You can ignore some of the latest resume standards, structures, and templates if you are applying for an IT technician position or finance executive position as you are not supposed to know them all. But when you write a resume for an HR position, you have got no excuses.
We can definitely help you in this situation!
Perfecting a professional resume for a human resources position would take days, and still, you will not be confident enough to click the SUBMIT button.
In this easy-to-read guide, we will show you how to write the perfect HR resume, that any hiring manager of a fortune global 500 company would expect to see.
Read the article carefully and you will see your application among the top 5% of applicants, increasing your chances of getting an interview. Here we go
Additional Information About the Human Resources Resume
The average annual salary of a Human Resources Specialist amounts to $63,000 according to the U.S. Bureau of Labour Statistics and they are expecting a 7% increase in HR professional jobs in 10 years which is faster than the average.
However, there are many paths to get into HR. Therefore, the demand for positions in the HR industry is high.
The only way to face this high competition is by taking your first step right!
Human Resources Resume Examples :
Here is a perfectly optimized human resources resume sample.
Nick Peterson
HR Specialist
nickpetreson@gmail.com
+1 245 58 92 14
https://www.linkedin.com/in/nick
Professional summary
An impassioned Human Resources Assistant with 3+ years of experience excited to join ABL LLC to be an active part of the HR strategy. In the previous position at REW LLC, helped the management to drop the employee turnover by 20% and played a major role in cutting down recruitment lead time by 15%
Experience
Aug 2019 to Present
ABL LLC
- Initiated the recruitment drive to cut down the lead time by 15%
- Acted as the primary contact point for employee relations
- Worked as part of a project under the director to reduce employee turnover by 20%
- Drafted the training modules for recruits
- Carried out the induction program for smooth boarding of staff
Education
Bachelor’s degree in HR Management, 2014-2018
Columbia University, NY
- Specialized in HR Strategy
- Final year project on HR Automation
GPA- 3.8/4
Skill Certifications
Reading for Certified Professional in Learning and Performance (CPLP)
Skills
Emotional Intelligence
Time management
Recruiting
Onboarding
Microsoft office 360
Employee evaluation
HR software
How to make an HR Resume?
Imagine you are a human resource manager in the position you apply for. You’ve got 200+ applications for the new position and your potential employer wants you to shortlist 20 applications for further review and interview all within two days.
How would the perfect application you would prefer to read look like?
Clearly, the ones that are properly structured that you can identify whether the applicant is a match to your job description within a couple of seconds, right?
That is the sweet spot you need to target.
That’s exactly where we start. The FORMAT and the LAYOUT.
The layout of the HR Resume
If you plan your layout first, the rest is about filling in your information. The following layout is a time tested one for a Human Resources Manager resume which you can adapt for any human resource related job.
- Header with your name and contact details
- Professional summary
- Work experience
- Education
- Skills
- Professional Certifications
A tip for writing a resume: keep it to ONE page.
You will know the average hiring manager spends only a few seconds scanning applications. When they turn the page, they want to see the next application, not your second page!
The structure of the HR Resume
You can consider structuring your resume in three formats.
- Reverse chronological
- Functional
- Combination
However, for human resources resumes, and for many other professions, we recommend using the reverse chronological order as it is less confusing and saves time for the recruiter.
For example, when you list down your HR experiences in reverse chronological order, you should start with your latest experience and list down the previous experience in the order.
Hiring managers prefer this format as they can scan your latest experience faster.
As you write your resume, you might want to consider these points:
- PDFs and Word Docs are usually preferred for submitting resumes
- Use a clear and readable font
- Use a font size of 12-14 for the body text and bigger font size (about 15-16) for the headings
- Use consistent margins
If you want your resume to stand out from the general resume format made from Microsoft Word, check out our resume templates. Further, you do not have to worry about the margins, text sizes, or any such formatting when you are using our resume builder.
Start with the Header of the Human Resources Resume
Your header of the resume is the first thing the hiring manager notices. Therefore, it would not be a waste of time to optimize it.
The Resume Header should start with your Name.
It’s very important to know what you should include and what you shouldn’t in your header. Here is an example.
Example of a good header / Example of a bad header Human Resources
Nick Peterson
HR Specialist
nickpetreson@gmail.com
+1 245 58 92 14
https://www.linkedin.com/in/nick
Nick Peterson
nickissick@gmail.com
+1 232 87 83 96
101, main street, apt 123,
Washington DC
USA
This is how one is CORRECT and the other one is INCORRECT,
- Start: Always start with your Name
- Email: Use a professional personal email address to send the resume. Do not use your current work email if you have one
Email signatures and names should be optimized to look professional
- Address: Do not mention your residential address unless it is really necessary
- Social Media: Optimize your LinkedIn profile and remove unnecessary posts on your social media
If you have a personal website or a career blog that showcases your expertise, list it in the header. If you do not have, consider creating one
Is a photo required in the Human Resources Resume?
Most USA employers have stated that they do not shortlist a candidate based on a photograph on the resume. It is in fact considered discrimination in some markets to consider an application that includes a photo.
If they have not asked for a photograph, avoid it.
If you want to showcase your latest photograph, upload that on LinkedIn and put the link in your header.
Professional summary for Human Resources
If you are writing a human resources director resume or a human resources professional resume, you should write an attention grabbing Professional Summary displaying your skill, expertise, and accomplishments.
If you are writing an entry level human resources resume, or you are undergoing a change in your career, consider writing a resume objective summary displaying your Goals, Skills, and Specific reasons for applying.
In both, focus on giving reasons as to why you will be a great hiring decision.
Following is an example of a Human Resources Resume Summary for an HR assistant.
An impassioned Human Resources Assistant with 3+ years of experience excited to join ABL LLC to be an active part of the HR strategy. In the previous position at REW LLC, helped the management to increase employee retention by 20% and played a major role in cutting down recruitment lead time by 15%.
Do you realize what makes the second HR resume summary better?
Be Energetic! Feature your Achievements! Use Numbers!
Here is a simple format we made to make your life easy:
Pro Tip: Your Professional Summary = 1st sentence (describe yourself using a single adjective + Your current position + years of experience + Why you are eager to be a part of this new role) + Sentence 02 (responsibilities in your former position + software/tools you employed + results you achieved in numbers)
Work Experience in the HR Resume
HR experience is the most important part of your resume. As an HR professional, you will agree with us on this.
This is what makes you take the decision right?
So as the recruiter who goes through your resume does the same.
Carefully go through the following section to write a perfect work experience section for your resume.
Describe your professional experiences on your Human Resources Resume
Use the reverse chronological order, where you list your recent experience first.
Read the job posting at least 3-5 times before approaching this section. Note down all the relevant HR keywords they have mentioned. These are the things you should directly focus on when you write your experience section.
Be clear and concise. Whenever possible, quantify your accomplishments.
Examples of professional experiences for Human Resources beginner/ junior
ABL LLC
- Involved in the recruitment process
- Handled employee relations
- Took part in conflict resolution activities
- Onboarding and training staff
- Increased employee satisfaction
ABL LLC
- Initiated the recruitment drive to cut down the lead time by 20%
- Acted as the primary contact point for employee relations
- Worked as part of a project under the HR manager to reduce employee turnover by 22%
- Drafted the training modules for recruits
- Carried out the induction program for smooth boarding of staff
Talk about the projects you were involved in under a senior personality and specify the actions you took and the results you achieved as a team.
Examples of work experience for Senior Human Resources
Human Resources Manager- ABL LLC
- Managed all human resource functions for ABL LLC
- Planned the recruitment process
- Conducted interviews and made hiring decisions
- Increased employee retention
Human Resources Manager- ABL LLC
- Managed all HR functions at ABL LLC handling a team of 10-15
- Recruited 40+ operational level managers and 5 C-suite managers in the last four years
- Conceptualized and launched a new training process resulted in a drop of employee turnover by 15%
As an HR professional, which of the above two applicants you feel like inviting for an interview. Clearly the second one, right?
Is it because the two candidates are different in terms of experience?
Not at all. It is just about the approach they have taken to write their experience.
Though you like it or not here is a golden rule applied to any job in this world
Those who write the best gets the interview and those who talk the best gets the job
As an HR person, you will agree with us here.
Education in the Human Resources Resume
There is no specific educational qualification that an HR professional should possess. However different organizations would request different academic backgrounds.
Here you can list your bachelor’s degree and Master’s degree if you got one. If you have done any professional qualification related to Human Resource Management, you list that at the top of this section.
If you hold a degree or any qualification related to HR, you could also add a couple of sentences to showcase your learnings.
Should you start with education or work experience in the HR Resume?
If you are an HR Director or a Senior HR person with solid experience you should start with your experience.
However, if you are a fresh graduate or an entry level human resources person, with not much experience to list, you may consider listing your education first.
How to properly list your education in a HR Resume?
Use a consistent format to present your education qualifications. We recommend the following:
- Start with your degree or diploma type and the major
Eg: Bachelor’s degree in Human Resource Management, Diploma in Human Resource Management - The graduating and commencing years should be mentioned
- University or institution and the location
Eg: Columbia University, NY - Honors, awards, or any other special achievements.
- If the qualification is in HR, write about your main learnings
- You can also mention your GPA if it’s greater than 3.0
Example of the education section of a HR Resume
Education
Bachelor’s degree in HR Management, 2014-2018
Columbia University, NY
- Specialized HR Strategy
- Final year project on HR Automation
GPA- 3.8/4
Skills to put in the Resume for a Human Resources Manager
Not all your skills should come in your resume. Therefore, do not feel regret about not mentioning some of them.
Your skills section should be in line with what is mentioned in the job description.
The skills section of an HR job title would be a mix of Soft skills, Hard skills, and IT skills.
What are the main skills sought for in a Human Resources Resume?
The following are the type of skills a recruiter would expect from HR job titles.
Soft Skills for HR:
- Decision making
- Emotional intelligence
- Time management
- Listening skill
- Communication skills
- Problem-solving
- Business intelligence
- Leadership
Hard Skills for HR:
- Recruiting
- Training
- On boarding
- HR Software
- Microsoft Office 360
- Performance management, KPIs, and Appraisals
- Interviewing
What skills for a junior HR position?
For a junior HR position, the recruiters expect a doer. Therefore, list down more operational skills. Use a combination of soft and hard skills.
- Emotional Intelligence
- Time management
- Recruiting
- Onboarding
- Microsoft office 360
- Employee evaluation
- HR software
What skills for a qualified senior HR professional?
For a more senior HR position, recruiters expect a candidate with more managerial level skills. Their expectation could be a good fit as a future HR director or a General Manager HR position.
- Decision making under tough conditions
- Emotional and Business intelligence
- People management
- Leadership
- Training and public speaking
- Performance management and KPI setting
Additional Headings for your Human Resources Resume
If there is anything that could serve your profile to be identified as a TOP Performer, you can consider putting it in a separate section for more visibility.
Computer skills and certifications in a Human Resources Resume
If you have earned a professional certification in HR or IT related to the position you apply for, you could list them here.
A skill certification could make your resume an outperforming one.
I have listed here the Five Top skill certifications for HR professionals
- Certified Professional in Learning and Performance (CPLP)
- Professional in Human Resources (PHR)
- Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR)
- United International Business Schools (UIBS)
- Senior SHRM Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP)
Interests in a Human Resources Resume
It is not necessary to write your interests in your human resources resume if that is not relevant to the position you apply for. In other words, anything that does not add value to your profile should be avoided.
Languages in a HR Resume
Unless the position you apply for is in a different geographical location where a different language is used, you do not have to list your language skills.
However, some human resource job descriptions ask for your proficiency in different languages. If so, you may write this section briefly mentioning the languages and your proficiency level.
Summary: Key Points for Writing a Perfect Human Resources Resume
- Start with a compelling resume header
- Write an attention-grabbing Professional Summary or a career objective Summary based on your experience level
- List down the experience in reverse chronological order. Use numbers
- Use the right formatting to list your education
- Write a mix of Soft and Hard skills
- Use the skills certification section to stand out
How to Write a Cover Letter for Your Human Resources Resume
The right cover letter would positively complement your resume.
However, some employers do not expect cover letters.
When you write one, use that as a sales pitch to tell them how you could be a valuable asset to their organization.
Write a new cover letter every time you apply for a new position. It has to be tailor-made for the job description and the organization you are applying for.
Frequently Asked Questions for a Human Resources Resume
What does a human resource manager do?
HR managers’ role is about creating a safe work environment and administering benefits to staff to carry out their tasks. They are involved in all aspects of human relations, from recruitment, onboarding, training, pay scales, and performance measuring.
What qualifications do you need to be an HR manager?
There is no hard and fast rule that HR managers should have these skills. However, most organizations request a bachelor’s degree.
A skill certification in professional HR management would be an added advantage.
However, to become a great human resources manager, you need to master the soft skills such as people skills, leadership and communication.
What does an HR manager do every day?
HR managers have to be involved in everything related to human resources. Following are some of them,
- Recruitment
- Interviewing
- Onboarding
- Training
- General Administration
- Conflict resolutions
What skills should an HR manager have?
Soft skills such as emotional intelligence, decision making, time management, leadership.
Hard skills such as Interviewing, Onboarding, Training and development, HR software, KPI development.
