Talent Acquisition Manager Resume [With Examples]

Resumes

Aug 22

Whether you’re a Talent Acquisition Manager looking for your next job or you’ve been a recruiter and you’re ready for that next step, what worked for you before may not work anymore. After partnering with HR VPs and Talent Acquisition leaders for nearly ten years, I can tell you the market changes rapidly and so have some resume best practices. It can feel like a tall order writing a Talent Acquisition Manager resume, but this article will make it a bit easier.

In this article, I’ll cover:

What a Talent Acquisition Manager Does

Talent Acquisition Career Paths and Salary

What Makes a Great Talent Acquisiton Manager Resume (and no, it’s not formatting)

What is the Best Format for a Talent Acquisition Manager Resume

Resume Sections You Should Include in a Talent Acquisiton Manager Resume

Evaluating Talent Acquisition Manager Resume Templates

Writing a Resume Summary for a Talent Acquisition Manager Resume

Incorporating Talent Acquisition Skills Into Your Resume

Writing About Your Work Experiences

Incorporating Talent Acquisition Manager Relevant Accomplishments

Two Talent Acquisition Manager Resume Examples

What is a Talent Acquisition Manager

First, let’s get a working definition of what a Talent Acquisition Manager does. In short, a Talent Acquisition Manager is responsible for an organization’s success by overseeing the recruitment of qualified candidates for open positions. This could be a stand-alone position or it could involve overseeing other recruiters, sourcers, and individuals embedded within the hiring function of an organization.

Often this role is a blend of strategy and execution meaning that Talent Acquisition Managers are responsible for both the execution of recruitment functions as well as determining strategies to improve processes and maximize return on investments.

Talent Acquisition Job Duties

To become a Talent Acquisition Manager, you must possess technical skills and transferable skills. Here is a list of common job duties that I’ve been asked to recruit for when recruiting Talent Acquisition Managers.

Executing full-cycle recruiting
Developing and implementing talent acquisition strategies
Collaborating with candidates, recruitment team members, and executive-level management to provide guidance and support
Leading and mentoring teams of recruiters and sourcers
Developing career paths for new hires
Determining, analyzing, and managing key performance indicators
Develop and implement diversity and inclusion initiatives
Reviewing and negotiating vendor agreements
Approving compensation and job offers
Participating in interviews
Administration of applicant tracking systems
Analyzing job market trends and candidate pipelines
Ensuring compliance with applicable laws
Overseeing and evaluating candidate assessments
Manage recruitment budgets and spending

These are just some of the more common job duties that employers have stipulated to me as requirements to perform the job. There may be others, but writing about these job duties will ensure you position yourself as a qualified candidate.

Talent Acquisition Career Path

Most people spend around five years as a Recruiter or HR Generalist before becoming a Talent Acquisition Manager. Although it varies greatly from company to company, most organizations want to see an average of five years of relevant experience before they will hire you for this job. I have seen professionals obtain a Talent Acquisition Manager job after two to three years of experience, but that is rare.

After obtaining a Talent Acquisition Manager job, many people continue to advance into Director and VP-level roles at larger organizations.

Talent Acquisition Manager Salary

I know this is a resume guide, but you’re probably curious about what Talent Acquisition Managers get paid too. I would want to know before I decided to spend countless hours writing a resume for this job. Optim Recruiting, our advisory services company that helps recruiting companies produce salary guides, has been doing research on talent acquisition salaries since 2020.

Rather than use self-reported salaries such as Glassdoor, we’ve compiled salary information based on actual offers. I find this to be much more accurate than any random person inputting any salary number they wish, unchecked. What we’ve found is that Talent Acquisition Managers typically get paid anywhere between $70,000 and $130,000 annually depending on location and other factors. The median tends to be between $85,000 and $90,000 most years and has slightly increased over the past three years.

Not bad considering those numbers are only base salary.

What Makes a Great Talent Acquisition Manager Resume

Before we dive into examples and start writing out content for your resume, let’s take a minute to organize your thoughts. Most people read a few job descriptions and then start writing. After all, this is what you do for a living - reading and qualifying resumes. But when it comes to your own resume, you’ll find things tend to be a bit more challenging.

Without proper planning, you’ll end up looking like the majority of resumes and I don’t have to tell you that the majority don’t get passed on to the next round.

So what makes a great talent acquisition manager resume? It has to do three things.

First, it has to resonate with everyone in the hiring process. It has to be simple enough that the sourcer knows you’re qualified. And it also has to show VPs that you understand the bigger picture. It’s not just about leading and mentoring teams.

Second, it has to differentiate you from others. I’m not going to tell you that you need a personal branding statement or any of that jazz. You don’t. But if you don’t get specific in the body of your resume, you’ll sound just like everyone else. That may be enough to get you to the next round of interviewing, but it may not. The details matter.

Lastly, it has to substantiate your claims. It all needs to be cohesive. It needs to be factual. And it needs to tell a story. If hiring managers can visualize you working within their organization and using your proven experience to help them solve similar problems, you’ll start having your phone ring more often.

If you’re not sure how to make your resume do these three things, my latest book, The Talent Acquisition Manager Resume will walk you through these in detail with examples.

Buy the Book Today and Get 4 Pre-Filled, Editable Resume Templates

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Talent Acquisition Manager Resume Guide Book

What is The Best Resume Format for a Talent Acquisition Manager Resume

It is probably no surprise that I’m going to recommend a reverse-chronological resume format. I don’t have to tell you that it’s the most preferred resume format among recruiters and hiring managers.

In case you’re not familiar with the technical resume term, it’s a resume format that typically begins with a short summary, followed by your most recent work experience followed by other experiences in reverse chronological order.

Resume Sections for a Talent Acquisition Manager Resume

Mandatory Resume Sections

Header (This is where you will include your contact information, LinkedIn profile URL, and portfolio sites if you have them)
Summary (I like to call this a trailer because I like to think of it as a quick movie trailer that provides clarity about the resume and piques interest)
Work Experience (This is where you will substantiate your claims as a qualified candidate)
Education and Certification (List any relevant degrees or continued education)
Technology (A place to list out any software you are proficient with such as ATS, HRIS, or analytic tools)

Optional Resume Sections

Projects
Publications
Interests
Other Languages Spoken
Volunteer Work
Awards

I’m not a big fan of adding most of these sections to a Talent Acquisiton Management Resume, but depending on the company you are applying to and your background, it may make sense. Make sure you have a solid reason for adding any of these sections.

For example, if you’re going to be leading recruitment teams that recruit warehouse talent in Southern California, it makes perfect sense to include a section that mentions how you speak and write in Spanish.

Or if you’re applying to a mission-driven organization and you have volunteer experience that is similar, it makes sense to include that section.

For more information about resume sections and possible subtitles you can use in your resume read the article: Resume Subtitles.

Talent Acquisition Manager Resume Template

You can start from scratch in Microsoft Word or Google Docs, but using a resume template will make this much easier. Many of my talent acquisiton colleagues are afraid it will make them look generic or like everyone else, but using a template will:

save you time and effort so you’re not recreating the wheel every time you write a resume (and yes, you may write a couple of different versions)
give you a professional and polished look (minor detail compared to content, but important)
ensure your formatting and layout is consistent
provide a structure for your thoughts
help you brainstorm content for your own resume if it comes pre-filled from a qualified source

You can access four Talent Acquisiton Resume Templates with pre-filled information with the purchase of my book, The Talent Acquisition Manager Resume. The four templates include:

One for Talent Acquisition Managers searching for director-level roles,
One for Human Resources professionals pivoting into Talent Acquisition,
One for Corporate Recruiters searching for their first manager-level job, and
One for Agency Recruiters searching for their first manager-level job.

If you’re evaluating other templates or you want to know if the template you’re already using is a good choice, read this article on Resume Templates.

Talent Acquisition Manager Resume Summary

Many talent acquisition resumes make one of two mistakes. The resume either reads like a documentary of experience and talks about the wrong things or it looks like notes to an award speech where the person is about to accept an award. Neither is what employers are looking for.

I see things like “Promoted 3x within 1 year,” in resumes. That tells the hiring team nothing. We’re happy for you. I’m sure you’re proud of that. But how does that convey value to an organization looking for its next Talent Acquisition Manager? It doesn’t. You need more.

If you’re applying for a talent acquisition manager job, you’ve probably done quite a few things with your career so far. The opening of your resume should be used to funnel all of that experience into a concise message focused on the problem you solve for the organizations you are targeting.

Here are the five elements a great resume trailer should include:

The job title you are applying for (Talent Acquisition Manager),
The problem you solve for the hiring team,
Who you solve the problem for,
How you solve that problem, and
A clear picture of what success looks like with you on their team.

Below is an example of a Talent Acquisition Manager Resume.

Talent Acquisition Manager Resume Summary

In this example, you can immediately see what this resume is about. It’s about a Director of Talent Acquisition. By writing these titles in the opening of your resume, remember, it is not a claim that you have held the title before. Rather, you are stating that this is about an individual (you) who is qualified for this job.

The problem this person solves in the example is ensuring compliance, building talent infrastructure, and improving hiring experiences.

They solve this problem for large-scale recruitment teams.

You can then see how they solve the problem. It is clearly illustrated in the bullet four resume bullet points. These bullet points support that you are qualified to solve the problems.

Now you don’t have to show all of these elements in the same order or in the same format as this example. There are many ways to do this well. You can see four different ways in my book and resume templates.

Talent Acquisition Manager Skills

Many people ask me why there is no skills section in my Talent Acquisition Manager resumes. At this level in your career, I find traditional skill sections rather empty and worthless. Let’s say you have a typical skills section beneath your resume summary. Based on resumes I’ve seen it would probably include some of the following:

Proactive communication
Applicant Tracking Systems
Recruitment Strategy
Diversity Recruitment
KPI Dashboard Management

The problem with all of these at the Manager or Director level is that they don’t mean anything. It only leaves the hiring teams (often senior-level managers) asking more questions. Are you good at these things? What can you do with these things? And if hiring teams have to guess, that’s not a good sign.

This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t include these keywords or skills in your resume, but a traditional skills section is not the best place to do so. Skills sections work great for entry-level roles, but not when you're competing at this level.

Rather, embed these skills in your resume summary and throughout your work experiences. Use them in context to show scope and results. Here are some examples.

Instead of saying Applicant Tracking Systems, write about how you configured different systems in your work experience.
Instead of saying KPI Dashboard Management, write about how you reconfigured a dashboard to include rejection reasons which led to the identification of coaching opportunities or mitigating legal risks.

Writing like this will show context, the scope of your work, and that you are good at these things. This will set you apart from the other hundred people applying to the same job.

Here is a list of talent acquisition manager skills that should be present in your resume:

Executing full-cycle recruiting

Developing and implementing talent acquisition strategies
Collaborating with candidates, recruitment team members, and executive-level management to provide guidance and support
Leading and mentoring teams of recruiters and sourcers
Developing career paths for new hires
Determining, analyzing, and managing key performance indicators
Reviewing and negotiating vendor agreements
Approving compensation and job offers
Participating in interviews
Administration of applicant tracking systems
Analyzing job market trends and candidate pipelines
Ensuring compliance with applicable laws
Overseeing and evaluating candidate assessments

Talent Acquisition Work Experience Examples

There are many ways to format work experience in a resume. Some people advocate for bullet points, but I prefer to mimic something closer to an executive resume style when writing manager-level resumes. This style has received many compliments from private equity investors, C-Suite executives and HR VPs over the years, so I’ve stuck with it for the majority of resumes I write.

The format basically has two parts. A job summary for each job and a list of key contributions in bullet point format.

Talent Acquisition Manager Job Summary Sample

Start each job with a brief openign describing the job with context. You can think of this as context, scope, and plot line. There are four components to writing a job summary this way.

How you obtained the job (promoted, recruited, hired)
What problem you were hired to solve
The type of company (size, revenue, ownership type, number of hires, number of employees)
What you were responsible for (with quantitative context)

Here’s a job summary example from someone who has been a recruiter and is searching for their first management job.

In this example, you can see all of the elements played out within 3 lines of text. We know that they were promoted, telling us that there are other jobs before this that may not be listed. We know that they lead full desk recruitment for a large agency. And we can see with context what they are primarily responsible for. This isn’t everything they are responsible for, but it’s the most relevant and most important based on their background and its alignment to a Talent Acquisiton Manager role.

I want to give you some other examples of problems you may have solved for companies that you could possibly incorporate into your job summaries.

Hired to improve time to fill vacancies.
Hired to improve the quality of hires.
Recruited to reduce the amount of time candidates spend at various phases in the recruitment process.
Promoted to reduce the cost per hire.
Hired to increase diversity.
Promoted to increase offer acceptance rate.

Any of these could be valid problems you solve. For each job, ask yourself this question, “What was my mandate?” Why did they hire you or promote you to do this job? The answer to that question is most likely the problem that you solved in each of your jobs.

Talent Acquisition Accomplishments

After you’ve written job summaries for each of your roles, you’ll want to back up that information with examples to show you were good at each of these things. Everyone who is qualified for a Talent Acquisiton Manager job is going to write about the same duties, tasks, and experiences. But it’s one thing to do something. It’s another to do it well and be good at it. The latter is what you want to convey in your bullet points.

Take each task that you mentioned in your job summary and ask yourself, “How can I show someone that I was good at this?” The answer to that question should involve some type of result or accomplishment.

I include multiple samples and a detailed formula for these accomplishments in my book, “The Talent Acquisiton Manager Resume,” but for now know that you should mention a problem you solved, a quantifiable result, and a skill used to solve it.

Let’s pick apart some talent acquisiton management duties and how you could show that you are good at them.

Upskilling, Training, and Coaching

This is going to be a large part of your daily life in most TA Manager roles. You’ll need to lead teams of recruiters. Here’s an example of how you could show that you were good at this.

Designed and implemented recruiting workflows for flex recruiters enabling them to ramp up in less than a week to hire 2,000 seasonal workers within 3 months.

ATS Management

You’ll likely be tasked with overseeing ATS implementations, updates, and configurations. You may not be doing the technical work, but you’ll be involved with the strategy. A resume bullet point like this could show that you were good at it.

Reduced candidate time in process by 54% by automating 20+ ATS workflows which enabled real-time feedback at all stages

Recruiting Process Design

This phrase and other similar phrases pop up all the time in Talent Acquisition Manager job descriptions. A lot of this comes down to increasing OPL (optimum productivity levels) and reducing costs. A resume bullet like this would really drive home your abilities to perform.

Saved $600,000 annually by designing a flexible staffing plan that eliminated the need for temporary agencies during business fluctuations and disruptions.

These are just some examples of how you can show your qualifications for a talent acquisition manager job. In my book and templates, I list out many more. But if you start thinking and writing like these examples, you’re on the right track.

Talent Acquisiton Manager Accomplishments I’ve Seen in Resumes That Are Good Examples for You To Mimic

Reduced time to hire by 17 days on average with a 93% retention rate
Won 2nd place at JobBot’s Best Companies in Tech for an employment branding strategy that boosted awareness and attracted a 17% increase in new applications
Executed a new referral initiative that increased employee referrals by 12% annually and reduced hiring costs by $240,000 annually
Developed a weekly recruitment report incorporating a budget control file that led to a 3% improvement in recruitment ROI
Rolled out and trained staff on new recruitment processes that leveraged inactive candidates within ATS, resulting in a 12% decrease in time to hire
Automated 3 recruiting processes that improved efficiency and enabled recruiters to spend 82 more hours per week on non-administrative tasks

Talent Acquisition Resume Examples

Below are two resume examples. The first is written for someone with many years of talent acquisiton management experience and the second is for someone searching for their first talent acquisiton manager job. You can access both of these templates and two additional ones in an editable version for a limited time with the purchase of my book, The Talent Acquisition Manager Resume.

Cole Sperry has been a recruiter and resume writer since 2015, working with tens of thousands of job seekers, and hundreds of employers. Today Cole runs a boutique advisory firm consulting with dozens of recruiting firms and is the Managing Editor at OptimCareers.com.