Creating a Career Objective
Objectives
1. To learn the purpose of a career objective.
2. To understand the parts of a career objective.
3. To write a career objective that is
not too broad or too narrow.
Introduction
A job campaign consists of many tasks: writing a
resume, nding potential employers, reviewing job
openings, creating application leers, networking,
interviewing, receiving rejections, negotiating job
oers, and making many decisions. The best place to
start is with a goal or an objective. It may be helpful
to ask ”What do I want to do?” and “Where do I
want to be?”
What is a Career Objective?
Your career objective is a personal statement dening
the specics you wish to aain via professional work.
1. It’s personal: Others may share similar goals, but
your objective should state your goals in terms
that are comfortable to you.
2. It’s a commitment: State a goal that identies
who you are and what you want to achieve.
3. It’s action-oriented: Take control of your life
by proactively communicating your skills and
accomplishments to an employer.
4. It’s directional: Focus on your future and identify
steps to take and information to seek. Your focus
can be short or long term. You will be beer
equipped to evaluate potential work situations by
examining your future goals.
5. It’s specic: Clearly identify facts about a work
situation. Broad terms like “successful” or
“challenging” may mean something to you, but
convey no facts to an employer.
You also can choose to include your objective in
your cover leer and not your resume. Regardless,
a clear and focused objective helps you target your
job search and communicate more eectively with
potential employers.
What’s Inside
What Do I Include in a Career Objective? .........2
1. Career Field ....................................................2
2. Position Title ..................................................2
3. Organizational Category ..............................2
4. Functional Area .............................................2
5. Skills ................................................................3
6. Other Factors ..................................................4
What Skills are Commonly Used in Creating
Career Objectives? .................................................3
How Do I Choose Among the Elements? ..........4
How Good is My Career Objective? .................. 4
) 555-1234
ELISA HARTMAN
Present address
FSU Box 0000
Tallahassee, FL 32313
(850) 555-5000
CAREER OBJECTIVE
Utilize my strong interpersonal and organizational
skills as an account executive in an advertising agency.
EDUCATION
Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL
Bachelor of Science, April 2008
Major:
Advertising
Minor:
Spanish
Overall G.P.A.: 3.5, Major G.P.A.: 3.8
EXPERIENCE
Student Assistant,
September 2007-Present
FSU College of Communication, Tallahassee, FL
Advise undergraduates on course selection; maintain
Dorothy Domkowski
Denise Saunders
Creating a Career Objective
2
What Do I Include in a Career Objective?
Deciding what to include in a career objective can be dicult. The following pages cover elements you can
include in your objective, but the elements you choose should accurately and concisely describe your goals.
1. Career Field
Career elds are general areas of work that include
many dierent job titles but encompass similar work
activities.
You may be considering several dierent job titles
within a career eld. Identifying the career eld
category allows you to specify a broad area in
which you are interested without limiting yourself
to specic job titles. While you may be interested in
several career elds, it is beer to limit yourself to
one for purposes of the career objective.
Examples:
“To work in the healthcare eld as an administrator in a
service delivery unit.”
“To research the eld of law.”
2. Position Title
Position title, occupational title, or job title is the
name of a specic position one holds. While some
organizations may have their own reference names,
most position titles are generic and generalizable to
many organizations.
Listing a position title on your career objective
is appropriate if you know you will be applying
for a specic position either in many dierent
organizations or one targeted organization.
Examples:
"To obtain a position of accountant with a public ac-
counting rm and eventually become a partner.”
“To act as a community organizer where I can use
my human relations, administrative, and research
skills.”
3. Organizational Category
Organizational category refers to seings in which
you might like to work. In the broadest sense,
organizations are categorized as either service-
producing or goods-producing. More specically,
organizations are categorized by industry groups.
One or more of these groups may appeal to you.
Identifying a category or industry group helps you
identify specic employers within that group. Write
your objective with a narrow focus and demonstrate
interest in a specic seing without naming
individual employers.
Examples:
“To work within the telecommunications industry as a
technical advisor.”
“To secure a position as an editor for a mid-size
publishing rm.”
4. Functional Area
Functional area refers to the structure of an
organization. Most organizations are divided into
various departments, each responsible for completion
of specic tasks or functions. A large organization
tends to be dierentiated, meaning departments can
have more specic functions. Smaller organizations
may have the same department handling several
functions.
Identifying a functional area in a career objective
species which part of the organization would be
of interest to you without narrowing yourself to a
specic industry group or organizational category.
Examples:
“To work in the government relations area within a For-
tune 500 organization.”
“To obtain a management trainee position within the
quality control unit of a production department.”
Creating a Career Objective
3
5. Skills
Skills are special talents, functions (General Skills),
or tasks (Specic Skills) that you have learned to
do well. They are behaviors you exhibit and are
most likely developed through academic, work, and
leisure experiences. Some of these same skills might
be used in one occupation or transferred to several
dierent occupations (transferable skills).
Skills involve knowledge and physical behaviors
that increase your marketability beyond specic
career elds and organizational categories. Most
jobs require a combination of skills. Identifying your
combination lets the employer know where you
might t in the organization.
5a. General Skills
General skills are broad areas which encompass
related specic skills. Identifying general skills in an
objective establishes the combination of skill areas
you prefer to use in your work.
Examples:
“To use my scientic and human relations skills as a
Nursing Supervisor.
“To work for a government agency using my manage-
ment and communication skills.”
General skill areas you may want to use include:
administrative
artistic
athletic
clerical
communication
creative
human relations
management
mathematical
mechanical
scientic
technical
5b. Specic Skills
Specic skills are focused actions or behaviors
used to perform tasks. Identifying specic skills in
your career objective allows you to highlight your
strengths or specializations within a general skill
area.
Examples:
“To use my artistic skills especially doing layout, graphic
design, and leering for an advertising rm.”
“To work for a rehabilitation agency and use my group
and individual counseling skills.”
View the included list to nd skills that are
commonly used in career objectives. Also consider
your own specic skills when composing your
objective.
What Skills are Commonly Used in
Creating Career Objectives?
account
act
administer
advertise
advise
analyze
appraise
arrange
assemble
assist
audit
budget
build
calculate
catalogue
chart
clarify
collect
communicate
compete
complete
compile
compose
conduct
control
coordinate
correct
counsel
create
dance
delegate
demonstrate
decide
design
determine
develop
diagnose
direct
document
draft
draw
edit
engineer
entertain
establish
evaluate
exercise
exhibit
experiment
facilitate
formulate
furnish
guide
hire
implement
improve
initiate
inuence
inspect
install
instruct
interpret
interview
investigate
judge
landscape
lead
make
manage
market
meet
mobilize
model
motivate
negotiate
operate
order
organize
originate
perform
persuade
photograph
plan
play
predict
prepare
present
produce
program
promote
propose
provide
publish
purchase
qualify
raise
read
recommend
recruit
repair
report
research
schedule
select
sell
serve
solve
sta
start
supervise
synthesize
teach
test
train
translate
travel
tutor
type
verify
write
6. Other Factors
There are other elements you can place in your career
objective. These are important to identify and include
limits, conditions, or personal criteria which would
aect your work situation.
By establishing these factors, you can further
focus on communicating your goals to employers.
However, you may wish to limit the extent you detail
these types of factors in your career objective. Being
too narrowly focused may cause you to overlook
potentially satisfying employment options.
Examples:
“To work outdoors in a supervisory capacity for the
United States Forest Service.”
“To obtain a secondary teaching position in the
southeast United States.”
“To work in law enforcement and pursue additional
specialized training in forensics.”
Other factors might include:
6a. Populations
Populations are the people with whom you work.
They could be your colleagues, but generally,
population as a career objective refers to the clients or
customers of your products or services.
Examples:
“To work with elderly individuals in the eld of
recreational therapy.”
“To design programs for children with disabilities.”
6b. Goals
Short-term goals are goals you wish to achieve
immediately. Identifying short-term goals helps you
focus on where to begin your professional career.
Also, they help you identify next steps in your job
search.
Examples:
“To obtain an entry level position of Weather Observer.”
Long-term goals are goals you wish to achieve in 5 to
10 years. Having long-term goals can be benecial to
you in two main ways:
1. Many organizations have stang plans regarding
where they want their employees to be in the
organization in the future. By having a plan, you
and the employer can evaluate if there is a match
with respect to where you may start, advance,
and nish in a given time period.
2. In our society, jobs are constantly changing.
As you work, it is likely that opportunities and
problems will occur. Long-term goals give you
a yardstick to evaluate the situation and make
decisions.
Example:
“To begin employment in a beverage management
position which provides opportunities for advancement
to a policy-making position in the organization.”
How Do I Choose Among the Elements?
As you review the information included in the
Creating a Career Objective Guide, think about the
elements you wish to include in your own career
objective. Keep in mind elements that may be useful
in other job search activities, such as interviewing or
negotiating oers.
For your wrien career objective, choose at least one
element but no more than three or your objective
may be too lengthy. You may want to have dierent
career objectives for dierent career options you are
considering. The key is to use elements that match
your goals.
How Good is My Career Objective?
Career objectives can be:
• Personal
• Commitment-oriented
• Action-oriented
• Directional
• Specic
Brainstorm possible elements of your career
objective. If you have diculty writing your
objective, drop in to the Career Center and ask a
career advisor for help developing your objective.
850.644.6431 • career.fsu.edu
Alternative format available.
Revised 9/13.
