Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore the capabilities required by entry-level human resources (HR) professionals based on job advertisements by using text mining (TM) technique. Design/methodology/approach: This study used TM techniques to explore the capabilities required by entry-level HR professionals based on job advertisements on HR agency 104's website in Taiwan. Python was used to crawl the advertisements on the website, and 841 posts were collected. Next, the author used TM to explore and understand hidden trends and patterns in numerous data sets. Findings: The results of this study revealed four critical success factors (specific skills, educational level, experience and specific capabilities), five clusters and ten classifications. Practical implications: The results can aid HR curriculum developers and educators in customizing and improving HR education curricula, such that HR students can develop capabilities required to secure employment in the current HR job market. Originality/value: Our results may facilitate the understanding of the current trends in the HR job market and provide useful suggestions to HR curriculum developers for improving training and professional course design, such that students' competitiveness is enhanced and professional capabilities improved.