Recruiter resume sample, job description & writing guide for 2024

Despite reading hundreds of resumes daily, you may feel daunted when it comes to your own professional recruiter resume.

Don't sweat it! Generally, it's much easier to analyze and compare the resume contents of others than dissect your recruiter skills and experience.

Whether you're an entry-level recruiter or an old hand in the game, this resume-writing guide covers all bases. We share vital info and tips for you to craft the perfect recruiting resume, showcasing your exceptional talents. There's also a complete recruiter resume sample to explain further.

Our resume experts continually fine-tune our resume templates to align with current hiring trends. Plus, as you know, well-written resume builder resumes will more likely land in front of the hiring manager.

Let's get into those expert resume tips.

Recruiter resume writing guide: Where to start?

Career progressions depend very much on making the best choices and correct decisions. Before applying for recruiter positions, you must know your strengths, weaknesses, and career objectives. There are many areas of specialization a recruiter can opt for. The more in-depth your knowledge of specific industries and their related technical skills, the more employable you are as a specialist recruiter.

There are fewer recruitment specialists than generalist recruiters. Specialists can successfully handle executive search projects and manage full-cycle recruitment. As a result, they earn higher basic pay and more commission in agencies, and a higher fixed salary in corporate.

Specializations examples include:

• Finance recruiter
• Executive recruiter
• Healthcare recruiter
• LinkedIn recruiter
• Technical recruiter

Junior recruiters, agency recruiters, and freelance recruiters with ambitions of specializing must focus on specific industries early in their careers. The more industry exposure you get, the better you know their standards and extensive requirements. Before long, successful candidates become hiring managers, and your client accounts portfolio grows. Networking becomes easier, too. As you build more professional relationships, your candidate pipelines automatically expand.

Getting clear direction is best done by reviewing your entire recruitment experience. The best way to do this is to write a master recruiting resume listing your work history as a recruiter.

Expert hint

Recruiter job titles vary. A professional title doesn't always have the word "recruiter." Also look for "talent acquisition specialist," "staffing consultant," "search consultant," and sourcing specialist."

Master recruiter resume template

Unlike the targeted resumes recruiters see daily, a master recruiter resume details all your education and jobs. It includes study dates, education/training institution names, degree/course names, subjects and qualifications, certifications, tenure dates, employer names, and job descriptions. Any accomplishments or awards get included under the relevant study or work section.

Don't spare any details on your master recruiting resume. It gives you the big picture of your career progressions and indicates what roles and projects you did best. A master resume is essential to successful job applications.

You can confidently write targeted, job-specific recruiter resumes in no time, knowing nothing gets omitted. Of course, as a recruiter, you're no stranger to Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS), meaning you'll ace spotting keywords in job posts. A few tweaks to words that match your skills and experience will have your recruitment resume sail through parser scanning.

Take your time compiling your master recruiting resume to ensure it's flawless. Ultimately, you'll reap the benefits of time-saving and matching job requirements with each application.

Save your master to an easily accessible folder with all supporting documents. Also, use your master resume to keep your LinkedIn profile and other business socials current. As you know, hiring managers go straight to your online presence once your recruitment resume makes the interview list.

Job-specific recruitment resumes

With your extensive and up-to-date master resume, you're ready to start job hunting.

The scope is massive for recruiters as the recruitment industry works within all other business sectors. Both in-house and agency recruiters are responsible for candidate sourcing across categories at different levels for a wide array of clients.

Hiring success relies on ensuring you're a good fit for the job position. First, you must have the recruiter skills to match the job requirements. And from there, it's all about info analysis and planning the pitch of your resume content accurately.

While all recruiters source candidates to fill vacancies, recruiter roles vary. Many recruiters work for agencies. Organizations give agencies job orders to fill open positions and are recruitment agency clients. Conversely, some corporates with many employees prefer to employ their own recruiters as an extension of Human Resources (HR). Often, recruiters report to human resources managers.

Digitization has also created space for self-employed freelance recruiters. Freelancers do full-cycle recruiting for companies and agencies, often as a stand-in or to catch the overflow. They're ideal for small businesses and startups, too. They're hired on an assignment basis and their assignment is complete once a project hiring process is done. To succeed as a freelancer, you must be a strong recruiter because you have no backup support and must deliver.

In-house corporate or freelance recruiters

If you're applying for a permanent or part-time in-house recruiter role, visit the company's website and social media accounts. Research their products or services, and find out what you can about their executive team, human resources managers, and staff. Do an online search for articles and industry publications that offer insight, as well. Finally, hop over to job portals and employer review sites to answer the following:

• How many open vacancies do they have?
• Do jobs remain unfilled or reappear regularly?
• How do past and present employees rate them?

This research will help you identify their company culture, values, brand, and attitude toward their employees. It also gives you a heads-up on issues like:

• Employee churn
• Their recruitment process
• Candidate recruitment experience

Whether in freelance or permanent positions, working in-house means your talent acquisition services are dedicated to a single company. It's vital that their core values, hiring practices, and brand values align with your personal and career goals. You must be committed to the company's success and convince candidates that the organization is an employer of choice.

Agency recruiters

Agency recruiters are frequently generalists, serving clients in all industries at various levels. A generalist ranges from junior recruiter to executive recruiter, working on all types of vacancies. In addition, most agencies have industry-specific recruiter roles, such as healthcare recruiter or technical recruiter. These are usually recruitment specialists who do full-cycle recruiting.

Recruitment agencies are excellent training grounds for entry-level and junior recruiters. They have client accounts from various market sectors, allowing new recruiters broad exposure and diverse learning opportunities.

Recruiters looking for an entry-level position with training and growth prospects should consider agency roles. The fast-paced, varied agency environment is both educating and mentoring, allowing new recruiters to experience multiple recruiter roles. Hands-on exposure is a brilliant way to decide on an area of specialization.

Irrelevant of whether you're an aspiring or experienced recruiter, your job-specific recruiting resume must be targeted towards in-house, freelance, or agency. If you're a recruitment specialist in a specific sector or skill, your job-specific recruiting resume must show it clearly. For example, you might only place engineering candidates, work as a technical recruiter, or do executive recruiting.

Recruiter job application process

When a job post catches your eye, compare the recruiter job description with your master resume. See how well your recruiter skills, experience, and qualifications measure up. Don't overlook transferable skills. If you meet all marked crucial and most other requirements, it's time to craft a tailored resume smartly incorporating keywords.

A job-specific or targeted resume is the secret to winning job interviews. It only includes the prerequisites listed in the job post. It contains only what hiring managers want and excludes all other info irrelevant to the selection criteria.

Ultimately, your job-specific resume must be adjusted to align exactly with the job description and recruiter job titles to get past the AI in ATS. Likewise, reorganize your recruiter experience and skills to match the post hierarchy, as it's mostly listed in order of importance.

Recruiting resume format

The most popular resume format among recruiters is the reverse-chronological format. If you're unsure of the best layout for your recruiting resume, browse our resume template library for options.

All resumes have mandatory and optional sections. You must include the following:

• Resume summary
• Personal details
• Work experience
• Education/courses
• Skills

Optional sections might be a specified requirement, or you can include them to enhance your application. They include:

• Awards and special achievements
• Articles and publications
• Additional languages
• References

You may be wondering whether a resume photo is mandatory or optional.

A professional photo on your resume depends on where the job is located. Most Western, English-speaking countries don’t want resume photos to avoid discrimination. There are countries in Europe, Africa, and Asia though that expect to see a photo on your resume. A quick online search will tell you what labor legislation dictates in your area.

Write your resume in a black business-style font on a white background, use bullet points where necessary, and put white space between sections. Always save your targeted, job-specific resume in pdf format. Recruiter resumes must be scannable and reader-friendly. Opting for a resume builder means all the nitty gritty things get taken care of, allowing you to focus on quality content.

Finally, keep your job-specific resume to one or two pages. The critical job requirements must bedazzle readers so you get on the interview list. Longwinded, irrelevant information is distracting and could get your best recruiting resume binned.

No matter how much you'd love to land a job, always be honest and never exaggerate anything on your recruiting resume. The hiring process is a team effort that moves fast and has little room for error. If you're unsure of what you're doing, you'll eventually trip yourself up and potentially ruin the opportunity.

Expert hint

Agency and corporate recruiters' jobs vary. Aside from filling vacancies, agency recruiters are also responsible for business development, cold calls, and current client relationships.

Recruiter resume sample

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Recruiter resume examples can help you see how you must plan yours, and there's a lot you can learn from recruiting resumes samples. In this sample, freelance LinkedIn recruiter, Aaryn, opted for our Harvard resume template in red. Her resume focuses on placing successful candidates and access to candidate quality. As a freelancer, she doesn't work for any single company; instead, she follows the hiring practice of each client.

What to include in a recruiter resume? Writing tips and examples

Aside from personal details and contact info, your recruiter job description for resume purposes must come from the job post. It must include your recruiter experience that matches the core job requirements.

Meeting the prescribed criteria is not negotiable for a senior recruiter resume. However, there's some leeway if you're writing an entry level recruiter resume. This is especially true regarding your recruiter skills for resume applicant tracking targets.

Although technical skills are essential to success, recruiters need numerous well-developed soft skills and interpersonal skills. The great thing about soft skills is that they're transferrable, and you don't need to be a strong recruiter to have them. You may have already developed and used these skills effectively in other roles.

Typical soft skills for recruiters include:

• Active listening
• Excellent communication
• Networking
• Flexibility
• Time management

None of these skills are unique to recruitment. You could excel at them in any industry in various positions and still include the skills for recruiter resume applications.

Besides recruitment and HR software, recruiter technical skills include:

• Hire ratio
• Hiring practice
• Recruiting plans
• Rate improvement
• Markup rate

Some hard skills can enhance your application, as well, even if not specified in the job ad. A perfect example is project management experience. Each recruiting cycle is a project. Recruiters take full ownership of projects assigned to them, from the implementation of projects to job offer acceptance and onboarding. Mostly, recruiters manage several relevant projects simultaneously.

Unless specified, you mustn't add project management experience to your resume. Rather, include it under work experience as a transferrable skill.

That said, too much additional detail makes your resume irrelevant, meaning it’s likely to get overlooked. Too little, however, and it looks like you lack the mandatory experience. If you include optional enhancements, like accomplishments, keep assessing whether they add or take away value.

How to write a recruiter resume summary

Resume summaries are standard in the UK, USA, and most English-speaking countries. However, the brief career snapshot trend has caught on in many other countries and is fast becoming the norm. As a modern-day recruiter, you understand your recruiter resume summary's importance.

Also known as a resume objective or personal statement, it's a dealbreaker as to whether your recruiting resume will get read. Make the most of the 80 to 100 words by focusing on your relevant skills, recruiter experience, and achievements. Because recruiting is a target-driven profession, your recruiter resume objective must include quantified accomplishments. Include figures and stats for your targets, number of client accounts, period of time to fill, number of cold calls, etc.

Usually, it's best to write your recruiter resume summary after you've compiled your targeted resume. That way, you ensure it contains vital keywords and matches the resume content and job description from the post. Your prime intention is to grab the reader's attention and get them to continue reading the rest of your resume.

Your recruiter resume objective is your first and only chance to make a good impression. Make it relevant, engaging, positive, and persuasive. After editing, ask yourself, "Would I read this resume based on this recruiter resume objective?"

Significantly, a recruiter resume summary is not the same as a recruiter cover letter.

Recruiter resume objective or summary versus a recruiter cover letter

The most notable difference between a summary and a cover letter is that every resume needs a personal profile. However, not every job application requires a cover letter, though.

A resume summary is a short paragraph of around 100 words written into a resume. It's placed at the top, making it the first thing readers see. Readers will move on to the rest of the resume content only if they are impressed by the summary. If not, they go on to the next one, costing you an opportunity. Remember, applicant tracking systems scan the entire resume, meaning a lackluster objective without keywords can see you eliminated immediately.

In contrast, a cover letter is a separate, more detailed document providing background information, intention, and ambitions. It's not part of the resume, gets addressed to someone by name, and is similar to a 300 to 400-word, single-page business letter.

Recruiter cover letters motivate your application, conveying to prospective employers why you want the job and are the right candidate. They support information on the resume, offering greater insight into your application.

Avoid generic objectives/summaries and cover letters. They'll do more harm than good. Instead, write a targeted one for each new job application. Where you’re unsure, take the time to get a professional cover letter template to guide you.

Notably, a cover letter's length and additional content can confuse ATS by reducing the keyword count. As a result, even your most effective resume could move down the candidate ranking.

Only include a cover letter if –

• The job posting specifically asks for a cover letter
• You're writing an entry-level recruiter resume for an entry-level position
• You're applying directly to a company that hasn't advertised a vacancy

Sample recruiter resume objective and summary

Corporate recruiter resume summary

Outgoing, committed recruiter with over a  decade of experience in corporate recruiting for an ed-tech company. Shared ownership of projects in conjunction with hiring team. Full-cycle recruitment, including candidate sourcing, tagging high-caliber candidates, conducting phone interviews, and separating qualified candidates from closed candidates. Working within recruiting strategy framework compiled before implementation of project. Projects include entry-level to high-level vacancies. Also involved in career center and employee referrals via internal referral program. Successfully sourced hires for 98% of projects within forecast average time to fill, including 26 full-time hires this year. Employee retention of 24+ months on 83% of all engagements. 

Entry-level recruiter resume objective

Enthusiastic, service-oriented entry-level candidate with an Associate of Arts graduate and various human resources courses. Three years of part-time customer service and sales experience in the travel industry, sourcing suitable destinations to client specifications and making cold calls. Two years of volunteer efforts interviewing for college recruitment programs at job fairs. My theoretical experience in human resources (HR), combined with my excellent customer service and interviewing skills, have prepared me for a career in recruiting. I look forward to joining a people-first company as an entry-level recruiter.

Recruiting coordinator resume objective

Keen, ambitious recruiting coordinator with 4 years of experience supporting a busy team of 10 agency recruiters sourcing potential employees for clients in real estate. Understanding extensive requirements of each position, review of applications, and moving qualified applicants to applicant funnels. Posting vacancies to job boards and social media via applicant tracking system. Searching through passive candidates' databases for specific skills. Starting the interview process by setting up phone interviews between candidates and recruiters. Conducting boolean searches to find talent and helping with business administration. Eager to join a small agency as an entry level recruiter.

LinkedIn recruiter resume summary

Highly qualified placeable Associate of Arts working as a freelance LinkedIn talent acquisition professional, finding high-caliber candidates for engineering roles and engineering hires. Sourcing candidates through networking and developing funnels for active engineering candidates, passive candidates, and previously qualified candidates at different experience levels. Full recruiting cycle, building strong candidate relationships with an extensive network of candidates seeking permanent positions. All business development and business administration. Averaging 6 full-time hires per month and an overall hire ratio of 89%. Moderate markup rate and promising a substantial rate improvement. Eager to find freelance technical recruiter roles.

Expert hint

Having an extensive network of candidates is vital for recruiters. If you have multiple, mention them individually in your resume summary—for example, network of accountants, real estate, and engineering candidates.

What recruiter resume skills to list on a resume

The recruiter resume skills section is a critical part of your resume. It's one of the first places parsers scan and where hiring managers go if you make the candidate interview list.

Recruiters need soft and technical skills; however, the emphasis is on soft skills. Soft skills are personality traits that are intrinsic or developed through life experience. They can be improved through self-work, mentoring, and practice, but not through study.

Poorly developed interpersonal skills will make a recruiter feel frustrated or frustrate others. An experienced recruiter must also be an innovative self-starter who can work independently. Further essential attributes include excellent communication, deadline orientation, empathy, flexibility, perseverance, patience, multi-tasking, resilience, and dedication to others' success.

Technical skills, on the other hand, are learned through education, training, and hands-on experience. Primary foundational training carries on developing and improving through daily use and practice. Examples include compiling recruiting plans, utilizing applicant tracking systems and other software, managing applicant funnels, and calculating hire ratios.

The more years of recruiter experience you gain, the more skills you'll accumulate. All your recruiter skills belong in your master resume but not on job-specific resumes. Targeted resumes include only skills listed in the job post, which are all critical keywords.

How to write work experience on a recruitment resume

The work experience section of your resume must be based on the recruiter job description in the vacancy advert. This is another keyword-dense area of any job post and the favorite haunt of parsers on your resume.

While your recruiter job description for resume application must reflect the post's content, never copy/paste it, even if you have the required experience. Instead, extract the relevant projects and experience from your master resume and write it along the lines of the ad. Employers don't hire a resume; they employ the person it represents. Therefore, you want your resume to be authentic and persuasive while still including vital keywords.

What if you're an entry-level candidate with limited or no experience?

The minimum entry requirements for a recruiting job are proficiency in general office skills, such as MS Office and other software programs, telephone skills, sales skills, client service skills, and basic accounting skills. If you've got this experience from past jobs or volunteer experience, it's transferrable skills you can use on your application.

On-the-job training is widespread in the recruitment sector, particularly in agencies. It's not uncommon for an aspirant recruiter to start their career as an agency receptionist and move on to:

• Recruiting coordinator
• Cycle recruiter
• Junior recruiter
• LinkedIn recruiter

Technical recruiter roles work experience example:

• Sourcing engineering candidates to fill engineering roles
• Maintaining and growing an extensive network of qualified candidates
• Review of applications and conduct phone interviews
• Arranging technical interviews and assessments
• Business administration for engineering hires
• Rate improvement and markup rate negotiations with clients

Junior recruiters work experience sample:

• Review of applications, including employee referrals and career center
• Initial phone screen process and setting up personal interviews
• Maintaining average time to hire process in times of pressure
• Building an extensive network of accountants and other professionals
• Target of 6 full-time hires per month and 26 full-time hires within four months

Expert hint

Only include work experience from the post, and don't be concerned about what other extensive requirements there might be. These can get discussed in the initial phone screen process.

How to list education on a recruiter resume?

A high school diploma is adequate to enter the recruitment sector. Nonetheless, many recruiters have a bachelor's degree in Human Resources (HR) or similar.

You'll likely need tertiary qualifications if your career goals include executive recruiting in an executive search firm. Most recruitment specialists must have qualifications and preferably some hands-on experience in their specialization. Complicated positions require recruiters who know and understand the job requirements because they've been there themselves. Consequently, they can assess candidate quality and confidently conduct phone interviews during the candidate screening phase.

Ongoing learning is essential for any recruiter to succeed. You must stay abreast of HR and recruitment industry trends, tech updates, and client/candidate expectations. Labor laws legislate the recruiting process, and every recruiter should complete a few relevant human resources courses. Recruiters doing global candidate sourcing, such as a LinkedIn recruiter, must have basic knowledge of international labor law.

Whatever education you include in your recruiting resume, keep the section uncomplicated and current. Include only specified qualifications and the most recent. For example, listing courses in outdated labor law is pointless and wastes valuable space.

Split degrees from short courses and list both in descending order, starting with the most recent. Only include the education institution, dates of attendance, and the full name of the level attained. Don't list subjects unless you have no work experience at all. Even then, only list subjects that have direct relevance to the job. Also, avoid including results unless your marks are exceptional.

Expert hint

Ongoing education is essential for all recruiters to keep up to date with changes. Take advantage of Human Resources (HR) courses, particularly if you want to gain management experience.

How to list language skills on recruiter resumes

Additional language skills come in very handy for recruiters. Communicating with candidates and clients in their language doesn't only make things easier, it builds confidence and trust. While your global recruitment process might generally be in English, online candidate sourcing is improved if you're multilingual.

From a candidate's perspective, engaging with a LinkedIn recruiter in your mother tongue allows you to express yourself properly. It's also helpful during the application process and initial phone screen process.

Current client relationships benefit, too, as clients know the recruiter understands the job specifications and nothing's lost in translation.

If you can speak a second or even more languages, list them on your resume. Your additional language skills don't need to be perfect, either. Even casual and basic abilities can improve candidate relationships. Create a language section in your recruiting resume and rate each language according to your level of proficiency.

Key takeaways on building effective recruiter resumes

So there we are, all bases covered.

The recruiter resume examples provided are the tools to help you write flawless job-specific resumes.

Let's recap the most critical points to land your best-ever recruiter job.

• Create a detailed master resume upfront
• Read job adverts thoroughly before applying
• Research the company before applying
• Match the job criteria to your master resume
• Compile a job-specific resume targeting the role
• Limit your resume to no more than two pages
• Select a suitable resume template to showcase your talents
• Proofread and re-check your resume before submitting
• Save your final resume draft in pdf before sending it out
• For absolute professionalism, use a resume builder
• If in doubt, opt for a professional resume-writing service

Expert hint

Professionalism is key throughout your job application process. Ensure your resume content is business-level. Check grammar and spelling and avoid language like, "I'm a recruiter @..."

Next steps?

Find unique recruiting resume templates

Despite being experts at screening hundreds of resumes, recruiters aren't that keen on compiling their own. That's where we step in to equip you with all the right tools to carry on doing the job you love.

You've probably seen your share of resumes made with free online resume templates, and you know they usually get binned. Plus, your busy schedule doesn't allow time to be wasted on fitting and formatting documents.

CVMaker resume templates are easy to use, modern, and ATS-friendly. Pop over to our resume templates library and choose one from our vast range. Each template comes with a range of color options. If you don’t like a color or template you’ve selected, simply change it with a single click.

Wow hiring managers with a professional recruitment resume that's on point in layout, style, and content with CVMaker's resume builder.

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FAQs

How do you describe recruitment on a resume?

Recruitment is the process of finding the best candidate to fill an open vacancy within the shortest period of time. Agency recruiters are involved from the initial sourcing to the employment offers and acceptance. Corporate recruiters are also involved from the start of the full-cycle recruitment process through to offer, acceptance, and onboarding.

Is it safe to respond when a recruiter contacts you on LinkedIn?

As a recruiter, you might be cautious in responding to LinkedIn recruiters about recruitment opportunities. Finding out more usually doesn't harm if you're in the market for a new position. All recruiters know confidentiality is vital and won't share their conversations or connections with anyone. You're likely part of their extensive network on social media.

Are recruiter jobs good?

If you're considering a career in talent recruitment, it can be exciting and rewarding as long as you have the right attributes. Recruitment culture relies heavily on excellent communication skills, well-developed interpersonal skills, flexibility, multi-tasking, teamwork, and the desire to help others succeed. While technical skills matter, strong recruiters have exceptional soft skills.

Knowing that a high-stress level is involved in the profession is important. Recruiters are both loved and loathed. They're often on the receiving end of flack from job applicants, interview candidates, Human Resources (HR), and clients. The recruitment and interview process is a team effort, but recruiters have the leading public-facing role in the team. They can wield a lot of influence over the hiring process at times, as well. So, they tend to get blamed when things don't go as planned.

How to write a recruiter resume?

If you haven't read this article yet, go ahead and do so; it's packed with expert resume tips. We discuss the top format among recruiters and application strategies. There are recruiter resume examples as well. For most recruiters, it's easy to assess and engage with potential candidates' resumes but not as straightforward when it comes to their own.