Human Resources · free guide

How to tailor your resume for a HR Business Partner role

A screener on an HR Business Partner posting reads strategic partner as decor, since the phrase appears everywhere and proves itself almost nowhere. Tailoring means defining your client group. That match, more than any other line on the page, decides whether this resume gets a second look.

Four moves for this posting
  1. Define your client group, headcount and seniority of the leaders you supported, matching the scale the posting names; altitude and audience set every other expectation on this resume.
  2. Tell one business-problem story with numbers, matching any organizational-change language the posting mentions; partnered with senior leaders is decor until a specific problem and result replace it.
  3. Show talent-cycle leadership, calibration or succession run for a stated manager group, matching anything the posting lists; talent-cycle ownership is a senior signal in this field.
  4. Match your industry and org structure to the posting's own description; structure match signals your partnering approach fits how their specific business actually operates.
The fact behind this

The claim that ATS systems auto-reject 75 percent of resumes traces to a 2012 marketing claim, not research. (traced to a 2012 vendor marketing claim)

Before you tailor anything

Start with the version a recruiter opens right now, then make these moves against it.

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