People & HR

ATS Keywords & CV Guide for HR Manager

HR managers oversee recruitment, employee relations, performance management, and organisational development. They ensure compliance with employment law and build programs that attract, retain, and develop talent. When you apply for HR Manager roles, applicant tracking systems scan your CV for the skills, tools, and responsibility phrasing below. Use them in context within your experience bullets, not just in a skills list.

Top skills recruiters scan for

These are the skills that appear most frequently in HR Manager job descriptions. The importance score reflects how heavily each skill is weighted in the occupation's O*NET profile. Include the top 5 in your CV where you can prove them with real outcomes.

Skill	Importance	Type
Communication	92	soft
Employee Relations	88	soft
Recruitment & Hiring	85	technical
Performance Management	85	technical
Conflict Resolution	85	soft
Leadership	85	soft
Employment Law	80	technical
Coaching	80	soft
Organizational Development	78	technical
Data Analysis (HR metrics)	70	technical

Tools & software to name explicitly

Recruiters and ATS systems search for specific tool names. List the ones you have real experience with in your skills section, and prove them in your bullets. Tools marked as hot are currently in high demand in job postings.

• Workday
• BambooHRHot
• Greenhouse / LeverHot
• LinkedIn RecruiterHot
• SAP SuccessFactors
• Lattice / 15FiveHot
• Slack
• Notion / Confluence
• Excel
• Culture AmpHot

Responsibility phrasing for your bullets

These are the core tasks a HR Manager is expected to perform. Use them as starting points for your CV bullets, but rewrite each one with your specific outcomes, scope, and context. Do not copy them verbatim.

• Manage the full recruitment cycle from job posting to offer and onboarding
• Develop and implement performance review processes and feedback systems
• Handle employee relations issues, grievances, and conflict resolution
• Ensure compliance with employment law and company policies
• Design and deliver employee engagement and retention programs
• Coach managers on leadership, feedback, and team development
• Analyse HR metrics (turnover, time-to-hire, engagement scores) to inform strategy
• Manage compensation and benefits programs in partnership with finance

Other titles this role is posted under

Job postings for this role may use any of these titles. Search for all of them to find more relevant opportunities, and use the matching title in your CV's professional summary when applying.

• People Operations Manager
• Talent Manager
• HR Business Partner
• People & Culture Manager
• Recruitment Manager
• HR Generalist
• Head of People

Related roles

Explore ATS keywords for other roles in the People & HR family:

• Recruiter

Includes information from O*NET 29.x by the U.S. Department of Labor/Employment and Training Administration (ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license.