Search String: “Objective Lines on Resumes”
Things people type into google that somehow land them at my site: “Objective Lines on Resumes” and also “Game Design Resume Objective”.
What do you put in the “objective” line in a resume?
An objective line for a game designer should first and foremost state whether you are industry experienced. This is the single biggest dividing line on the hiring front.
Industry experienced X designer…”
Fill in the X with the type of designer you are. Are you truly a generalist able to do it all? Or are you more a system designer, content designer, narrative designer, level designer. Not sure? Have a look here: Types of Game Designers.
Industry experienced game designer seeks position as a Y…”
And that Y better be something that the company you’re applying to is actually offering a job in.
If you have specific skills, or awards, you can put them in there, too.
Industry experienced and award winning game designer with programming skills seeks position as a Y…”
What if you’re not industry experienced?
Aspiring X designer with programming skills seeks position as an intern within an established development team.
Don’t lift that and dump it right into your resume, though. Personalize it some.
Applied Game Design 
I’ll have to remember the “Industry experienced and award winning game designer” line. I haven’t been applying for game design jobs, but that is definitely a possibility.
On a similar note, what would be your advice for those who have multiple types of experience, possibly awards or honors? Some design jobs, especially on small projects, have a designer filling multiple designer rolls. I know that what I read says it is easier to make a short and sweet resume when you have positions that speak for themselves, and the guys, and gals, without the big roles usually have a harder time making awesome resumes. That’s also been my experience so far.
Strangely, I always thought of the objective as optional, and usually redundant.
“Industry-experienced award-winning designer…” — the industry experience and awards won should already be on your resume, and if you really want to beat people over the head with it you can open your cover letter with “I’m an industry-experienced award-winning game designer.” Putting it as an objective doesn’t add anything new.
“Industry-experienced programmer seeks career transition to game design” — again, the industry experience and programming record are plain as day on the resume, and the career transition is pretty obvious if the position being applied for is game designer.
“Aspiring content designer seeks opportunity to work with player stats on next-generation sports game” — Lack of experience also shows up on the resume. Content design specialty should be stated in the cover letter. Nature of the work is part of the company’s own job description, and in this example a passion for sports also probably shows up in the cover letter.
My general feeling is, only include an objective if it’s not just parroting information from elsewhere. But that’s just my personal style.
I disagree with you on that, Ian. Tell me what you want me to hire you for on both the resume and on the cover letter. In some cases, I might be hiring 15 people for a variety of positions, and I don’t want to have to guess which you’re trying to be hired into. Yes, it might say it on your cover letter, and if HR person actually brings copies of that to the meeting, that’ll be superb. If not, we’re back to a guessing game. That single line is your core statement, and it’s the first thing I read when I am looking to hire. Sure, I can get it elsewhere, but give it to me there, too.
It’s like with writing. Don’t beat around the bush, just say it.
The biggest thing that I’ve learned in this job search adventure is that you can NOT please everybody. Some people want objectives to be short, some don’t even want to see them, and some want it with more details…
My advice. Write an objective that defines you and what you want, and have confidence.