To stand out, highlight your knowledge in change management and business operations. These are key areas for HR business partners.

Include specific examples where you helped align HR strategy with business goals or led projects to improve operational efficiency.

Focus on your experience in partnering closely with other departments, like finance or marketing. This shows your ability to work cross-functionally.

Provide examples of how these partnerships led to successful HR initiatives or improved employee engagement.

When you tailor your resume, you give yourself a better chance at the job. It shows you know what the job needs and that you have the right skills. Keep your writing simple and to the point. Make sure everything you write shows how you can help the company.

• Look at the job ad. Use words from it to describe your skills. If the ad says you need strong 'employee relations', make your resume show you have that.
• For leadership roles, talk about how you have led teams. Say how many people you led. Use words like 'managed a team of 10' on your resume.
• If you are coming from a different job, think about what you now do that can help you in a HR business partner job. Say if you have 'resolved staff conflicts' in your current job.

Expand

As a hiring manager, I know that your skills section needs to tell a story of competence and relevance. For an HR business partner, this means highlighting your expertise in areas that impact both people and business. Here's a list that can help you choose:

• Employee relations
• Performance management
• HR policies
• Talent acquisition
• Data analysis
• Labor law compliance
• Benefits administration
• HRIS tools
• Project management
• Change management

You don't need to list every skill, just those you are good at and match the job you want. Place them in a dedicated skills section for clarity. Remember, an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) may scan your resume for these keywords, so include them to improve your chances of being noticed.

For your role as an HR business partner, it's also smart to show your grasp of strategic planning and organizational development. These are areas where you can really stand out. Mention specific tools or systems you're familiar with, like SAP SuccessFactors or Workday, in context where you've used them to solve problems or improve processes.

Expand

When you apply for a job in human resources, you must show how you have made a difference. Using numbers is a clear way to do this. Numbers help you tell your story and prove your worth. They make your impact stand out on your resume.

Think about times when you helped a company. Did you make things better for the employees? Maybe you helped to increase staff retention or improved training methods. Here are ways you can use numbers to show what you have achieved:

• Write about how you increased employee retention by 15% in your last role.
• Explain how you cut the time it takes to hire by 25%, making the process faster.
• Talk about how you reduced employee issues by 30% with better policies.
• Show how you saved the company money, perhaps by lowering hiring costs by 20%.
• Mention if you grew the team size by 50% in a year.
• Describe how you improved employee satisfaction scores by 10 points on surveys.
• Detail how you streamlined HR processes to save 5 hours per week.
• State if you implemented a training program that increased employee skills by 40%.

Even if you're not sure of the exact numbers, think about your work. Try to estimate the improvements you made. Use numbers that show how much better things became because of your efforts.