Resume "Objectives"

I've always been against the "Objective" section on a resume. I still am, but I now understand why it's common, and hotly contested.

Outside of tech companies, Product Owners aren't usually technical people. Their background usually comes from HR, PR, business development, or marketing. "Tech jargon" sounds as weird and contrived to them as "buzzwords" do to tech folks. They're not idiots, and they're not blowing smoke up your arse. They might actually be better at their job than you are at yours. There are rockstars in every field, not just programming. The just have different priorities than you do, and recognizing that helps.

So here's my suggestions when it comes to dealing with that part of your resume.

Write 2 or 3 sentences (no more, no less) about why you're the best fit for the job, in plain English.

Read it to yourself, and mentally (or physically, if need be) highlight all of the fluff. If you know something, say you know it. "Having in-depth knowledge" is fluff. If you have experience, "proven experience" is fluff. If you do a thing, cool. If you "leverage" that thing", it's fluff.

Now read it to yourself again, this time highlighting anything technical. People know what software is, but "open source software" is technical. People know what the internet and email are; HTTP and IMAP is technical. Linux, iOS, or Windows? Technical.

Delete everything fluffy or technical. Change the wording to make the remaining sentence make sense in English, but don't change the idea. Fight your own instinct, here.

Now read it out loud.

Does the end result sound like your goal is "to get a job" or "to join a team", to "get hired by", or "to do work"? Congrats, you're in the 0th percentile, like every other person who has ever applied for a job! And no, I don't just mean this job... Every job. Ever.

Now consider the things you'd like to do. Your passions. Your hobbies. The things you spend 5 or more hours a week on anyway. State your objective thinking about that, without being fluffy or technical.

Does your Objective feel like a bad fit? It probably is.

Submitted September 02, 2016 at 08:38AM by ElectricElement http://ift.tt/2bOjxPN via TikTokTikk