HR assistant CV example
HR is measured end to end: roles filled, time to hire, turnover and payrolls processed. Your CV needs that full dashboard.
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- Sector
- Admin and finance
- Template used
- Helsinki
- ATS level
- ATS verified
- ATS keywords
- 5
Document preview
How the CV looks once laid out
The same example content, laid out in the recommended template: single column, selectable text and no tables or graphics that break automated parsing.
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Andrew Gill
HR assistant across recruitment and people administration
andrew.gill@mail.com · 07700 900789 · Edinburgh · linkedin.com/in/andrew
Professional summary
HR assistant with six years in a 400-employee business. I fill 60 roles a year at an average 24 days to hire, process 400 monthly payrolls and cut first-year turnover by seven points with a structured onboarding plan. Experienced on Sage People and an applicant tracking system.
Experience
HR assistant
Employer name · City · 2019 – Present
- Filled 60 roles a year, cutting average time to hire from 38 to 24 days
- Processed 400 monthly payrolls with no compliance issues raised
- Reduced first-year turnover by seven points through structured onboarding
Education
Qualification or certificate for the role
Training centre · Year
Skills
Competency-based recruitment | People administration | Payroll and statutory pay | Contracts and right to work | Training plans | HRIS and ATS
Languages
- EnglishNative
- SpanishB2
01
Professional headline
This is the line that decides whether they keep reading: a specific role and years of experience, never an adjective.
HR assistant across recruitment and people administration
02
Example professional summary
Three or four sentences with your specialism, one figure and your goal. It sits right under the headline.
HR assistant with six years in a 400-employee business. I fill 60 roles a year at an average 24 days to hire, process 400 monthly payrolls and cut first-year turnover by seven points with a structured onboarding plan. Experienced on Sage People and an applicant tracking system.
03
Achievements that work in this role
Past-tense verb, what you did, measurable result. Three to five per role, strongest first.
- 01Filled 60 roles a year, cutting average time to hire from 38 to 24 days
- 02Processed 400 monthly payrolls with no compliance issues raised
- 03Reduced first-year turnover by seven points through structured onboarding
04
Skills to include
Written as plain text: rating bars are invisible to automated filters.
- Competency-based recruitment
- People administration
- Payroll and statutory pay
- Contracts and right to work
- Training plans
- HRIS and ATS
05
ATS keywords
The terms filters search for in this role. Place them inside your experience, not in a list at the end.
- recruitment
- payroll
- time to hire
- turnover
- people administration
Work them naturally into your experience — these are the terms screening software scans for.
06
Tips for this CV
What separates a CV for this trade from a generic one.
- 01
Quantify the scope: headcount supported, roles per year, payrolls per month.
- 02
Name the payroll system and the ATS you've used by brand name.
- 03
State the sector and headcount — it changes people administration entirely.
07
What a hr assistant CV is
Short definition, ready to quote.
A hr assistant CV is the one or two page document used to apply for a hr assistant role in admin and finance: it brings together the professional headline, the profile summary, experience with measurable results and the competencies the trade expects you to evidence, such as Competency-based recruitment and People administration. Unlike a generic CV, it is ordered around what the applicant tracking system and the hiring manager look for in a hr assistant: the words used in the advert and the numbers of the actual job.
08
Keywords and where to place them
Each term works best in a specific place in the document. Repeating them all at the end scores nothing.
| Keyword | Where to place it |
|---|---|
| recruitment | In the professional headline |
| payroll | In the profile summary |
| time to hire | Inside an achievement with a figure |
| turnover | In the skills list |
| people administration | In training or certifications |
09
How this hr assistant CV gets through the filters
What the example above does right, point by point.
- The headline reads «HR assistant across recruitment and people administration»: the job title (hr assistant) appears literally in the first line, not as a creative synonym.
- The trade's keywords —recruitment, payroll, time to hire— sit inside the experience and summary, where the filter reads them in context.
- Every achievement carries its figure. «Filled 60 roles a year, cutting average time to hire from 38 to 24 days» is the pattern to copy: volume, timeframe and result.
- Skills such as Competency-based recruitment, People administration, Payroll and statutory pay are written as plain text, never as rating bars or stars, which no parser can read.
- The Helsinki template is single-column and rated ATS verified, so the sections come out in order.
10
What hiring managers look for in a hr assistant
The three points that separate two candidates in this trade.
Headcount and process volume
Size defines the role. Give the headcount you supported and the volume: “240 employees, 35 vacancies a year and 180 monthly payslips checked”.
Scope: recruitment, HR operations or development
HR is three trades. Say which you owned: recruitment and onboarding, HR administration and payroll, or learning and development. An unspecified mix leaves the CV unreadable.
Systems and employment law
Name the software (SAP SuccessFactors, Workday, BambooHR, Personio, Sage HR) and the ground you covered: contracts, right to work checks, family leave, TUPE, disciplinary and grievance, GDPR.
11
Common mistakes on a hr assistant CV
The ones that repeat in this role, each with its fix.
- 01
Talking only about “people management”
Everyone writes it and it distinguishes nobody. HR is hired by specific process and volume: without hires, payslips or exits handled, the CV cannot be assessed.
- 02
Leaving out employment law exposure
Right to work, TUPE, disciplinary hearings and family leave are the technical core. Naming the processes you ran — with how many — proves real rather than theoretical knowledge.
- 03
Ignoring HR metrics
Turnover, absence, time to hire, cost per hire, retention at six months. One metric of your own turns a descriptive CV into a credible one.
- 04
Confusing resourcing with full-cycle recruitment
Posting adverts and screening is not defining the role, competency interviewing, negotiating the offer and onboarding. Draw the line clearly: it is the first question in any HR interview.
12
What a hr assistant earns
So you can tell whether an advert is at market rate before applying.
- Usual range
- Typically £28,000-£38,000 a year for an HR advisor; payroll-heavy and CIPD Level 5+ roles sit above
- What moves the figure
- Headcount supported and whether the role runs payroll end to end move the band more than years in HR do.
- Where the figure comes from
- Ranges observed in UK HR adverts through 2026.
Frequently asked
Questions about a hr assistant CV
- Does CIPD level matter on the CV?
- Yes, and it should be exact: Level 3, Level 5 or Level 7, with the year or current study. Many adverts screen on it, so vagueness costs you the shortlist.
- Recruitment or HR operations — which pays better?
- Payroll and employment-law-heavy operations roles are scarcer and usually pay better; recruitment is more competitive. Point the headline at one of them, never at both.
- How do I evidence payroll knowledge?
- With process detail: number of payslips, system used, statutory payments, RTI submissions, starters and leavers, and year-end. Volume and named tasks are the proof.
- Should I include my LinkedIn profile?
- Yes, and in HR it genuinely gets checked: a profile consistent with your CV is itself evidence of professional judgement. Only include it if it is current.
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