When it comes to tracking hours, facts, and figures, you’re the best. But when it comes to writing an engaging resume for a payroll professional, it’s a little difficult to think of ways to make payroll processes exciting enough to make an employer notice you out of the flood of applications for every position.
That doesn’t mean it isn’t possible. You can turn any profession into a stunning, powerfully written career summary that sells your professional merits and turns employers’ heads. Without a well-written resume, it’s easy to blend into the bland backdrop of identical candidates. Avoid that by trying the tips and best practices show in our payroll resume samples.
Payroll Manager Resume Samples
Payroll Manager Resume Sample
As you’ve risen through the ranks, you’ve gained invaluable skills that make you a desirable hire to any employer while also giving you the wisdom and leadership capabilities needed to be an effective resource to team members. Use our payroll resume samples to learn how best to show those capabilities and convey the seniority you’ve earned throughout your career.
For:
- Senior-level accounting and payroll personnel with experience in payroll process and systems implementation.
Payroll Skills To Include:
- Team building and leadership
- Payroll accountability and transparency management
- Process and policy development
- Expertise in popular payroll software
- Key accounting, payroll, and leadership certifications
More Information: Tally up the key components needed in an effective management resume by checking out our payroll manager resume samples.
Senior Payroll Specialist Resume Sample
You thrive in a self-driven environment and work equally well with both management and junior team members. Your resume should reflect your role as the bridge linking the payroll team, as well as show the subject matter expertise got you to a position of seniority. With strong action-oriented language and application of best practices, you can make sure your resume passes muster.
For:
- Mid-level payroll professionals capable of working independently with high-level responsibility and mentoring junior team members.
Payroll Skills To Include:
- Payroll processing and review
- Issue and discrepancy resolution
- Hour and time tracking
- Month-end and year-end reporting
- Team mentorship and support
More Information: Discover how you can showcase your payroll skills with the tips in our senior payroll specialist resume sample.
Payroll Consultant Resume Sample
When things aren’t quite working in a company’s payroll department, it’s your job to step in and make it right. Your objectivity and outside perspective are pivotal in understanding the problems in a payroll organization and defining the systems and workflows that effectively correct those problems. But how do you convey that in your resume, particularly if you’ve worked across multiple engagements in a short period of time or entered into roles with overflow work for short-term payroll projects? Our payroll resume samples will show you how.
For:
- Payroll experts capable of stepping into existing businesses to improve payroll workflows.
Payroll Skills To Include:
- Project and engagement management
- Process and systems optimization
- Workflow development
- Team coaching and training
- Payroll systems implementation
More Information: Learn how to optimize your resume for the best results with our payroll consultant resume sample.
Certified Payroll Professional Resume Sample
One of the most valuable things you can do for your career is earn professional certifications in your field. With your certifications, you’ve demonstrated you’re willing to go the extra mile to gain the expertise and experience needed to be a highly useful addition to any payroll team. Use our resume tips and tricks to create a resume that puts those certifications front and center, and leverages them as one of your strongest selling points.
For:
- Payroll professionals with highly sought after specialized skills and certifications.
Payroll Skills To Include:
- Relevant certifications
- Training in highly specialized payroll software
- Time and attendance reporting
- Quality assurance auditing
- Communication and relationship building
More Information: Try your hand at demonstrating your specialized skills with our certified payroll professional resume sample.
Payroll Associate Resume Sample
Even if you’re just starting your career, our payroll resume samples can provide outstanding insights on how to optimize your resume for your goals. Maybe you’re looking to take that next step in your career and progress to a more senior role, or maybe you’re looking to change companies and join an employer with a strong path to career progression for junior personnel. No matter your goals, these best practices will help to get you there.
For:
- Entry-level and junior-level payroll professionals seeking career growth in a team environment.
Payroll Skills To Include:
- Accurate and timely payroll processing
- Error checking and resolution
- Journal and ledger entries
- Reporting and data analysis
- Team collaboration
More Information: Take the next step in your career as a payroll professional with our payroll associate resume sample.
FAQ
You have a number of options for choosing a resume design, but for a payroll resume your best choice is something simple and straightforward using a clean, modern look. Payroll resumes are often expected to be stuffy and dull, so you want to avoid anything too classical with heavy use of serif fonts. Instead, surprise readers with a refreshing sans serif look not too different from our payroll resume samples, using clean, modern fonts and plenty of white space.
Think of your resume summary as the reader’s first introduction to you. You should make yourself personable while still remaining professional with an introductory statement of no more than three sentences. Mention your years of experience, and go on to discuss what makes you an asset to an employer by calling out your greatest strengths and how you benefit the bottom line.
One thing you should avoid, though, is writing an objective statement. Employers want to hear what you can do for them, not what you want from them.
It’s inevitable that in your payroll resume you’ll want to include skills such as ADP, Sage, and QuickBooks, as we did in our payroll resume samples. You can include these skills in the searchable keyword skills section to put them front and center, but it’s even better when you can include them in your work history bullets. In your work history bullets, you can describe how you used those technical skills to accomplish a positive result, giving them more impact with context and a measurable outcome.
If you have certifications such as Certified Payroll Professional (CPP) from the American Payroll Association or Project Management Professional (PMP) from the Project Management Institute, you should definitely list those certifications after your name in your header so employers know up front that you have the skills they’re looking for. Write them just as the acronyms CPP or PMP, but in your education section list the full write-up of those certifications with the name, institution, and completion date spelled out. All other certifications should also go in this section.
As you think through your career history, focus on accomplishments that have a measurable, demonstrable result. If you can focus on accomplishments that quantify those results with numbers, even better. Numbers capture attention, so if you can say that you cut payroll processing time by 32% or shaved 14 days off month-end closing and reconciliation, those numbers will make employers pay attention.
You can still list accomplishments with less tangible results, however. If you mentored team members to improve collaboration and job performance, that’s still a result. If you reduced errors by implementing payroll automation software, you’ve created a positive effect. Don’t be afraid to show that, and stand up and proclaim it loudly as you use our payroll resume samples to craft your own original resume.
Writing Your Payroll Resume
Whether you have experience as a payroll worker or aspire to break into the field, your resume must indicate key skills and background in order to succeed within your job search. Particularly in the modern organizational climate, prospective payroll workers are heavily scrutinized even before the first interview. If your resume provides clear indications of the quality of your character, doors can open and you will attract more hiring personnel toward consideration of you for employment.
Some key attributes to include as part of your payroll resume indicating your integrity and character as an employee are:
- Team collaboration
- Objectivity and empathy
- Customer service orientation
- Personal accountability and responsibility
- Time and project management
If you have experience as a payroll worker, you likely can find ways to include these attributes as part of your work history or background listings. If you do not have experience in the field of payroll as an employee, you will need to exhibit possession of these traits through other means. Some ways to attribute sought after attributes of professional and personal integrity may include:
- Through internships or volunteerism
- As indicated by awards, bonuses or accolades
- Through applicable coursework or training
- Through personal and professional references
For the most successfully presented payroll resume, remember to honestly and creatively position yourself in ways to gain advantage over competitors.
Formatting Your Payroll Resume
Now that you have some idea of specific competitive attributes and soft skills to convey within your background, you need to develop your resume format. Its format is the manner in which your experience, skill sets, education and attributes are presented to shine through the masses of resumes recruiters review for each role.
Below are specific sections of a well-formatted resume and what each section should include:
Objective
Providing clear, concise and impactful present tense statements of your skills, knowledge and experience, position yourself as the candidate for the given role. Do not present yourself as aspiring to reach the position of payroll. Instead, write your objective as if you are already performing in payroll as part of a lucrative organization. Written much like a company vision statement, this section shines an initial light on you as a candidate and makes the recruiter want to read more about you.
Background/Experience
Even if your payroll experience is light, provide work history with bulleted statements of quantifiable results you provided for each employer. Recruiters love to see hard numbers of achievement within this section. For example, provide accountability for amount of money saved for the company, dollar amount of payroll completed for each period, number of employees served, increased revenue, employment growth, budget reductions, project completion time, number of projects completed, total or average number of hours worked, contractors supervised and other strong statements of results.
Certifications and Training
As a payroll worker, you likely have some education to list, perhaps a degree completion. You may also be certified within human resources or other area of focus. List training, seminars, workshops and other educational coursework as applicable.
Achievements
Your achievements are indicative of tenacity, ambition and integrity. Spotlight them.
Keith is a Certified Professional Resume Writer (CPRW) and member of the Professional Association of Resume Writers & Career Coaches dedicated to helping job seekers excel in their careers.
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