Careers - Objectives and the Curriculum Vitae

Arras People receives hundreds of CV’s every month from people all across the project management spectrum – from people applying directly for advertised posts or through our registration process. Hundreds of CV’s using different styles – layouts sourced from books, friends, the company standard or specialist CV service providers.

What do you think is the most underused and undervalued space on your CV? In a poll of 100 CV’s we currently hold on record only 5% use the CV to show a prospective employer what it is they’re looking for. The objective also often gets confused with the personal profile so what exactly is it?

The objective is “a statement of what you want to do for an employer”, for example:

“Objective: To obtain a challenging project co-ordination position within a public sector organisation which will allow me to continue developing my project management skills, with a long-term aim to progress to the role of Programme or Project Office Manager.”

Anything written in the objective must also be clearly backed up in the rest of your CV and this can take the form of a personal profile and then the normal chronological layout of your works experience.

So why do we encourage people to spend time writing their objectives? For a number of reasons; it makes your application stand out from the 100’s of others the client may be reviewing, it shows the employer you’ve taken the time to think about your application and above all else it makes you the most ideal employee on paper!

So what do you need to think about when putting together an objective? Here’s a list of some of the do’s and don’ts:

Don’t be too general – there wouldn’t be much point in including an objective in the first place

The objective should take into consideration your skills, abilities, aspirations, education and interests

Write a new objective for each position you apply for – difficult when there’s a limited advertised job specification but make the effort

Remember to tell the employer in your objective exactly what it is that you can do for them

Be realistic and sensible in your aspirational goals

Take time to do the objective properly and get friends or family to review it

Careers - Objectives and the Curriculum Vitae