Home > 
Goal-Oriented Skills

How to Demonstrate Goal Orientation on Resume

Here are the top ways to show your Goal-Oriented skills on your resume. Find out relevant Goal-Oriented keywords and phrases and build your resume today.

Woman on chairPlantwaveLight
Is your resume ATS-friendly?

Drop your resume here or upload a file to find out if the skills in your resume are readable by an ATS.

What is goal orientation?

Goal orientation is an individual determination to achieve an objective. Goal orientation also refers to how an individual interprets and reacts to tasks, resulting in different patterns of cognition, affect, and behavior.

As the term suggests, goal-oriented people are more driven and accomplish more goals. At the workplace, you can define two types of goal-oriented people. The first one is demonstrating focus on learning as much as possible, overcoming challenges through hard work, or increasing their competence at a task. And the second one describes individuals who want to demonstrate and prove to others their high ability in performing their work.

Being goal-oriented at work means you are driven by purpose and can focus on the tasks at hand, getting them done efficiently. You can plan your time and energy to achieve results.

Why goal-oriented is wanted by recruiters on your resume

One of the most common skills mentioned in the job description is goal-oriented, no matter the industry. Employers want their employees to achieve their tasks and meet their goals because those are the people who are more likely to get results.

To describe a goal-oriented person in the job description, recruiters also use a results-driven or task-driven to specify a focused person on their goals.

It’s beneficial to demonstrate goal-oriented skills because this presents you as an ambitious individual, motivated to learn new skills, and has rich professional experience. These qualities can help you achieve even more goals and get you a raise or a promotion you want.

Valuable skills to be a goal-oriented employee capable of getting results are planning and organization, time management, and motivation. All these skills are attractive to employers.

What skills, activities, and accomplishments help you highlight your goal-oriented skills

To demonstrate you are naturally goal-oriented at work, you can give examples on your resume of the following skills:

  • Planning skills help you to efficiently handle the workload, accomplish tasks, and accurately estimate the time and effort required to complete your daily tasks.
  • Organizational skills are essential to ensure maximum productivity, stay on top of tasks, and deliver results on time.
  • Time management skills are the ability to plan and control how much time to spend on specific activities and enable you to complete more in a shorter period.
  • Creative thinking skill is beneficial when you are goal-oriented because you can come up with “out of the box” solutions to achieve your goals.
  • Decision-making skills are all the skills you need to make decisions about your time, work, and schedule to meet your goals.
  • Analytical skills help you to examine your work practices and procedures to see what you can improve to achieve your goals.
top sections icon

How to demonstrate goal orientation on your resume?

  • List goal-oriented skills in your resume skills section.
  • Include goal-oriented skills on your resume within descriptions of your experience.
  • Use other words to describe you are a goal-oriented professional, like results-driven or task-driven.
  • Give examples of how you achieved your goals and the results you accomplished.
  • List experience that demonstrates how you effectively planned and prioritized tasks.

Example 1: Demonstrate goal-oriented skills in the experience section

Experience
Advertising Manager
MacEzzy Consulting
Flushing, NY
  • Achieved 125% of the goal of quota for each month and up to 150%
  • Delivered multi-year revenue increases of 20% to 28%
  • Exceeded 2011 revenue goal by 125% and generated over 50 new business accounts
  • Work in a fast-paced environment collaborating with Editorial, Marketing, and Finance to exceed targets and generate revenue for over 865 Patch sites
RIGHT

Saying on your resume that you are goal-oriented is not enough for the hiring manager. They want to see that you can achieve your goals. The experience section is one of the best ways to demonstrate that you are result driven.

In this example, the Advertising Manager demonstrates that they are focused on accomplishing tasks and meeting their goals. They give concrete examples of the results they achieved.

They are not only goal-oriented, but they also can exceed expectations. Furthermore, they use active verbs to demonstrate confidence, motivation, and determination to succeed.

Example 2: Demonstrate goal-oriented skills in the resume summary section

Summary
Highly capable, result driven, and accomplished Senior IT Engineer with more than 8 years of extensive management experience, planning and implementing computer systems and networks. Competitive professional empowered by broad-based experience in project management and network system administration.
RIGHT

The resume summary can efficiently demonstrate your skills without mentioning that you are goal-oriented.

The provided example demonstrates a goal-oriented individual focused on reaching a specific objective and accomplishing tasks. They are motivated, experienced, and result driven.

They describe themselves as competitive, which means that they will always put their best efforts into accomplishing their goals in the best way.

Example 3: Show your goal-oriented skills in your achievements sections

Achievements
Result driven
Surpassed budgeted Annual Fund goal of $800,000 by 5%, raising $838,000; Raised $150,000 through Art Auction and Tasting Event
Awards
Awarded first place for Event Management Solution from Stevie American Business Awards
Milestone
Produced the most successful Fundraising season in the history of the organization, increasing net revenue by 70% and ticket sales by 250% over the previous year
RIGHT

The achievements section of your resume is a good way to demonstrate that you are goal-oriented and focused on reaching your objectives and accomplishing your tasks.

The provided example is shows a person who puts extra effort into exceed their goals. They demonstrated how successfully they apply their planning and organizational skills to accomplish their targets.

Goal-Oriented: Key Takeaways for Your Resume

  • Demonstrate in your resume that you are driven by purpose and focused on achieving your goals.
  • Describe your experience by giving concrete examples of your work where you get results.
  • List other skills that help you to be more goal-oriented.
  • Give examples of overcoming challenges through hard work to enhance your result-driven nature.
  • Include on your resume your biggest professional achievements to demonstrate your goal-oriented skills.
Make your move!
Your resume is an extension of yourself.
Make one that's truly you.
Rate my article:
How to Demonstrate Goal Orientation on Resume
Average: 4.80 / 5.00
(352 people already rated it)
Volen Vulkov
Volen Vulkov is a resume expert and the co-founder of Enhancv. He applies his deep knowledge and experience to write about a career change, development, and how to stand out in the job application process.