Recruiting employees is a critical function and a very difficult job. Recruiters are responsible for matching qualified candidates with open positions. They have to search for and engage with candidates directly and indirectly. So, how do you write a great resume for a recruiter? Very carefully. But, seriously, think about who will be reading the resume. Recruiters. Talk about a tough audience.
Recruiters seeking recruiters will be looking for evidence in your resume that you’ve dealt with full-cycle recruitment and matched the right talent to job openings, combined with a strong knowledge base of HR best practice. Demonstrating these qualities to recruiters via your resume is key to getting a foot in the door and landing an interview.
As we mentioned earlier, creating a resume for a recruiter can be a tough exercise because you will be writing for someone in the same role that you are applying for. So, you definitely cannot pull anything over on them or dazzle them with acronyms or jargon, both of which are not recommended on resumes anyway! Our talent acquisition leader resume is a great example of an effective human resources professional resume. It has a solid summary that contains relevant skills and links them with positive business results as well as highlighting several areas of deep knowledge.
The professional experience combines a snapshot of overall responsibilities, with a punchy paragraph of core duties, and bullet pointed achievements, enabling recruiters to clearly see what you have accomplished. Additionally, this resume example is full of useful phrases and keywords, descriptors such as full-cycle recruitment, organizational development, and business process improvement. Using these phrases boosts your resume’s chances of getting noticed by both humans and the applicant tracking systems (ATS) many recruiters use.
Recruiters perform a lot of different and very important duties within an organization. Human resources and recruiting professionals must have very highly developed skills as they relate to dealing with people and identifying the best candidates for a position. For a recruiter seeking a job, it’s especially important that they accurately and effectively portray all the skills that they have on their resume.
Here are some of the most valuable skills to include on your recruiting resume:
Full-cycle recruitment
Human resources management
Conflict resolution
Talent acquisition and management
Performance management
Regulatory compliance
Business process improvement
It’s always good to start with the basics. First, study the job description that you are applying for and write down the key functions and keywords associated with tasks. Use these while you are compiling your information and creating your resume. Customizing the resume to match the job description will impress the recruiter. They hate seeing generic resumes that could be used for any job, and it shows that you have done your homework.
Your job experience descriptions should focus on your actions that result in benefits to the organization, as well as things that are a good fit for the new role. Use your most impressive achievements and quantify them as much as possible.
The professional profile is your initial pitch, so it needs to hook the reader and promote you as the perfect recruiter for the job opening. Keep your professional summary to four key sentences that highlight your skills and link them to positive business results. Focus on industry-specific expertise such as human capital, strategy alignment, and organizational development. Your soft skills such as relationship building, creative thinking, and multi-tasking capabilities are also attributes you want to shine the spotlight on.
Creating a targeted education section will improve the performance of your recruiter resume. Here’s some key areas to focus on:
Start with your highest degree first. Add any other degrees in reverse chronological order and if you finished college, there’s no need to include your high school qualifications.
Include any professional recruiting certifications you’ve completed or are working towards. You can also include a section with relevant professional memberships and affiliations. These credentials can help set you apart in the candidate pool.
Stick to chronological resume format, clean and modern resume design, and clear sections that make the resume easier to read for the hiring manager. This format shows how you’ve progressed in your career as a recruiter. When you only have about seven seconds to impress a recruiter, you need to make sure your format is on point.
Summary example
Performance-driven human resource leader with 15 years of diverse experience driving business outcomes through human capital, strategy alignment, and organizational development initiatives. Effective collaborator and change agent who develops key relationships across various verticals with the ability to streamline business operations by providing strategic and operational recommendations. Motivated facilitator of employee development and cultural change efforts through process-oriented perspectives. Demonstrated record of developing strategies and implementing programs, processes, systems, and technology that created a sustainable platform for organizational development, effectiveness, and profitability.
Employment history example
HR Recruiter / Coordinator, Florida Polytechnic University, Lakeland, FL
AUGUST 2018 — PRESENT
Lead a culture change to retain top-performing and highly engaged employees through full-cycle recruitment activities and consistent implementation of company policies. Act as thought partner in defining teams, talent and compensation strategies, and objectives. Conduct comprehensive assessments during the recruiting process and providing strategic pragmatic solutions to ensure the integration and alignment of human resource plans to support site and regional business goals.
Reviewed the new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system functionality, including the identification and troubleshooting of system related conflicts.
Direct strategic and operational excellence for an organization undergoing rapid growth by translating business strategy into value-added approaches to workforce planning, change management, and operational efficiency.
Led improvement of the recruiting, hiring, and onboarding process as well as human resources operational activities. Developed the first Student Employee handbook for the University.
HR – Personnel, Supervisor / Analyst, Polk County School Board, Bartow, FL
NOVEMBER 2016 — AUGUST 2018
Supported functional areas of the Human resources Department to include recruitment, maintenance of records, employee and/or labor relations, and organization development. Assisted with recruitment, coaching/development, engagement, and ad hoc projects as necessary. Collaborated with HR Partners and HR Managers while serving as an employee advocate; accurately interpreted and explained policies, procedures, and regulations.
Conducted salary calculations for both union and non-union salaries and analyzed critical Human Resource data to provide relevant data to support innovative and improved processes.
Drove the school’s mission by supporting the HR team and worked with employees across the business to increase engagements and standardization of policies.
Guided audits and reported dates for compensation programs to ensure they were administered in compliance with policies and regulations.
Advised employees on the interpretation of collective bargaining language and school board policies related to wages and terms and conditions of employment.
Education example
Doctor of Business Administration, Human Resource Management, Capella University, Minneapolis, MN
Master of Business Administration, Saint Leo University, Saint Leo, FL
Skills example
Employee Engagement Strategies
Business Process Improvement
Full-Cycle Recruitment
Organizational Learning
Conflict Resolution
Talent Acquisition & Management
Performance Management
Regulatory Compliance