The worst way to start a resume

Andy Lester wrote a great piece on his blog recently which jobseekers need to read. I cant tell you how right he is. Here it is:

As I go through dozens of resumes, I'm amazed by how many people still waste the crucial top two inches of their resumes with drivel like this:

Objective: A fast-paced, challenging programming position or other technical position that will utilize and expand my technical skills and business experience in order to positively contribute to an organization.

You and everybody else, buddy. Why should I give it to you?

That top of the resume is prime visual real estate. It's the first thing I see when I open your email or Word document. I want to see a summary of who you are, and how you can help me by joining my organization.

Here's an imaginary summary from a programmer applying for a Linux-based web development position:

7 years professional software development, most recently specializing in Perl and PHP, including Developing object-oriented Perl and PHP, including

* interfacing with Oracle and MySQL on Linux (3 years)
* Creating intranet database applications with ColdFusion and Access (2 years)
* Creating shareware audio analysis programs for Windows in C/C++ (5 years)

In just a few lines, she's summarized the real meat of who she is and what she's going to bring to the position. The key words for the job to hit are bolded, to make them easier to find for the reader. Note that in this case, she has not bolded "Windows", "Access" and "ColdFusion" because that's not something she chooses to pursue further. It's part of her background, but not worth emphasizing.
The skeptical reader may ask "But what if she's applying for something that's not a Linux web position?" Then she'll modify her resume for that job when she applies for it. Takes only a few minutes, but it's more likely to draw the interest of the reader. You've got a computer, you're flexible! Tailor the resume to the position.

The still-skeptical reader may say "But what if I'm applying for 100 different jobs?" Don't apply for 100 jobs. There aren't 100 jobs out there that match you and your skills. Why waste your time? But that's a topic for a different rant....