Do you have an objective statement on your resumé? I don't. Here's why:

1. They already know what I want.
I want the job I'm applying to. There's no reason to write an objective statement that says, "Looking for a challenging editorial position at a leading consumer magazine" or some other nonsense. It's stating the obvious.

2. Your cover letter should say it all.
If there's anything overarching that you need to say about yourself and your goals, it should go in your cover letter, not on your resumé.

Do you hate objective statements as much as I do? Why or why not?

When an editor is hiring for a position, she will have to wade through dozens, if not hundreds of resumés. It's a tiring and tedious job, and the editor is likely to have a low tolerance level for small annoyances. Anything you can do to make it easier for her to find and read your resumé and cover letter will work to your advantage. Follow these two simple rules and you'll already stand out among the applicants, even before the editor reads your application.


1. Send PDF files. Word documents can have font problems. All that tidy formatting you worked on can get messed up, making your resumé harder to read.

2. Name the document with your name. For example, "vangerwen-cover.pdf" and "vangerwen-resume.pdf" will be easier to find in a folder filled with documents labelled just "coverletter.doc" and "resume-final.doc."