Don’t write an objective

July 13, 2006 · Filed Under Recruiting in the 21st Century 

Just don’t write one. They are rarely well done (they are typically variations of “To get a job”) which is exactly not helpful at all. 

If you feel the need to explain yourself, now is the time to polish your cover letter and stop making it the generic necessity that it always ends up being.  Some recruiters don’t read cover letters anymore.  I do. I love a well written one so much, I am willing to sacrifice myself to the cover letter idiots who write.

Dear Sir or Maddam,

Please accept my resume for the position of [enter title here] advertised in the [enter newspaper name here].  As you’ll see in my resume, I have a wide variety of skills that fits perfectly with this position.

I look forward to speaking to you further on this matter.

Joe Applicant

If that’s what you want to do with your cover letter, just leave it off. The people that do care won’t like you and for the people that don’t care, it will just get in the way. My suggestion is to stick your objective in your cover letter though and customize it for each job you apply for.

Speaking of resumes, those people that have submitted their resumes to me but haven’t heard back from me, I am working through them. I’ve seen some real promise shown.

Check out HRM Today for the latest in the HR blogosphere.

Comments

Leave a Reply




  • About

    Your HR Guy is a Human Resources Generalist practicing in the field. But don't let that fool you, this isn't a boring blog. I seek relevance and humor in a place we will spend much of our lives. Everything from workplace issues, job seeking and terrible bosses. Read more...

    View Lance Haun [lancehaun@gmail.com]'s profile on LinkedIn



    Featured on:




    Rate this Blog at Blogged

    Alltop, confirmation that I kick ass

  • RSS HRM Today

    • SHRM, Kennedy, & Blowing Up Human Resources
      When you believe in destroying the traditional model of Human Resources — much like I do — you run into major obstacles. The biggest obstacle in my life is also the biggest elephant in the room: it’s The Society for Human Resources Management. SHRM is the most influential Human Resouces association in America. It’s staffed with [...]
      Laurie Ruettimann
    • Stand up for Tolerance: 10th Annual Transgender Day of Remembrance
      Today is the 10th Annual Transgender Day of Remembrance, dedicated to all those transgender folks who died as a result of anti-transgender violence. Thankfully, I have never lost a loved one to such an act of violence; but, I would never forgive myself if I had not spoken up and taken a stand on [...]
      Totally Consumed
    • The Best Piece of Advice
      I’m a bit reflective today because I’m formulating my Zig Ziglar inspired Wall of Gratitude (to be blogged later this weekend…stay tuned).  It has me thinking about all of the pivotal moments and life-changing people I’ve experienced in my short professional career. I presented the topic of MBTI preferences and Team Building to a group of [...]
      speakingofmbti
    • 10 Solutions To Our Ailing Economy
      Yes, I am going to nag about the economy again.  My economist friend in Oregon agreed with my posting yesterday.  He told me that there is only one Fortune 500 company left in Oregon (Nike); the rest put on their Nike’s and ran as fast they could away from this unfriendly-to-business state.  The same happened to Silicon [...]
      rulrici
    • Develop Your Strengths or Fix Your Weaknesses?
      Gary Vaynerchuk, blogger and creator of Wine Library TV, had a fantastic (and short) video on his personal blog yesterday titled “I suck!” Gary spends the first 60 seconds rattling off a list of things he’s horrible at, and then begins to explain how instead of dwelling on what he’s bad at, he’s instead chosen to [...]
      Chris Ferdinandi
    • Tip of the Week – Test Candidate Matching
      It’s Friday afternoon, and you just posted a position with your applicant tracking system (ATS). The position has been placed on your website, job boards and the other usual sources. When you come to work on Monday, you realize that you have had over 200 candidates apply for the position. Sound familiar? Well it doesn’t necessary [...]
      Jake Stupak
    • Fiddling While Rome Burns
      “Rome” is burning.  The “Rome” I am talking about is the private sector of the U.S. economy.  Last month, the only job sector that grew was government jobs.  I get this feeling that we are pulling a “Nero” watching this thing happen and are hopelessly standing by not doing anything about it.  I read HR Blogs, including [...]
      rulrici
    • Building Community in a Face-to-Faceless World
      Note from Lance: I asked my former employer to do a guest post about some of the cool things they are doing with some of the interesting challenges they face. Today’s author is Kristen Leal who manages QualitySmith’s PR and Talent Strategy. Thanks! I was filling up my water bottle one day at work when I [...]
      Lance Haun
    • Can HR REALLY be a Profit Center?
      In recent discussions I have heard two schools of thought regarding how HR can be viewed as a profit center: 1) By reducing costs such as absenteeism, turnover, and bad hires, HR can add more to the bottom line 2) HR can add value to the organization by increasing revenue I believe we are getting pretty good at [...]
      Cathy Martin
    • Communicating with emotional impact
      Here’s an easy way to add instant punch to your written and verbal communications. It doesn’t matter how good or bad a writer you think you are… you can do this: Communicate as if you were the recipient of the communication. Forget your role as transmitter. No one cares that you “have the floor;” people only care [...]
      JasonSeiden

  • RSS Background Check News