A Guide to Writing a Powerful Resume for HR Roles

Getting a new job is an exciting time, but isn’t always easy. There is often a lot of competition for jobs and the search can often be a long one for some people. A lot factors into whether a person gets hired or not, but one of the most important is their resume.

A resume is essentially how you make your first impression with hiring managers. It should highlight your skills, experience, and how you can help a business grow and prosper. While some can write a great resume on their own, others can use a little help.

In particular, this guide is going to look at HR resumes. If you want to get hired as an HR professional and impress hiring managers, crafting the right resume is important. Without any further ado, read on to learn some helpful tips on writing a powerful HR resume.

Be specific

You want to try and quantify your achievements as best you can. Be specific about how you helped your company and what you were responsible for doing.

First and foremost, you need to do all you can to be as specific as possible on your resume. If your resume is full of basic or general information, it doesn’t tell the hiring managers much of what you actually did. Also, a general resume won’t separate you from the pack and stand out.

You want to try and quantify your achievements as best you can. Be specific about how you helped your company and what you were responsible for doing. Use numbers and statistics when you can, and back up everything you say or claim.

While this might be harder in HR than in a sales position, you can certainly find some problems you solved or issues you dealt with that can be measured. Every line or bullet point doesn’t need to be hyper-specific, but some certainly should be.

Consider linking your social media

In the modern day, nearly every hiring manager and company will look applicants up on the internet before interviewing and/or hiring them. Social media profiles and a Google search can go a long way in helping firms learn more about candidates, and ensure they are a fit.

Oftentimes, it can be a good idea to consider linking your social media in your resume if it is relevant. For example, rather than them having to search for your profile on LinkedIn to learn more about you, they can simply click a link.

In addition to linking your profile to save them time and show you have nothing to hide, be sure to clean up your social media profiles and ensure they are presentable. They should be professional, and shouldn’t feature anything offensive, distasteful, or illegal.

Everything from your tweets to your LinkedIn background photo should be professional and show you off in the best light possible. Of course, this is best when sending resumes online, as having a link within a physical resume won’t be very helpful or effective.

Use the right keywords

Because many companies use applicant tracking systems, it is more important than ever to use the right keywords in your resume. These systems can automate the hiring process and will scan resumes to look for certain words or phrases. From there, these systems will often rank candidates based on this scan.

If you don’t have the right keywords, you could be flagged as unqualified and your resume might not even see human eyes. In addition to these automated systems, even human readers may look for certain words and could throw your resume out if it doesn’t touch on certain things.

So what keywords should you use? Well, that can vary from job to job. When it comes to HR, some keywords could be the skills required to do your job, the software you use or will be using, and job duties.

If you want a hint of some of the keywords to include, go back to the job description. The type of keywords that are prevalent in the description are often ones that you should consider adding to a resume.

When it comes to HR, some keywords could be the skills required to do your job, the software you use or will be using, and job duties.

Keep the format and writing both simple and clear

When crafting a resume, many people will try and get a little creative with the design or format. Many do this in an effort to help their resume stand out above the competition. However, when it comes to HR and most professions, keeping it simple is often a better idea.

A clear and concise resume with logical subsections for things like experience, education, and skills will often yield the best results. There are a ton of different formats to choose from, so browse through a couple until you find one you like, or even make your own.

In addition to being clear and simple, make sure to go over the content diligently. The last thing you want are errors like spelling mistakes, grammar issues, and formatting problems to be present in your resume.

We hope this article has been able to help you write a more powerful and high quality resume. Your resume is often your first impression on a company, so you want to make sure it’s a good one.