Addressing More Than One Career Goal?

Answer 1

It is not always easy to choose one career goal to focus on. There are many reasons why someone decides to focus on different career goals at the same time. It might be that the person's interests and skills are so diverse that they would provide a good base for success in different fields. It can also be that a person is content in his/her own field and looking to continue growing in it while at the same time pursuing the possibility of a career in another field. Or it might simply be that a person cannot make up his/her mind between different fields of interests and is choosing to pursue all in order to see where the best possibilities lie.

But how does someone go about pursuing different career goals at the same time? The important thing is to open possibilities in all the fields being pursued and for this, a person needs to plan and be organized.

A one-size-fits-all resume will usually not work in this case because to be appropriate for all fields being pursued, the resume will have to be very general and vague. In this case having different resumes geared specifically for each career goal is ideal. To figure out if different resumes are needed, a person can do job searches using different keywords. If interesting, desirable jobs are found under different keywords or fields, then it is time for different resumes.

It is worth it to take the time to format resumes that focus on a specific goal, starting with the objective section. In this section, a clear statement about the career goal the person is pursuing works best. The rest of the resume should be designed to support this goal.

When listing work experience, skills and training, those that are central and relevant to the career goal should be emphasized. Those skills, experiences and training that are not relevant to the goal should become secondary in that particular resume. That means that one job and its responsibilities can be described differently in each resume depending on the intended objective of that particular resume. Formal education and any additional training will also be presented differently depending on the resume.

Finally, it is a good idea to keep track of where each resume is being sent. This will help with preparation for future interviews and follow-up, since each resume has slightly different information and focus.