The following is from "How to Write a Killer Resume Objective"  

http://theinterviewguys.com/objective-for-resume/

Common Resume Objective Mistakes

There are several common mistakes job seekers can make when writing their statement with the number one being using the same objective for every job application.

1) Using the Same Objective For Every Job Application

EXAMPLE: To obtain a job within my chosen field that will challenge me and allow me to use my education, skills and past experiences in a way that is mutually beneficial to both myself and my employer and allow for future growth and advancement.

Your goal is to be the ideal candidate and that means making sure you’re exactly what the hiring manager is looking for…and unless you’re applying to a cookie cutter factory in a cookie cutter job town where every job every employer is listing is exactly the same then I guarantee you 100% that your statement will NOT be a “one size fits all” statement.

Next!

2) Making It All About You

This is a trap that many job seekers fall into, as they can’t resist to use the objective to list off all of the things that they want to get out of the position.

EXAMPLE: Hi, I’m Joe Jobseeker and I really want a job in a company where I make a ton of money doing as little as possible. Oh, and a corner office. A company car would be nice too. While we’re at it, let’s talk benefits, retirement…and the company vacation policy.

Yes, we’re being over the top with this one, but we need you to look at this and laugh…because even a slightly toned down one where you list only what YOU want is going to come off just as ridiculous to the hiring manager as the one we’ve blown out of proportion.

3) Being Too Vague

Mistake number three is being vague. Like we said, this isn’t a one size fits all so by being ambiguous in the hopes of somewhat fitting what they’re looking for is going to get your resume sent directly to the circular file. (In case you don’t know, the circular file is the trash can. It just sounds fancier but the end result is the same…no job.)

EXAMPLE: Looking for a long term full time job where I can apply my extensive skills and knowledge to the position for which I am hired.

Blah. Who is this person? All we know by reading this statement is that they have skills and knowledge…but other than that, not much else. What skills do they have? Do they really apply to the job? And what knowledge can they draw from that will benefit the company? See what we mean? It’s so generic you could literally fit anything into those blanks…it’s like Resume Mad Libs!

Next.

4) Going On… And On… And On… And On… and zzzzzzzzzzzzz….

Mistake number four is being too long. This isn’t a novel. It’s a quick little blurb to catch their attention so they can bring you in for an interview…then you can get into more detail!

EXAMPLE: Not going to put one here. Why? Because the example we were going to do was going to be so long and ridiculous that you and everyone else reading this post would just get bored and move onto another article. Just remember, it’s all about short and sweet. Anything over a sentence or two is TOO LONG. Remember that.

5) Adding Absolutely No Value

Mistake number five is probably the worst…and the easiest to fall into (outside of mistake number two, the “all about me” statement.) Mistake number five is writing a statement that basically fills space but doesn’t tell the hiring manager anything about the value you bring to the table. This can also be confused with the too vague statement…

EXAMPLE: To obtain a position within my chosen field where I can utilize my skills as a hard-working, well-educated employee in exchange for a steady market-fair paycheck.

Congratulations. You’re educated and you’re hard working and you want to make money. So what? So are 90% of the people you’re going up against. Why are YOU the ideal candidate? What makes the hiring manager want to bring YOU in over everyone else? See what we mean?

AND MOST IMPORTANTLY:

How are you going to fulfill the needs of the company?

When writing your resume objective, you should always have the intention of answering this question.

How To Write An Effective Resume Objective

So how do you write a GOOD resume objective?

One thing every one of these bad examples has in common (besides being grounds for circular file status) is the fact thatnot a single one of them is tailored to the position you’re looking for.

Any hiring managers who looks at a resume with objectives like those in our bad examples are going to immediately toss them into the trash and move onto the next candidate.

Why? Because whoever those potential hires are, they’re not ideal candidates.

You need to not only catch the hiring manager’s eye…you need to make sure that they look at your statement and say “Whew! Finally! After all those other resumes…HERE is one where the applicant not only knows what we’re looking for…but they’re the PERFECT FIT! Quick! Let’s get them on the phone and set up a face to face!”

Okay, enough with the bad resume objective samples! Do you know what I really need? I need to know how to write an objective for my resume that will get me noticed!

Fine. We’ll do it your way…as long as you promise to write your resume objectives our way!

Start out your statement by being specific! Make sure it’s tailored to not only the position, but the company as well.

Are you applying to five jobs? You should have five objective statements. Ten jobs? Ten statements. Two hundred jobs? Two hundred statements. Get the idea?

Focus on how you’re a benefit to the company…not how the company can benefit you.

Keep it valuable…that is…make sure you point out what you bring to the table.

Keep it short and sweet, and leave the old, tired adjectives at home. Your resume objective is a wonderful place to start inserting some action verbs, which will help “raise the energy levels” of your objective and ensure that it is more dynamic and interesting.

(We’ve written an entire other blog post on action verbs and have included a great list of examples.  Head over to “68 Dynamic Action Verbs to Enhance Your Resume” now to make sure you are using them properly.)

If you’re someone who is changing careers, make sure you work in how your past experiences can relate to your future tasks…the same goes for those who are just starting out or who are relatively inexperienced.

So let’s take a look at a few GOOD sample resume objectives:

Here is a good sample resume objective forsomeone who is in the middle of a career change:

Experienced and accomplished political campaign manager with over ten years of experience looking to leverage extensive background in crisis management, departmental organization and mass communication into an entry-level HR assistant position with Pacific 2.1 Technologies. 

This is a good example because it hits on everything we discussed above. It’s specific. We know exactly who this person is (former campaign manager), what company they’re applying to (Pacific 2.1), both how they benefit the company (experience) and what value they bring (background in crisis management, departmental organization and mass communication) and best of all, it’s short and to the point.

In just a few words this individual has taken what might seem like a totally unrelated field and shown how the skills and experiences they have directly translate to the job they’re applying for. Brilliant!

Here’s another good resume objective for acareer path change:

Objective: To leverage my 5+ years of client-facing experience, public speaking skills, and expertise in the health care industry into a public relations role with Happy Tree Educational Animations.  

Again, short, sweet and to the point. This individual outlines their past in the health care industry and manages to make their skills and experience relate to animation!

For someone who is less experienced or just starting out, here’s a simple resume objective:

Dedicated and motivated engineering graduate seeking entry level assistant quality control manager position with Dyna Tech, LLC.  

Not bad, not bad. Again, targeted to the company (Dyna Tech, LLC.) as well as the position (entry level quality control manager) and lets the hiring manager know who they are (recent graduate…which would help to explain an otherwise light looking resume!)

Here’s another sample resume objective statement for someone just starting out:

Resume Objective: Hard working business management graduate with proven leadership and organizational skills seeking to apply my abilities to the position of junior assistant to the CEO at Warbucks Financial.  

Are you starting to see a pattern here? Yes? Good!

Finally, what about someone with a ton of experience looking to target their resume to a specific position?

Objective for Resume: To obtain the position of ONLINE ESL INSTRUCTOR with BabelSpeak.com where I can apply my education, fifteen years of teaching experience and native linguistic skills and provide clients with a high quality language instruction experience.  

Wow. Talk about dead on! This statement is everything a good resume objective statement needs to be! Direct, targeted, specifically tailored to fit the position and concise!

Putting It All Together

So there you have it. We’ve covered what a resume objective statement is, who should use one, and how to properly execute it.

While some people might claim that the objective statement for a resume is outdated and old fashioned, if done properly, it can mean the difference between being on the top of the pile and ending up in the circular file.

For people with more experience, the resume summary approach is the way to go, but for job seekers who are changing careers, targeting a specific job, or feel that their resumes lack the skills and experience that make them stand out, an objective statement is a quick and easy way to ensure that the hiring manager knows at a glance who you are, where you’ve been and where you plan to go with your career…no pink paper or perfume needed!

Good luck!