People analytics on an HR CV: projects and tools to showcase
"Managed HR indicators": the phrase appears on many CVs, and it covers anything from sending a monthly headcount table to a full study of the causes of turnover. For a recruiter, the difference is huge. People analytics means using HR data to inform decisions: where talent is leaking, why absenteeism is rising at one site, which teams risk a skills shortage in two years.
Whether you are a people analyst, an HRBP, an HR financial controller or an HRIS officer, this guide helps you present your HR data projects credibly: types of analysis, tools, the legal framework in France and the EU, and before / after examples of CV lines.
From reporting to people analytics: place your level
It helps to distinguish several maturity levels. Your CV should honestly show where your achievements sit:
| Level | Question answered | Examples | |---|---|---| | Reporting | What happened? | Headcount, starters and leavers, absenteeism, the French bilan social | | Diagnostic analysis | Why did it happen? | Turnover drivers, gaps between sites, engagement factors | | Predictive analysis | What is likely to happen? | Attrition risk, hiring needs, projected age pyramid | | Decision support | What should we do? | Organisational scenarios, prioritising action plans |
Reporting fully deserves a place on a CV, as long as you call it what it is. Presenting it as "predictive" would quickly be exposed in an interview.
Projects that speak to recruiters
Retention and turnover
This is the most common use case. A solid project combines several sources: HRIS data (tenure, mobility, pay, manager), exit interviews, engagement surveys.
Before:
Tracked turnover.
After:
Analysed voluntary departures over 3 years (1,200 leavers), cross-referencing tenure, internal mobility and manager changes: identified a spike in departures between 12 and 18 months' tenure among sales staff, which led to a one-year internal mobility programme.
Absenteeism and occupational health
Built an absenteeism dashboard by site and absence type; highlighted a concentration of short absences in two shift teams, presented with the occupational physician to the health and safety committee (CSSCT).
Be careful: health data is specially protected. Make clear you worked on aggregated data, not on medical reasons.
Engagement and employee listening
Annual surveys, pulse surveys, eNPS: name the tool and what the analysis produced, not just the response rate.
Analysed engagement survey comments (3,500 verbatims) by thematic clustering: three priorities adopted by the executive committee, tracked through a quarterly pulse survey.
Workforce and skills planning
Strategic workforce planning (known in France as GEPP) relies on projections: retirements, business needs, critical skills.
Built a 5-year headcount projection model for maintenance (expected retirements, historical attrition, workload): costed the need for apprentices and external hires, included in the strategic plan.
Recruitment
Recruitment data lends itself well to analysis: time per stage, effective sources, conversion rates. Our article on KPIs for a recruiter CV details the indicators and how they are defined.
Pay and equity
Pay gap analysis, budget simulations, preparing the French gender equality index: these projects sit on the border with Comp & Ben. If you want to steer your career that way, read our guide to the Comp & Ben CV.
Built a base salary regression model controlling for job level, tenure and site: isolated the unexplained gender pay gap by job family, used to target the catch-up budget.
Tools to mention
The basics
- Advanced Excel: pivot tables, Power Query, lookup functions; still the everyday tool for many teams.
- Power BI or Tableau for visualisation and shared dashboards.
- SQL to extract data directly from databases.
Analysis languages
- Python (pandas, scikit-learn) or R for statistical analysis and models.
- Specify the methods you actually used: regression, survival analysis for turnover, text classification for comments.
Specialised HR solutions
- HRIS analytics modules: Workday (Prism Analytics, reporting), SAP SuccessFactors (People Analytics);
- dedicated platforms such as Visier;
- employee listening tools: Qualtrics, Culture Amp, Workday Peakon Employee Voice.
Analysis quality depends on HRIS data quality. If you took part in a data clean-up or migration project, it is an achievement in its own right, to be described with the data scope covered and the checks put in place.
Organising the skills section
Data and tools: SQL, Python (pandas), Power BI, Excel (Power Query) HRIS: Workday (advanced reports), DSN extraction Methods: regression, survival analysis, text analysis Framework: GDPR applied to HR data, pseudonymisation
The legal framework: a marker of maturity
HR data is personal data, and some of it is sensitive. A credible people analytics profile shows these constraints are built in from the design stage.
GDPR
The General Data Protection Regulation fully applies to employee data: specified purpose, data minimisation, limited retention, informing the people concerned. For some processing likely to result in a high risk, a data protection impact assessment (DPIA) is required; the CNIL, France's data protection authority, publishes resources dedicated to HR.
On a CV, this translates into concrete wording:
Designed the engagement dashboard with the DPO: minimum respondent threshold per team for results display, pseudonymised extracts, defined retention period.
Consulting the CSE
In companies with at least 50 employees, the CSE (works council) must be informed and consulted, before implementation, on the means or techniques that allow employee activity to be monitored (article L. 2312-38 of the French Labour Code), as well as on the introduction of new technologies. An HR analytics tool can fall within that scope: if you prepared those consultations, mention it.
The EU AI Act
Regulation (EU) 2024/1689, known as the AI Act, classifies certain AI systems used in employment as high-risk: recruitment and candidate selection, decisions on promotion or termination, task allocation, monitoring and evaluating performance. They are subject to stricter requirements. If you work on predictive models applied to employees, showing you know this framework is a real plus. Our article on AI in HR goes deeper into the topic.
Telling a data project story: the right structure
A people analytics recruiter wants to understand your approach, not just the tool. For each major project, check that your CV line answers four questions:
- What business question? (why are young engineers leaving)
- What data and method? (HRIS and exit interviews, survival analysis)
- What result? (main driver identified)
- What decision or effect? (programme launched, indicator tracked)
Before:
Built Power BI dashboards for HR.
After:
Rolled out 4 Power BI dashboards (headcount, mobility, absenteeism, recruitment) for 25 HRBPs and directors: ended manual monthly extracts, indicator review built into quarterly HR committees.
Common mistakes
- Overstating sophistication: calling a pivot table "machine learning".
- Forgetting the business question: a model with no decision attached does not interest an HR director much.
- Ignoring data protection: no mention of GDPR on a people analytics CV raises questions.
- Missing volumes: employees covered, sources combined, refresh frequency.
- A list of languages without proof: link each tool to at least one project.
Roles that hire for these skills
- People analyst / HR data analyst in large groups and scale-ups;
- HR financial controller, focused on payroll costs and headcount;
- HRBP with a strong data dimension, using figures to advise managers;
- Consultant in HR consultancies or at HR software vendors.
For an HRBP, data skills are a differentiator rather than the core of the role: highlight them in the summary without overshadowing manager support.
Conclusion
People analytics is showcased through concrete projects: a business question, reliable data, a suitable method, an informed decision and a respected legal framework. If you are an HRBP and data is your edge, open the pre-filled HRBP CV and add your analysis projects to your experience. For a pure analyst profile, start directly in the RH-CV editor.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to code to do people analytics?
Not necessarily to get started: many analyses are done with Excel and Power BI. For people analyst roles in large groups, however, SQL and Python or R are often expected.
How do I showcase a project whose results are confidential?
Describe the question, the method and the type of decision taken, without giving sensitive results. "Identified attrition drivers that shaped the retention plan" remains meaningful without revealing internal data.
Does HR reporting count as people analytics?
It is the foundation, and a real skill. Present it as reporting, showing what you made more reliable or automated; keep the word "analysis" for work that explains or anticipates.
Should I mention GDPR if I am not a lawyer?
Yes, in the form of concrete practices: anonymity thresholds, pseudonymisation, working with the DPO. It signals maturity that HR directors appreciate.