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Vanda from Heidelberg is concerned about "career objectives" on CVs. She writes: “I feel self-conscious writing these things. I am sure they are never read by employers and probably don't work. Should I include them?”

Career objectives get a bad name because often they are written without much thought, which can result in them falling into one of two common traps. The first trap is thinking a career objective statement is a chance to set out needs and demands.

If you're not careful, it's easy to end up sounding like Jimmy Barnes working as a shop steward in an industrial relations dispute (loud and demanding).

You have probably read this sort of thing: "I want a role where at last my talent for chicken sexing and my collection of stuffed olives will be appreciated ... I want a role where I can be in control of how and when I work ... I am committed to a range of community projects which require a flexible approach to my working hours."

Putting demands in career objectives is not a good idea. At best, it's putting your negotiating cards on the table far too early and, at worst, it presents you as a very self-focused and possibly inflexible potential troublemaker. It also says loud and clear to an employer that you have failed to do your homework on the company and are therefore having to ensure certain conditions through making the demands.

It's much better to save any demands until after you have been offered the role. Whet the employer's appetite with some positive career objectives at the start of the process, because a hungry employer will swallow a whole lot more in negotiations at the end of the employment process.

The other trap people fall into is to sound like Miss World circa 1975 and write lots of banal and inane motherhood statements. Things like: "I want to make the world a better place ... I am devoted to helping small, furry animals ... I like to help little, old ladies across the road."

However, carefully constructed career objectives can be an excellent addition to your CV as they can orient the employer to the connection between you and the role. They can create a positive aura from the very beginning of the application, priming the recruiter to look for reasons to shortlist rather than reject you.

To write an effective career objective statement, you could try following my four-step process:

- Make a list of the best assets you can bring to the role.
- Check their relevance against any selection criteria or your own research.
- Prioritise assets for importance.
- Take the top three or four and write them as wants.

For example, imagine you identified the assets you could bring to a health-care role as being: working with the elderly, having an empathetic nature, being systematic and orderly, and wanting to keep your skills up to date.

Then you could write: "I am looking for a role specialising in the care of the elderly where I can use my naturally empathetic yet systematic and organised approach to deliver optimum care. I am committed to keeping my skills up to date and would welcome the opportunity to engage in ongoing professional development."

This is a good example of a career objective because it addresses my triple-F plan: faithful, fit and focus. It is a faithful (true) account; it addresses the fit between the candidate and the role; and it is focused on the role and not the person. In some circumstances, a career objective may appear a little jejune.

For experienced candidates, the alternative may be to provide a brief career summary statement highlighting relevant achievements. Despite many people's understandable reservations, career objectives do work.

In my own research, we sent employers CVs that either did or did not contain career objectives. Irrespective of the content or quality of the CVs, those that contained career objectives led recruiters to rate the candidate as more suitable for the job.


Jim Bright is professor of career education and development at ACU National and is also a partner at Bright and Associates, a career management consultancy.


Email questions to brightside@jimbright.com.