Here are the keywords and skills that appear most frequently on recent Talent Acquisition Specialist job postings. In other words, these are the most sought after skills by recruiters and hiring managers. Go to Sample Templates ↓ below to see how to include them on your resume.
Remember that every job is different. Instead of including all keywords on your resume, identify those that are most relevant to the job you're applying to. Use the free Targeted Resume tool to help with this.
Does your resume contain all the right skills? Paste in your resume in the AI Resume Scan ↓ section below and get an instant score.
Paste your resume below and our AI will identify which keywords are missing from your resume from the list above (and what you need to include). Including the right keywords will help you get past Applicant Tracking Systems (i.e. resume screeners) which may scan your resume for keywords to see if you're a match for the job.
Go through the Talent Acquisition Specialist posting you're applying to, and identify hard skills the company is looking for. For example, skills like Talent Management, Recruiting and Sourcing are possible skills. These are skills you should try to include on your resume.
The following word cloud highlights the most popular keywords that appear on Talent Acquisition Specialist job descriptions. The bigger the word, the more frequently it shows up on employer's job postings. If you have experience with these keywords, include them on your resume.
Here are examples of proven resumes in related jobs and industries, approved by experienced hiring managers. Use them as inspiration when you're writing your own resume. You can even download and edit the resume template in Google Docs.
A talent acquisition specialist engages in the entire cycle of recruiting. You will source talent, interview them, and handle the hiring and onboarding process. In essence, you will be a representative of the company and its culture to candidates. So your ability to effectively communicate and be engaging is very important. Recruiters will be looking for experienced applicants, so make sure to document how many people you have interviewed or positions you have hired for. You will also want to clearly state any relevant educational background and certification. Anything more than a bachelor’s degree will help impress the recruiters. This sample resume does both effectively.
As previously mentioned, talent acquisition specialists are not only concerned with hiring individuals but are concerned with long-term hires and company culture. So while you should quantify how many applicants you have interviewed or hired, quantifying your hire retention rate and any other efficiencies you accomplished in previous positions would help you easily impress recruiters and stand out from the crowd.
Because you will be sourcing, interviewing, and onboarding talent, be sure to list all the skills you use and the technology you are familiar with. A recruiter can get a good sense of your process and capabilities from this list. To align yourself with the company you wish to work for, try and find out what technology or processes they use and list them on your resume. If you aren’t familiar with their technology, do a crash course on how to use the technology before including it on your resume.
A talent acquisition lead, also known as a talent acquisition manager, is, as the name suggests, responsible for managing a talent acquisition team. Your tasks would include participating in the talent acquisition cycle yourself by sourcing, recruiting, retaining candidates, developing talent acquisition strategy and processes, and providing leadership and support for your team. A strong talent acquisition resume should speak to your management skills and successes. So highlight your team’s successes under your leadership and the size of the teams you have led; as this resume has done. This resume also positively highlights the applicant’s expertise in the laws and regulations that guide recruitment and employment. This is necessary knowledge for all professionals in talent acquisition and especially for the leaders of talent acquisition teams.
Because your tasks may still include sourcing and hiring talent, showing that you began in a position where those were your main roles, will show your capability to still complete those tasks and will also enhance your ability to lead professionals tasked with those roles. Career progression also indicates your competency and excellence to recruiters.
Any leadership position, and especially one in a department like talent acquisition, requires very strong communication and collaboration skills. If you speak any extra languages or have experience training people, be sure to add these to your resume.
The executive talent acquisition analyst could be called the support system for the talent acquisition team and leadership. Some of the tasks you can expect include, but are not limited to, scheduling interviews, conducting background checks, providing administrative support, etc. This role requires the ability to multitask and requires great attention to detail. You must also be an especially skilled communicator and collaborator. Like this sample resume, an executive talent acquisition analyst's resume should show previous experience that details a large variety of tasks that the applicant has completed. You will also want to quantify your successes and value addition to previous employers.
Because this role will require providing a lot of logistical and administrative support for the talent acquisition team and leadership, be sure to include any previous administrative experience in related fields. Especially if you don’t have a lot of experience in talent acquisition.
Because you will be doing a lot of the behind-the-scenes tasks, quantify any successes you have had in making the behind-the-scenes tasks run more efficiently. So if you have saved your previous employers some time or money by streamlining processes, be sure to include those successes in your resume.
A chief talent officer (or CTO) is a highly experienced, senior-level human resources professional. A CTO will oversee the talent acquisition and/or HR department within the organization. They help to plan strategies around successful recruitment and staff retention. The chief talent officer is involved in a variety of tasks, including assessing hiring strategies, implementing and optimizing screening procedures, overseeing employee development and retention, and more. To land a job as a chief talent officer, you’ll need the right combination of relevant skills and experience. A bachelor’s degree in a related field such as human resources, psychology, or communications is ideal. Hiring managers will be looking for someone with a robust HR or recruiting background. Hiring managers will want to hire candidates with managerial experience, strong interpersonal skills, and superb organizational skills.
A chief talent officer may need to use certain tools and software to conduct a successful recruiting initiative. Experience using applicant tracking software is just one example of several tools a CTO may need to leverage to take control of a company’s recruiting process and optimize its effectiveness. You should highlight any experience with HR or recruiting software (even better - highlight how you have used these tools to make impactful change).
This resume template is suitable for experienced hires or mid-level hires. The education contains two examples of an education experiences, but only include one (your most recent one) if you're a senior level employee.
It strikes the right balance between white space and content, and doesn't waste space on unnecessary images and icons. Remember, recruiters aren't looking at how creative you are when it comes to your template. Your content is core and should be the focus.
This job seeker uses resume bullet points that uses strong action verbs, and most importantly, contain numbers that demonstrate the significance of their accomplishments.
This template is clean, readable by resume screeners, and is effective at calling out key accomplishments and projects from specific work experiences. This would be useful if you have been at a company for a while, or been in a consulting-type of role, and want to point hiring managers to your most impressive accomplishments.
Action verbs are important on your resume are vital. They evoke strong imagery to your reader, and this resume does an excellent job by using words such as “spearheaded,” “managed,” and “drove.” These words will help you to put your achievements in perspective, in conjunction with measurable results. Use action verbs relating to the skills you want to highlight.
Many of your accomplishments will involve your responsibilities in your employer's high-level projects. Recruiters want to see what you’ve completed in previous roles -- such as the Operations Improvement Project and new iPhone app launch highlighted in this resume. The numbers make your experience real, rather than a vague “oversaw several teams for a project.” What did you do specifically? Be specific.
Some effective Talent Acquisition Specialist skills you can add to your resume include:
While the keywords above are a good indication of what skills you need on your resume, you should try to find additional keywords that are specific to the job. To do this, use the free Targeted Resume tool. It analyzes the job you are applying to and finds the most important keywords you need on your resume.
It is personalized to your resume, and is the best way to ensure your resume will pass the automated resume filters.
Thank you for the checklist! I realized I was making so many mistakes on my resume that I've now fixed. I'm much more confident in my resume now.
