Human Resources (HR) Resume

As a Human Resource Specialist or Generalist, you’re accustomed to the hiring process — reviewing resumes, interviewing new applicants, and conducting background checks.

What if, instead, you’re the one sending out resumes and getting interviewed? Going through the application process for a human resources job is stressful because you’re held to a higher standard than applicants for other positions.

Because you’ve previously been in charge of the vetting and interview process, hiring managers will expect you to submit a well-written resume and cover letter.

You’ll need a great HR resume to display your experience, skills, qualifications, and achievements to impress the hiring manager. To help you get started, we’ve included a human resources resume sample, along with four insider writing tips below.

1. Craft a strong HR resume summary or resume objective

With prior experience in human resources, you know that hiring managers are busy and spend very little time reviewing resumes. You’ll need to start your human resources resume with a well-written resume summary or resume objective to grab and divert the hiring manager’s attention from the pile of resumes they’re reviewing.

Resume summaries are typically meant for candidates with previous experience. Make sure in your human resources resume summary to highlight your relevant experience and career achievements, HR-related skills, and any other qualifications you possess.

Here’s an example of a well-written resume summary for a Human Resources Generalist:

Personable and dedicated Human Resources Generalist with 8+ years of experience in benefits management and administration, and staff recruitment and development. At Meadow Labs Inc, increased employee satisfaction rate by 35%, and reduced recruitment and benefit costs by 15%. Able to decrease the gap between labor force and upper management to produce cohesive and productive work environment. Possess a Professional in Human Resources certification.

However, if you’re a fresh college graduate or an in-experienced worker writing an entry-level human resources resume, you’ll want to craft an HR resume objective.

Your resume objective should aim to highlight any relevant experience or education you possess, your skills, and your goal for applying (try to make your goal about aiding the company in achieving their goals).

Here’s an example of a great HR resume objective for a recent college graduate:

Dedicated recent college graduate with a BA in Human Resource Management. Detail-oriented student, achieving a 3.8 GPA and honors thesis in organizational psychology in the workforce. Seeking to leverage academic knowledge in common HR customs and practices to help achieve company goals and fill a Human Resources Specialist position at Johnson & Johnson.

2. Quantify your human resources work experience

Human resource departments plan, organize, coordinate, and implement administrative functions across an organization. HR is also in charge of recruiting, selecting, hiring, onboarding, and training new employees.

Due to human resources dealing with many of the day-to-day administrative tasks of an organization, quantifying your work experience with hard numbers and percentages is essential if you want to impress the hiring manager.

Using hard numbers and percentages when including your accomplishments gives the hiring manager a better understanding of your work performance and how you contributed to your company.

Here are three bullet point examples of quantified human resources work experience:

• Managed all HR-related tasks for a 200+ employee medical firm, including payroll processing, employee benefits program, documentation, interviewing, training, and on-boarding new recruits

• Invited 20+ motivational speakers and industry experts to give speeches to employees on building workplace confidence and morale

• Cut benefits costs by 15% through negotiating for improved contracts with leading healthcare providers, ensuring benefits were not allocated to non-eligible employees

3. Emphasize your education and HR-related certifications

Nowadays, a bachelor’s degree is pretty standard, and it’s not uncommon for applicants to possess a master’s degree or higher when applying for most jobs, including human resource positions.

If you only have a bachelor’s degree – don’t worry. Instead, you try to highlight any HR-relevant studies, classes, or projects you have completed to further show your competence and qualifications as an HR Generalist or Specialist.

Here are three examples of great HR-related education to include on your resume:

• Human Resources degree
• HR-related thesis
• Award for HR-related project (organizational behavior, psychology, etc.)

Make sure to include your HR-related educational achievements in a bullet point underneath your degree or in your resume objective if you’re an inexperienced candidate.

Finally, human resources certifications are another great way to show your competence as an HR Generalist or Specialist.

Here’s a list of the four most common and accepted certificates for human resources:

• Professional in Human Resources (PHR)
• Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR)
• SHRM Certified Professional (SHRM-CP)
• SHRM Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP)

Besides your relevant work experience, HR certifications establish and prove your knowledge of the industry’s best practices and regulations. Many companies seek HR candidates with at least a PHR, while many prefer them also to have an SPHR certification.

If you have more than one HR certification, it’s best practice to make a dedicated certifications section on your human resources resume. Otherwise, it’s fine to include your certificate as a bullet point in your skills section.

 4.  Include great human resource resume skills

Listing skills on your human resources resume is an effective way to highlight your qualifications that make you a competent and hard-working HR Generalist or Specialist.

HR professionals need to have certain hard skills, such as typing proficiency and computer skills, to get the job done on a daily basis.

In the HR industry, most work is done on Human Resource Management Systems (HRIS). HRIS is database software that allows you to manage employee data and payroll more efficiently.

Additionally, since human resource representatives deal with employees every day, they need great soft skills.

Here’s a list of HR hard and soft skills that hiring managers love to see:

Hard Skills

• Microsoft Office Suite
• Efficient with Human Resource Management Systems (HRIS)
• Efficient working with Workday 
• Excellent typing skills
• Recruitment and selection
• Training and onboarding
• Investigative skills
• Background checks
• Benefits management and administration
• Employee retention
• Scheduling

Soft Skills

• Oral and written communication skills
• Coaching skills
• Advising skills
• Teamwork
• Ethics
• Decision-making skills
• Problem-solving skills
• Organizational skills
• Listening skills
• Interpersonal skills