Top HR Generalist Resume Skills for 2026
Show the HR generalist resume skills employers prioritize in 2026: recruiting, onboarding, employee relations, HRIS systems, and benefits administration.
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An HR generalist plays a crucial role in the human resources department by managing a wide range of HR functions. These professionals are responsible for recruiting and onboarding new employees, maintaining employee relations, administering benefits, and ensuring compliance with employment laws. HR generalists need to possess a diverse skill set to effectively handle these responsibilities. The right combination of HR generalist skills can make a significant difference in efficiently managing an organization’s workforce.
Including the appropriate skills for your HR generalist resume is essential to stand out in a competitive job market. Employers are looking for candidates who can demonstrate their ability to manage multiple HR functions and contribute to the overall success of the organization. By showcasing your HR generalist skills, you can highlight your expertise in areas such as performance management, workforce planning, and compliance, making you an attractive candidate for potential employers.
How we got the data
The data in this report was pulled from Jobscan’s database of more than 10 million job descriptions and 17 million resumes.
We analyzed the job descriptions to find the skills that employers want the most. Then we analyzed the resumes to see which skills appeared most frequently.
Armed with this knowledge, job seekers can easily tailor their resumes and cover letters to highlight the most relevant resume skills for each job they apply to.
top 10 HR generalist Hard Skills
- Human resources – 86%
- Performance management – 75%
- Employee relations – 56%
- HRIS – 43%
- Employment law – 41%
- Payroll – 37%
- Workforce planning – 36%
- Administration – 36%
- Compliance – 32%
- Recruitment – 28%
top 10 HR generalist Soft Skills
- Communication – 33%
- Best practices – 13%
- Work independently – 9%
- Multitask – 8%
- Organized – 8%
- Motivated – 7%
- Professionalism – 6%
- Confidential information – 6%
- Tight deadlines – 6%
- Motivate employees – 5%
top 10 HR generalist Skills on Resumes with High Match Rate
- Human resources
- Management
- Employee relations
- Performance management
- Administration
- Leadership
- Business
- Talent
- Payroll
- Engagement
Top 10 HR generalist skills
Tips for using HR generalist skills on a resume
Create a bulleted resume skills section
Use a simple, clean format that highlights your skills and experiences. Focus on readability by using bullet points and short phrases to present your skills. Properly organize your resume into education, experience, and skills sections.
“Adding a skills section to your resume is a great way to draw the recruiter’s attention to your most relevant strengths and competencies.”
– Ashley Watkins, NCRW, NCOPE, Job Search Coach
For example, HR generalist resume bullet points might look like this:
- Assisted in the implementation of a new HRIS system, resulting in a 25% increase in data accuracy.
- Developed and executed a workforce planning strategy that reduced turnover by 15%.
- Streamlined payroll processes, decreasing payroll errors by 30%.
- Mediated employee relations issues, improving team morale by 20%.
- Ensured compliance with employment law regulations, reducing legal risks by 10%.
Hitting all the top job requirements with your skills list will help you rank highly for a keyword search within an applicant tracking system. But don’t stop there. Add context for every skill elsewhere in your work experience.
If a recruiter is excited by your customer service skills, for example, the first thing they’ll do is skim your work experience to figure out when, how, and how much you used that skill.
Highlight skills and achievements in your work experience section
As you list your responsibilities, it’s also important to highlight your specific achievements wherever you can.
“For soft skills, it’s often more effective to demonstrate them in the context of your past work experience. Instead of merely stating “excellent team player”, you are better off saying “collaborated with a cross-functional team of 6 on a new product launch that boosted sales by 30% in one year”. Examples of specific accomplishments or business outcomes speak louder than buzzwords.”
– Ana Lokotkova, Career Coach and Advisor
Instead of saying,
“Managed employee records.”
You could say,
“Maintained accurate employee records using HRIS, improving data integrity by 20%.”
This demonstrates your level of expertise with the skills you listed. It gives the recruiter more reason to be interested in you as a result.
Break resume skills sections into categories
If you’re applying for a role requiring a broad skillset, categorize your skills.
“If you opt to include a designated skills section on your resume, include up to 10 of your core competencies. Excessive skills lists are overwhelming and sometimes confusing to the reader.”
– Kelli Hrivnak, Marketing and Tech Recruiter
- Human Resources: Human resources, Performance management, Workforce planning
- Administration: Employee relations, Administration, Communication
- Compliance: HRIS, Employment law, Payroll, Compliance
Quantify your accomplishments
Use numbers to quantify your accomplishments wherever possible. This helps potential employers understand your abilities and the impact you can have on their organization.
“Recruiters and hiring managers are looking for relevancy of how and when you applied those skills, so provide examples of this in your experience section. Bonus tip: Don’t just insert the skill like a task–include results.”
– Kelli Hrivnak, Marketing and Tech Recruiter
Instead of saying,
“Conducted training sessions for employees.”
You could say,
“Conducted 15 training sessions for 200 employees, resulting in a 30% increase in productivity.”
Tailor your resume to the job description
Read the description carefully and emphasize the relevant skills and experiences. Highlight the skills that the employer seeks and provide examples of how you’ve used those skills in your previous roles. Doing so can demonstrate that you’re a strong fit for the position and increase your chances of being invited to an interview.
“The ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach doesn’t work when it comes to your resume. For every job application, tailor your skill set to match the job description. Most companies use Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) that filter candidates based on keywords and skills listed in the job description. So, research the role you’re applying for and distill the skills required.”
– Ana Lokotkova, Career Coach and Advisor
In order to do this, “you must first understand what skills are most important for the target role,” says Ashley Watkins.
Sample job description for HR generalist:
We are seeking an experienced HR Generalist to join our dynamic team. The ideal candidate will have a strong background in employee relations, HRIS management, and performance management. Responsibilities include administering payroll, ensuring compliance with employment laws, and contributing to workforce planning strategies.
Tailored resume bullet points:
- Spearheaded the integration of a new HRIS platform, enhancing data management efficiency by 35%.
- Successfully mediated 10 employee disputes, strengthening employee relations and boosting team cohesion.
- Developed performance management initiatives that led to a 20% increase in employee engagement.
“Focus on the sought-after and in demand skills. A great way to figure out what is currently in demand is by researching current job openings from your preferred companies and reading through the posting. Pay close attention to the preferred requirements section and build your skills section based on this list.”
– Chelsea Jay, Career & Leadership Development Coach – Seasoned and Growing
Bonus Tip: Use action verbs
Start each bullet point with an action verb. An action verb expresses an action, such as “create,” “build,” “manage,” “lead,” or “implement.”
Action verbs grab the reader’s attention and paint a vivid picture of what you accomplished at work.
Action verbs make your resume more interesting to read. They also show the kind of can-do attitude that employers are looking for.
FAQs
Cover the full employee lifecycle: recruiting and onboarding, employee relations, benefits administration, payroll coordination, and performance management. Knowledge of employment law and compliance (FMLA, FLSA, EEO, ADA) is essential. List HRIS platforms you have used, such as Workday, BambooHR, ADP, or UKG. Strong administrative organization, conflict resolution, and confidentiality round out the profile. Generalists are valued for breadth, so show you can move across multiple HR functions competently.
HR runs on people skills, so emphasize discretion, empathy, and the ability to handle sensitive conversations professionally. Conflict resolution and active listening matter in employee relations cases. Clear written and verbal communication is critical for policies, investigations, and offer discussions. Add adaptability, since priorities shift quickly, and sound judgment when balancing employee needs with company policy. Frame these with brief examples rather than just listing adjectives so they feel credible.
Yes, and they carry real weight. The SHRM-CP (Society for Human Resource Management) and the PHR (Professional in Human Resources from HRCI) are the most recognized for generalists. List the exact credential, the issuing organization, and your certification status. If you are still studying for one, you can note “in progress” with the expected date. These certs signal formal knowledge of compliance and best practices that many employers explicitly require.
Match the job description’s language exactly. If it asks for “employee relations,” “benefits administration,” or “onboarding,” use those phrases as written. Name the specific HRIS the company likely uses (Workday, ADP, BambooHR) and spell out compliance acronyms like FMLA and FLSA with their full terms once. Include both “human resources” and “HR” so either form is caught. Concrete tools and named processes match keyword filters better than broad statements about “people operations.”
The role is becoming more data-informed and tech-enabled. Employers increasingly want comfort with HR analytics, reporting on turnover and time-to-hire, and using HRIS dashboards. Familiarity with DEI initiatives, remote and hybrid workforce management, and self-service HR tools is now common in postings. Some teams expect light experience with automation or AI-assisted screening. Showing you can interpret people data to support decisions, not just administer paperwork, strengthens a modern generalist resume.