Top Resume Keywords for
HR Managers
A recruiter's first look at a resume averages 7.4 seconds (Ladders eye-tracking study, 2018). These are the words that look has to find.
See the full HR Manager skill gap analysisWhat an HR Manager resume has to say
Split by what the parser matches literally and what a human reads for. Both columns are ranked core-first.
Technical skills
These are the hard skills and tools that define the role. Mention these in your “Skills” section and within your work experience bullet points.
Soft skills
Use these keywords to describe how you work. Weave them into your summary and accomplishment stories.
Not every keyword carries the same weight
Skilture models 103 roles. Counting how many of them ask for each word shows which ones mark an HR Manager out — and which ones every other applicant is listing too.
These say “HR Manager”
Asked for by almost no other role. If a keyword here is missing, the parser has little to tell this resume apart from any other.
- Confidentiality1 of 103 roles · core in 1
- HR Policies1 of 103 roles · core in 1
- Compensation & Benefits1 of 103 roles
- Labor Law Compliance1 of 103 roles
- People Analytics1 of 103 roles
- Succession Planning1 of 103 roles
Everyone lists these
Asked for by 10 or more of the 103 roles. Worth including, but they will not make a resume stand out — for these, the evidence in your bullet points does the work, not the word.
- Communication69 of 103 roles · core in 26
- Negotiation14 of 103 roles · core in 7
- Empathy10 of 103 roles · core in 8
Counted across the 103 role profiles Skilture scores against. These are the role requirements we model, not anybody's resume.
Keywords are a start. Check the whole resume.
Adding keywords is easy. The free Resume Score shows whether your resume as a whole has what an HR Manager role asks for, and names the skills it is still missing. Practice HR Manager interview questions →
Check my HR Manager scoreKeywords only help if the ATS can read them. Check your resume's ATS parse rate free →