference between a resume objective and a resume summary?

Put simply, resume objectives look forward and resume summaries look back. Resume objectives briefly state your experience and skills so you can highlight your career goals, whereas resume summaries are an opportunity for you to share your career accomplishments without going into your larger career goals.

Read more: How to Write a Resume Summary + Examples

Resume objective templates + how to adjust

Resume objectives tend to follow certain conventions. For example, many applicants write in the third person, but you can also write in the first person or jump straight to explaining your career goals.

Let’s take a look at a few examples that employ the information mentioned above:  

• Third-person emphasis: Social media coordinator [who you are] with agency experience [value add] looking for a position managing social media strategy, planning, and execution for a major health care brand [what you want].  

• First-person emphasis: I am an agency-trained social media coordinator [who you are] seeking a social media manager position [what you want], where I can apply my health care brand knowledge to grow audience awareness and engagement [value add]. 

• Position emphasis: Seeking a social media manager position at a health care start-up [what you want], where I can apply my three years of social media experience using tools like Hootsuite and Buffer, and strong interpersonal skills, to assisting patients [value add + who you are]. 

Adjust your resume objective by determining which format—third-person, first-person, or position emphasis—best fits your particular needs, and by changing how you present the three key pieces of information expected in an objective.

For example, to create a more concise description of who you are, use an adjective that grabs a recruiter’s attention, like “savvy [job title]” or “organized [job title].” Instead, you can summarize your experience, like “[job title] with X years of experience.” 

When should you use a resume objective? 

A resume objective isn’t always necessary because it can take up valuable space that might be better served in another way, such as clarifying the impact you made in your most recent role or listing out any extra technical skills you have.  

But there are certain scenarios where it can be more helpful to use a resume objective than others, including:  

• If you don’t have any experience

• If you recently graduated college 

• If you’ve held many different types of roles

• If you’re interested in changing careers or industries 

• If you’re interested in career advancement

• If you’d like to relocate 

Each scenario listed above might benefit from an explanation of what you hope to achieve in your next role, thereby providing recruiters with valuable information that can help frame the information on your resume.

Where should an objective go on your resume? 

Depending on how you format your resume, it’s best to put a resume objective near the top of your resume, either underneath your header or to the right of it. Take a look at this resume template for recent graduates as an example: 

5 resume objective tips 

In two sentences max, a resume objective needs to say a lot about who you are and what you want. To make your resume objective as effective as possible, consider the following tips: 

1. Research keywords. 

As part of your job search, take note of any keywords that come up in various job role descriptions, and see if there’s a way to integrate a few of them into your objective. For example, if a job description mentions attention to detail, mention that quality when you describe yourself or your experience: “Successful UX designer with strong attention to detail.”   

2. Tailor your objective for each role. 

You’ll want to make sure you tailor your objective for each role, either by updating the job title you’re looking for, the goal you aim to achieve, or your desire to work specifically for that company. 

3. Be specific about your experience.

After you draft your objective, go back and look for opportunities to replace words with action verbs and powerful adjectives, and identify places where you can specify your experience.  

For example: Instead of Professional and talented financial advisor with several years of experience, get specific while still being succinct: Skilled financial advisor with significant experience guiding clients on major product decisions. 

4. Make your value clear. 

A resume objective states what you want, but it’s also important to convey what you have to offer a company. Try to connect your objective—career advancement or relocation—with unique skills that will make your value clear to a recruiter or hiring manager. 

5. Highlight your needs. 

Beyond the type of role you’re seeking, make sure to include any specifications, such as part-time work, remote work, or relocation, so that recruiters understand what you’re looking for right away. 

Build job-ready skills with a Coursera Plus subscription

Start 7-day free trial

• Get access to 7,000+ learning programs from world-class universities and companies, including Google, Yale, Salesforce, and more
• Try different courses and find your best fit at no additional cost
• Earn certificates for learning programs you complete
• A subscription price of $59/month, cancel anytime

Start 7-day free trial

Resume objective examples: By scenario

Below, we’ve drafted a number of resume objective templates depending on the scenarios noted earlier and included tips to help you shape your story.  

No experience

Since you may not have a title to add to the description you craft about yourself, describe some of your greatest strengths. Use the first-person or third-person format to showcase some of your strongest transferable skills: 

• Organized, detail-oriented individual seeking an entry-level position as a customer service representative at [Company Name] to sharpen my communication and sales skills. 

• I am a collaborative team member with terrific soft skills. I’m looking for a part-time barista role where I can learn more about customer service and share my passion for coffee.  

Recent graduate

Highlight your high school diploma or college degree in your objective, and connect what you learned with the position you’d like to hold: 

• Recent graduate with a degree in computer science seeking a position as a web designer at an innovative start-up. Experienced in HTML/CSS, graphic design, and major CMS platforms. 

• To obtain a position on [Company Name’s] product team, where I can apply my MBA, and contribute my knowledge of strategy, consumer research, and user experience (UX) design.  

Different roles

Call attention to the transferable skills you’ve developed along the way and how that experience will serve the direction you’re interested in moving next: 

• Collaborative, quick learner who is skilled in communications, research, and design, and would like to apply that multidimensional experience to a role in sales for a luxury retail brand. 

• I’m a seasoned communicator with experience in data analysis and design looking to apply that varied training to a marketing manager position at [Company Name].

Career advancement

Advancing in your career sometimes means applying for bigger roles and explaining why you’re interested in taking on additional responsibility:

• Successful project coordinator with five years of experience overseeing eight direct reports seeking to become a project manager for an industry-leading fintech company. 

• Established cybersecurity analyst with experience in multiple frameworks and intrusion detection looking to become a security architect for a global company, where I can implement key design features to safeguard critical data. 

Career change

It’s important to explain the reason behind your desire to change careers, and the skills you believe will help you make the pivot: 

• Savvy data analyst with experience growing customer insight and retention in the education tech sector. Now interested in finding a role as financial analyst for a major banking institution, where I can strengthen my knowledge of trend spotting and forecasting.  

• Driven social media manager with over seven years of experience in consumer research, audience engagement, and market strategy. Interested in pivoting to a marketing manager position and leading the broader marketing efforts of [Company Name].

Relocation 

Whether you're about to relocate or already have, a company may want to understand your larger plans.

• I am an experienced graphic designer relocating to Denver in February, and I’m eager to find a position at [Company Name]. I have over four years of experience in website design, and I’m trained in Adobe Creative Suite.    

• Innovative business intelligence analyst with experience contributing data-backed insight to three Fortune 500 companies. Seeking a position at a leading product engineering firm in Chicago, where I’ll be relocating in April.  

Strengthen your resume with Coursera

Get step-by-step guidance throughout the resume and cover letter writing process with this two-hour-long Guided Project on Coursera.

Get expert-level guidance on job searching, resume and cover letter writing, and professional communication for free by enrolling in Aptly's online course, Land Your Next Role. You'll learn to successfully create career goals, plan your job search, apply, and interview in as little as twenty-two hours.

Strengthen your subject knowledge and resume credentials by earning a Professional Certificate from industry leaders such as Google, IBM, and Meta on Coursera. Whether you want to develop your skill set or embark on a new career direction, learn about lucrative fields like project management, UX design, data science, marketing analytics, and sales, developing job-ready skills for each profession.