12 Free Human Resource Manager Resume Templates

As an aspiring human resource manager, your resume is one of the most critical aspects of your job search process. Not only is your resume an opportunity to introduce yourself to a potential employer, but it is also essential to be polished, professional, and stand out among others. If you are applying for an HR manager position, certain elements should be included in your resume to ensure it catches the attention of hiring managers. After all, as an HR manager, you will be responsible for managing the hiring process.

In addition, since you will be dealing with sensitive employee information, it is essential to demonstrate that you can manage it. Therefore, an HR manager needs to be detail-oriented, organized, and trustworthy – and your resume should reflect these qualities. This article will guide you through building a clear, concise, and error-free HR manager resume. Read on for more information.

Role of an HR Manager

The role of a human resource manager depends majorly on the company size and the industry. However, there are general responsibilities attached to the role of a Human Resources Manager that cut across every industry and organization size, which are:

• Performance management
• Recruitment
• Employee training
• Internal communications
• Policy development
• Leadership coaching
• Compliance work

Did you know? While the national average wage of human resource managers in the USA is $53k, statistical insight into the average wage of human resource managers by DataUSA reveals that HR managers earn an average of $90k per year. This rate is relatively higher than the national average. It is also revealed that between 2018 – 2028, there will be an estimated 7% growth in these career opportunities.

Follow the Formatting Guidelines

Your resume must appear in a format that is formally accepted by the hiring team. This can be achieved by following the appropriate formatting style, which includes:

• Make your resume professional and legible by using half-inch or one-inch margin.
• To pass an ATS (applicant tracking system) easily, use Sans-serif or standard fonts such as Helvetica, Arial, and Verdana, and keep the font sizes at 10-12 points for good readability.
• Use ATS (applicant tracking system) and industry-standard recognized header names such as “Skills”, “Work History”, or “Internship Experience.”
• Ensure to incorporate keywords used in the job description in your resume.
• While writing the resume, ensure you do not exceed one page.
• Submit your resume in Word Document or as a PDF file because those are the ATS (applicant tracking system) recognized file types.

Select a Suitable Format

Three formats are recommended for the resumes of HR manager roles. Even though each of them presents your suitability for the job in different ways, they can all be used to achieve a good resume.

They are as follows:

Reverse chronological resume

You list your jobs from the most recent to the least in a reverse chronological resume. This format makes it easier for your employer to notice your recent achievements. However, a reverse chronological resume allows one to observe employment gaps easily.

Functional resume

As for a functional resume, the emphasis is on your skills. All your position-related and transferable skills are highlighted first instead of your employment history. It is an uncommon format that is unfriendly to ATS and recruiters.

Combination/hybrid resume

A combination/hybrid resume combines your skills and employment history with an individual comprehensive section. Unfortunately, this resume format is not ATS-friendly and usually tricky to format.

How to Build an HR Manager Resume?

Some basic steps will guide you in crafting a comprehensive and concise HR manager’s resume. You do not want to miss important information and fail to capture the recruiter’s attention. You must make sure to follow the steps below:

Write your detailed contact information

Appropriate contact information will assist the recruiter in identifying you as a legit applicant. Therefore, the HR manager’s resume should include your first name, last name, contact number, email address, general location, and LinkedIn profile (recommended). Contact information always comes at the top of the resume page.

An example is displayed below:

Write a professional headline

It would be best to write a headline that could state your professional career. An example of a suitable headline is “MBA in Human Resource Management”.

Write a summary/ objective statement

Summary and objective statements are instrumental in instantly showcasing your value to the organization. They also highlight your skills and strengths relevant to the HR manager role. Here is a detailed difference between the two:

Summary statement

Summary statements are the perfect approach for applicants who have worked with top organizations, gathered remarkable years of experience, and acquired recognized certifications and milestones. A summary statement is an overview of your long-established career.

An example of a summary statement is:

Objective statement

Objective statements are helpful to human resources managers who need their resume to attract the recruiter’s attention despite little or no experience. Since there is usually not much-acquired experience or impressive certifications at this stage, the focus of your statements will be on transferable skills and strengths.

An example of an objective statement is:

List your HR employment history

If you have a lot of experience, you must avoid overloading your resume with too much employment history. This usually ends up making your resume overloaded. Instead, focus on listing two to four most recent and relevant work experiences. For applicants who have no work experience, listing volunteer experience, internships, and relevant projects is advised.

Write actionable bullet points

Present active verbs and targeted languages in bullet points so the recruiter can quickly skim through them. Long sentences and further explanations will only add more pages to your resume.

Example:

Use numbers

You can also incorporate metrics when listing your HR employment history. This will make your claims more precise.

Example:

Tip: There is a method you can apply to create concise detail of your past projects. This approach is called “STAR”. S stands for the applicant’s situation, T means the task involved, A represents actions/approach, and R is the attained result. This method will be most effective in writing your experience.

Include an education section

By known standards, human resource managers typically have bachelor’s degrees, and many further acquire higher qualifications by taking various HRM-related courses.

Typically, this section includes the following:

• Degree title
• University name
• Duration of the degree
• CGPA (If it is above 3.5)

Below is how you present the education section in your resume:

Create an impressive skills section

HR management skills are very crucial to HR manager roles. When recruiting a new HR manager, there is low tolerance for “Learning on the job”. This makes the skill section of the resume very important.

The skill section must include skills that are relevant to the role. Some examples of HR management skills are:

• Planning and strategy
• Recruiting
• Employee onboarding
• Project management
• Conflict resolution
• Employee performance management
• PHR certification
• Legal compliance
• Compensation and benefit

Statistical insights: Based on the 140000 job listings studied by Rasmussen, HR manager roles demand the following 9 skills the most: Worker’s Compensation, Client Service Skills, Project Management, Scheduling, Teamwork and Collaboration, Employee Performance Management, Employee Onboarding, Knowledge of HR Payroll Systems, and Managing Employee Relations.

Add any other section (If needed)

Personalize your resume by adding other sections to build a strong connection between you and the recruiter. For example, learn about the organization and its practices. List other languages you can speak that you perceive the recruiter or employees can also speak. In addition, list certificates, hobbies, and interests that align with the role.

Example:

Free Templates: HR Manager Resume

As an HR manager, you know the importance of a well-written resume. After all, your job is to help other people get hired! However, when it comes to your resume, even though you may already know all that is required, you may not know where to start. This website has prepared free downloadable templates to make the process easier. These templates are professionally designed and can be customized to fit any human resources manager role. Download your resume templates here to get started.

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What to Highlight in an HR Manager’s Resume?

No matter how minimal or vast your experience in human resources management is, you must ensure to highlight specific points in your resume. For example, you may specify that you have worked in the manufacturing or tech industry. This allows you to present the best version of yourself to your recruiter.

Here are the vital points to highlight:

Public or private

The size of the organization you have worked for will give the new recruiter hints on the scope of responsibilities you have handled. Small and medium-sized organizations often involve mixed responsibilities, while big organizations involve focused and specific responsibilities. 

Education

Universities, colleges, and high schools also require the service of HR managers. They help recruit and manage lecturers, teachers, school board members, and non-academic staff.

Government agencies

From local to state and federal departments/agencies, HR managers manage the employees’ payroll, labor compliance, learning, and other workplace development practices.

Strategic experience levels

Strategic experience is a reasonable point to make in any HR manager’s resume. For example, developing a unique employee training approach that eventually maximizes the value of an organization you worked with is a strategic experience. Highlighting this proves that you are qualified as a strategic planner.

Do’s and Don’ts

While you are trying to incorporate every piece of information relevant to your career into your resume, it is essential to take note of some do’s and don’ts that can guide you on the relevant information that is not accepted in the HR manager’s resume.

Do’s

The do’s include the following:

Highlight your achievements

Hiring managers want to know the milestones you have achieved as an HR manager and how your contributions and results improved the companies you have worked with. They also look for passion in an applicant, including work experience and extra achievements. To create a powerful and memorable resume, provide specific examples of these achievements. Without this information, hiring managers will see you as any other HR professional with similar experience.

Beat the ATS algorithm

For your resume to get the recruiter’s attention, it must pass ATS (Applicant Tracking systems). These are computer programs designed specifically to assess resumes, and they analyze each section of your resume based on keywords only relevant to the role (Human Resources Manager). Therefore, you must know those specific keywords and incorporate them into all aspects of your resume before submitting it.

Research the company before writing a resume

It is essential to research the company you are applying for before writing your resume. Researching their website page can help give insight into what they are looking for and how interview questions may be answered during your interview(s). In addition, this will give you a greater understanding of why particular skills might appeal to the recruiter more than other skills. This could make all the difference.

Write tight and clear

Your resume should not be wordy or lengthy. Filler words like “frivolous” or “magnificent” are unnecessary and often jeopardize resumes as they are not what the recruiter wants to read; instead, they want words relevant to the context of a resume. Your formatting must also be clean and concise. For example, you must not make the reader wade through pages upon pages just because unnecessary spaces are left between texts and paragraphs. You must make sure to carry out careful editing.

Use action verbs

Ensure to use action verbs at every opportunity you find. Action verbs such as “organized”, “guided,” and “assigned” portray proactiveness on paper. For example, rather than saying, “Was assigned to head the onboarding process,” it would be better to put the same information as “Organized and managed the company’s onboarding processes.”

Highlight HR keywords

Keywords are the lifeblood of any successful job application process. They make it possible for humans and machines to read your resume easily, so include them wherever possible. Include keywords in every section at any chance, and make sure they are used creatively.

Don’ts

The don’ts include the following:

Don’t submit without a review

The first impression you make on your recruiter is significant. Therefore, make sure there are no errors and take time to double-check the information. A successful resume ensures that all your information is accounted for. You might find yourself disqualified even before getting an interview if there are any mistakes.

Don’t use the same resume for each job

Tailor your resume to the specific requirements of each job you apply for. For example, human resources management roles vary for each job. For example, responsibilities required by some employers may comprise staffing, training and development, motivation, and maintenance only, while others may require HR data and analytics.

Don’t write irrelevant

Your resume should focus on the relevant professional credentials and academic achievements only. Avoid adding all the professional credentials or achievements that you have acquired through the course of your career.  For example, professional credentials such as SHRM-SCP and professional affiliations such as SHRM, OD Network, and publication will strengthen HR Manager resumes compared to adding DMI Expert (Diploma in Digital Marketing).

Key Takeaways

• First, you can research the company to get insight into what it wants in its human resources manager. Then, you will understand what they want better.
• It would be best to keep your resume error-free and concise. This will make it easier for employers to read and increase their chances of remembering what they read.
• You must highlight any relevant work experience and professional qualifications in your resume. This will make you appear capable of the responsibilities of a human resources manager.
• It is recommended to incorporate the keywords in each section of the resume that are relevant to the job.
• You must follow the HR manager’s resume formatting style.
• You should avoid using the same resume for every job.
• Going straight to the point and avoiding irrelevant details in your resume is a plus point.

About This Article

Authored by:

Megan V.

Award-Winning Resume Writing, Cover Letters, Executive Bios, Public Relations

Megan V. is an acclaimed resume writing professional, celebrated repeatedly as one of the "Top Ten Best Resume Writers in the Bay Area," a title she proudly reclaimed in 2023. Transitioning from her extensive experience owning and steering a public relations agency since 2009, Megan has tailored her writing prowess to cater to individuals seeking standout resumes, compelling cover letters, and detailed executive bios.