#atozchallenge: Objective

Objectives and goals are pretty much the same thing. They’re things you want to accomplish, or things you want someone else to accomplish. The difference between goals and objectives, to me, anyway, is an order of magnitude.

As a trainer, I worked with objectives all the time, knowing that the ultimate goal was to produce a learner that demonstrated at least a basic understanding of the concepts of the software and relative skill in using the screens and reports to get their job done. One of the systems I led classes on was for a fairly large and comprehensive inventory control system. The training manual was broken into multiple chapters covering the different capabilities that the software had. With each section, we’d review the material from previous sections that were relevant to the new material. Each chapter or section listed its objectives at the start and ended with a review of the objectives at the end. A section on reorder techniques would have an objective of "name the different techniques of calculating an order quantity" (fixed quantity, days’ supply, min-max, and EOQ), and an exercise on the different quantities the system would calculate for an item at its reorder point.

The jury is out on whether to include an objectives statement on one’s professional résumé or not. For a young person just starting out, it might be a good thing to know what the kid has in mind long-term (e.g. "to use the techniques learned in college and other skills to assist the company as a stock clerk"), although for most kids the objective is "to find a job where I can pay my student loans and not have to eat cat food for three meals a day" or "to get my parents off my ass about getting a job." For an older candidate, you would rather see more of what the person has done, because you know their ultimate objective is "to earn enough money that I can retire and not have to eat cat food three times a day."

Anyway, I believe I’ve met my objective here. See you tomorrow with P!