Tomorrow's Jobs

Making informed career decisions requires reliable information about opportunities in the future. Opportunities result from the relationships between the population, labor force, and the demand for goods and services.

Population ultimately limits the size of the labor force—individuals working or looking for work—which constrains how much can be produced. Demand for various goods and services determines employment in the industries providing them. Occupational employment opportunities, in turn, result from demand for skills needed within specific industries. Opportunities for medical assistants and other health care occupations, for example, have surged in response to rapid growth in demand for health services.

Examining the past and projecting changes in these relationships is the foundation of the Occupational Outlook Program. This chapter presents highlights of Bureau of Labor Statistics projections of the labor force and occupational and industry employment that can help guide your career plans.

Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2004-05 Edition


U.S. Department of Labor
Bureau of Labor Statistics
Bulletin 2540

For more information on Tomorrow's Jobs, click here: Occupational Outlook Summary

The Objective Statement

Will You Use an Objective Statement in Your Resume?

If you are in the market for a new desktop computer and a salesperson asks you what features you are looking for, you may relate a few details, such as: 512KB RAM, 160 GB hard drive, flat panel monitor, wireless keyboard or any of a dozen other desired features. The salesperson is much more likely to find a computer that matches your description if you provide the right kind of information.

The same is true of an objective statement. If you don’t use one, an employer might not be able to figure out what type of job you are interested in.

Do not assume your resume makes everything perfectly clear. Your cover letter may not be able to convey everything, either. The cover letter might not even get read. Even if it does get read, it could very easily get separated from your resume. If that happens, the employer has no lead-in to your resume and it has to stand alone.

It is for this reason that a résumé’s objective statement becomes critical. The employer needs some direction from you.

The objective statement tells the employer what kind of work you are interested in. A well written objective statement does it in a way that lets the employer know what you can do for them, too.

To read more about the objective statement, follow any or all of these links:

The Objective Statement

The Resume Outline