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Substituting a professional title for the Job Objective statement
Titles That Talk Big
Robert McFarland had been a construction-dispute consultant for anumber of years and was using his resume to move to another consulting firm. By placing his professional title immediately under his heading, he established himself as someone grounded in his field. This assertive approach not only won himan interview, but it also paid off big when he negotiated his salary. Do you have a professional title that would tell the employer which role you want to play in his organization? If so, consider using it on your resume instead of a Job Objective statement.
Heading Within a Heading
In her resume heading, Katrina Lambros inserted her professional title right under hername. Notice how confident
Katrina looked with her title up top and stunning achievement statements in the body of her resume. Her whole presentation made her look like the type of salesperson the employer wanted on his team! Whether your professional title is incorporated into your heading or positioned immediately under your heading, it's bound to stand out and impress a potential employer.
Terms of Employment
Your professional title could be an official job title you've held or simply the professional role you're qualified to fill. For inst ance, a resume writer (such as myself) could use any of the following professional titles at the top of her resume:
- Resume Writer
- Resume Consultant
- Career Counselor
- Career Development
- Professional
Bonus Check
You can get double mileage from your professional title by placing it in the headings of both your resume and cover letter.
Go for It
Ready to commit your thoughts to paper? Good. Use this worksheet to write your contactinformation for the Heading section of your resume. Then insert a concise Job Objective statement or professional title, using the creative approaches discussed in this chapter.
Resume Heading and Job Objective Sections
Name: _________________________________________________________________________________
Address:________________________________________________________________________________
City, state, and zip:________________________________________________________________________
Phone number(s): _________________________________________________________________________
Fax number (only if applying to a recruiter): ______________________________________________________
E-mail address (optional): ___________________________________________________________________
URL (optional): ___________________________________________________________________________
Job Objective statement:
Professional title (if not using Job Objective): _____________________________________________________
Having done that, you can pat yourself on the back for completing the first step in writing your resume.