Ask the Recruiter

Resumes often begin with a brief statement under the heading of "Career Objective." In many cases this can be somewhat superfluous, but it may be useful in cases such as yours where there has been a change in direction and the desired career path may not be readily apparent from the career moves up to this point. In this statement then, you should not only emphasize your interest in human resources, but also your qualifications for it via your master's degree and your recruiting experience.

Next, resumes can either be organized with educational or career credentials leading the list of qualifications. As a rule of thumb, the longer the career the more appropriate it would be for the educational section to take a back seat. In your case though, not only are you still relatively early in your career, but the most relevant credential to cite is your master's in human resources. Therefore, it would make sense for you to list educational accomplishments before career experiences, to emphasize this degree.

When it comes to listing your job experiences, be sure to emphasize the personnel aspects of your recruiting experience, since this is very relevant to human resources. Finally, use your cover letter to emphasize that your interest in a human resources job is not a sudden change of direction, but rather a purposeful evolution that led you into recruiting and then to pursue an advanced degree in the field.