What's your objective?

Greetings true believers. I know it's been a while. I kind of ran out of things to say, but I have something for you to ponder. As we are in the mess of a recession, most of us are looking for jobs left and right. The resume has become my life. I'm forever looking at my own and figuring ways to tweak it and making multiple copies with different letter designating the differences. I haven't used an objective pretty much ever since I began my career search but there are those that swear by them. Are objectives worth using?

I know some would think it's very handy, especially when a hiring manager is scanning your resume for that ten seconds. Without an objective, a resume may seem aimless. "What are you applying to?" My thought is that this resume was being sent for X job. You should know what I'm applying for and see how my experience shows I would be a good fit. But still, an objective would silence this little squabble.

For me, it's always been about the cover letter. Before I continue, let me share that I am not a fan of cover letters. I think they're a waste of time. Generally speaking, you can tell from my resume if you want to continue the application process with me. A cover letter won't wow a hiring manager further, if they even read it at all. But in many of the jobs I've applied to, it was necessary to include a cover letter. And in that case, the objective was shifted to that space. Would I benefit from having the objective in my resume, particularly when cover letters aren't needed. But this of course could push my resume to two pages, yet another thing I learned, especially for someone my age.

The other thing with objectives is making it too narrow or too broad or self-serving. There's such a fine line to be walked that if you're slightly out of bounds your resume goes in the trash bin. But it's a useful tool for employers who scan resumes in seconds either by hand or by machine. But if you can find that sweet nugget, then you may hit gold. Maybe my problem is I haven't hit gold, not to mention that I almost always write cover letters.

Maybe one day I'll add an objective to my resume but I think today I'll pass. But what do you use? Objective or no objective? That is the million dollar question.