A Resume Summary and Objective are both introductions that aim to immediately grab the employer’s attention. Most professionals I have spoken to hardly know the difference. Here are some quick facts to clarify:
🎯 A Resume Summary is a brief statement of your fitment for a job, similar to a condensed cover letter, whereas a Resume Objective is a brief statement communicating your career goals.
🎯 A Resume Objective highlights the goal of the job seeker, whereas a Resume Summary highlights the skills that match the potential employer’s needs.
🎯 Entry Level or junior professionals should ideally use a Resume Objective, whereas lateral entrants can focus on the accomplishment that matches the target role in their Resume Summary.
🎯 For career changers, the resume objective may be combined with the resume summary to highlight their transferable skills.
🎯 A Resume Summary talks about your career history and highlights your most relevant achievements to the target role, whereas a Resume Objective emphasizes your professional goals that are relevant to the position.
🎯 A Resume Summary contains past accomplishments with metrics, whereas a Resume Objective generally doesn’t include metrics, as career goals are hard to quantify.
🎯 A Resume Summary can have a section named for it, whereas a Resume Objective should be a one-page short specific statement within the summary.
Recruiters will only spend a few seconds looking at a resume, and most of this time is spent looking at the top half of a Resume, and therefore it is the key. Keeping it brief with 3-4 lines and to the point addressing the exact needs of the potential employer will draw the recruiter’s attention to read more.
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