Eddy’s HR Mavericks Encyclopedia
The world's largest free encyclopedia of HR, with 700+ HR articles and podcasts.
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Recruiting Manager
It cannot be that complicated right? A recruiting manager is just the person hired to manage recruiting, so why are recruiting managers so hard to find? How do you know if you need one, or better yet, how do you become one? Read on to learn more about the intricate role of the recruiting manager.
What is a Recruiting Manager?
A recruiting manager manages all an organization’s recruiters, but the role encompasses more than that. This position also manages the hiring lifecycle, from sourcing, interviewing, offers, negotiations, onboarding, etc.. It evaluates the effectiveness of current recruiting procedures, provides strategic advice to the employer on recruiting in their organization, and finds ways to consistently improve.
Should a Company Hire a Recruiting Manager?
The decision to hire a recruiting manager depends upon the organization completely, but there are a few factors that could help you decide. Let’s look at the benefits and possible disadvantages of hiring a recruiting manager.
Benefits of Hiring a Recruiting Manager
Hiring a recruiting manager could take your organization and its recruiting efforts to the next level. Below are a few specific benefits this position could add to your company.
- Collaboration. When a recruiting manager is hired to own recruiting at your organization, they will also own the recruiting team and their goals. A qualified recruiting manager takes it upon themselves to ensure the team collaborates effectively. They will manage facilitating trust and improved relationships and boost productivity and efficiency within the current team through their experience. The collaborative assistance an experienced recruiting manager can bring to the team is a benefit to the organization.
- Communication. Having a management team in place increases internal communication. Dedicating an individual to this role is helpful for recruiting because you’re taking a part off of the recruiters' plate. If all internal communication could come directly from the recruiting manager, this would free up time for recruiters to focus on the interviews, etc. and the management team can schedule regular meetings to discuss openings and how they can better support the organization from their respective roles.
- Strategic support. The knowledge and leadership an experienced recruiting manager brings helps their organization strategically overall. Having a recruiting manager with knowledge in both recruiting and management empowers teams to focus more on the mission of your organization and less on learning how to recruit because the manager effectively teaches that skill to their team. Do not underestimate the power of a management team’s strategic support. Casting vision is important and having support from each department to do so makes the vision more attainable.
Disadvantages of Hiring a Recruiting Manager
If you’re evaluating whether or not hiring a recruiting manager would benefit your organization, it’s important to evaluate both sides. Let’s review a few disadvantages this position may bring.
- Cost. To retain a quality recruiting manager, the cost will be higher than that of a recruiter due to the added leadership role of the position. Once the recruiting manager is hired, keeping them at your organization is half the battle. Maintaining a competitive salary and a desirable work environment could be too costly for your company.
- HR separation. In some organizations, hiring a recruiting manager could further separate the recruiting team for the HR function. Because HR works with payroll, employee development, benefits, maintaining talent etc., and recruiters focus on selecting talent for the organization, this can create a divide between the two. Hiring a specific recruiting manager rather than allowing the recruiting team to report to the HR manager could further divide the team.
- Availability. Even if your organization has decided that hiring a recruiting manager would be the best fit for your company, finding a hiring manager who fits the mold could actually be a disadvantage. With the vast duties of a recruiting manager, the time spent filling this role could be focused on other positions rather than looking for a candidate that may or may not help your recruiting process overall.
Responsibilities of a Recruiting Manager
The role of a recruiter plus the role of a manager equals the responsibilities of a recruiting manager. Let’s look at the heavy load this role can carry.
Recruiting
As the recruiting manager, this role must be able to recruit themselves. If there is a role the team is struggling to fill, the manager should be able to step in and fill the gap to find the talent the company needs. This could be a great teaching tool for the team while the organization is still being provided with the candidates to fill open positions. The manager should be able to handle any step of the hiring life cycle effectively.
Supervising
While maintaining a working knowledge and effectiveness in recruiting, the manager should also manage the recruiting team. An effective manager can wear many hats and this role is no exception. On any given day, the recruiting manager could be attending career events with the team, researching the best way to promote a job, trying to maintain a strong candidate pipeline, and keeping employee team morale in check. A quality recruiting manager will be able to handle the supervising aspect of the role effectively while maintaining their other job functions.
Strategic Planning
The strategic planning of a recruiting manager can include updating procedures or creating new ones, working with other hiring managers on best practices, evaluating ways to improve the employer’s brand, knowledge of changing labor laws, and assessing the need for applicant tracking software or HR databases. As a recruiting manager, the strategic planning aspect of the role is large and can make this role difficult to fill. An individual who can handle recruiting, manage recruiters, plan strategically, cast vision, and prepare for the future makes a quality recruiting manager.
Skills that Recruiting Managers Need
Now that the responsibilities of a recruiting manager have been evaluated, let’s look at what skills make an effective recruiting manager.
Experience
As you have seen, a recruiting manager can double as a recruiter from time to time, so knowledge, skill, and experience in recruiting can set a person apart. Having management experience to back up the recruiting aspect is a must-have skill for this role. Not all experienced recruiters make effective managers. Not everyone has or desires to have management skills. Seeing this experience in a recruiter prior to management is a critical skill your recruiting manager needs.
Legal Knowledge
The labor laws, hiring laws, and diversity regulations are ever-changing. As a recruiting manager, prior legal knowledge is a skill to have. This knowledge can come from previous experience but should include the ability to manage changing legal compliance issues while managing the other aspects of the role. The ability to multitask legal compliance with the recruiting pipeline and company morale is a skill a recruiting manager should have.
Leadership
Leadership encompasses decision-making, effective communication, time management skills, and emotional maturity. Possessing strong leadership skills qualifies a candidate for recruiting manager. The recruiting manager needs effective verbal and written communication skills, and the ability to prioritize and manage time for the team and make sound decisions quickly. Having the emotional maturity to encourage the team is a skill of a leader. A recruiting manager for your organization should possess these skills.
Marketing and Social Media
A recruiting manager should have a working knowledge of marketing tactics and social media and professional networks. Recruiting is not only evaluating job applications, but hitting the pavement and seeking out candidates via professional networks, attending job fairs or marketing events, or advertising word of mouth. Having a recruiting manager that already has an effective knowledge and network is an added benefit to the company.
How To Become a Recruiting Manager
Becoming a recruiting manager takes time, as do most management-level roles. Let’s look at what you should know if you want to become a recruiting manager.
Step 1: Education
For most manager-level positions today, a four-year degree is required or preferred. Some organizations accept appropriate experience in lieu of a degree, but often having that degree is the first requirement. If you want to become a recruiting manager, look for a degree such as human resources, business, communications, marketing, or even employment law. Evaluate which aspect of the recruiting manager role is most exciting to you and find a degree that fits that mold as you take steps to achieve your dream.
Step 2: Experience
Degree and experience can go hand in hand. For example, you can complete your degree as you build up your experience as a recruiter. Be sure to put in the work and learn all you can in your role, take on new opportunities, and embrace challenges to boost your experience in recruiting. Keep broadening your recruitment scope with diverse roles and perhaps request some higher-level jobs in order to keep posting to your resume.
Step 3: Skills
As you learn the skills required to become a recruiting manager, do not skip overworking on your degree and experience. Learn all you can about the changing legal aspects of your role and ask to sit in on meetings to become knowledgeable about the laws surrounding recruiting. Build your network and always market and build relationships from your first job. Evaluate the skills that make a quality recruiting manager and work on bringing them out in yourself as you strive towards this goal.
Step 4: Confidence
Without confidence in yourself to get there, the dream to become a recruiting manager might not happen. Becoming a recruiting manager requires hard work, time, and dedication, but it also requires confidence in yourself. Take the knowledge you have and forge on with confidence. A confident individual is more likely to achieve their goals because they will not give up!
Topics
Shalie Reich
Shalie has over 4 years of experience working in a variety of HR positions and organizations including: working as an HR department "of one", working with a start-up based in Europe, to working in a fully established robust USA based HR department. Shalie has experience in multiple states and countries with all aspects of the HR spectrum. She has a passion to share her knowledge and experience to benefit the HR profession!
Frequently asked questions
Other Related Terms
Eddy’s HR Mavericks Encyclopedia
Recruiting Manager
It cannot be that complicated right? A recruiting manager is just the person hired to manage recruiting, so why are recruiting managers so hard to find? How do you know if you need one, or better yet, how do you become one? Read on to learn more about the intricate role of the recruiting manager.
What is a Recruiting Manager?
A recruiting manager manages all an organization’s recruiters, but the role encompasses more than that. This position also manages the hiring lifecycle, from sourcing, interviewing, offers, negotiations, onboarding, etc.. It evaluates the effectiveness of current recruiting procedures, provides strategic advice to the employer on recruiting in their organization, and finds ways to consistently improve.
Should a Company Hire a Recruiting Manager?
The decision to hire a recruiting manager depends upon the organization completely, but there are a few factors that could help you decide. Let’s look at the benefits and possible disadvantages of hiring a recruiting manager.
Benefits of Hiring a Recruiting Manager
Hiring a recruiting manager could take your organization and its recruiting efforts to the next level. Below are a few specific benefits this position could add to your company.
- Collaboration. When a recruiting manager is hired to own recruiting at your organization, they will also own the recruiting team and their goals. A qualified recruiting manager takes it upon themselves to ensure the team collaborates effectively. They will manage facilitating trust and improved relationships and boost productivity and efficiency within the current team through their experience. The collaborative assistance an experienced recruiting manager can bring to the team is a benefit to the organization.
- Communication. Having a management team in place increases internal communication. Dedicating an individual to this role is helpful for recruiting because you’re taking a part off of the recruiters' plate. If all internal communication could come directly from the recruiting manager, this would free up time for recruiters to focus on the interviews, etc. and the management team can schedule regular meetings to discuss openings and how they can better support the organization from their respective roles.
- Strategic support. The knowledge and leadership an experienced recruiting manager brings helps their organization strategically overall. Having a recruiting manager with knowledge in both recruiting and management empowers teams to focus more on the mission of your organization and less on learning how to recruit because the manager effectively teaches that skill to their team. Do not underestimate the power of a management team’s strategic support. Casting vision is important and having support from each department to do so makes the vision more attainable.
Disadvantages of Hiring a Recruiting Manager
If you’re evaluating whether or not hiring a recruiting manager would benefit your organization, it’s important to evaluate both sides. Let’s review a few disadvantages this position may bring.
- Cost. To retain a quality recruiting manager, the cost will be higher than that of a recruiter due to the added leadership role of the position. Once the recruiting manager is hired, keeping them at your organization is half the battle. Maintaining a competitive salary and a desirable work environment could be too costly for your company.
- HR separation. In some organizations, hiring a recruiting manager could further separate the recruiting team for the HR function. Because HR works with payroll, employee development, benefits, maintaining talent etc., and recruiters focus on selecting talent for the organization, this can create a divide between the two. Hiring a specific recruiting manager rather than allowing the recruiting team to report to the HR manager could further divide the team.
- Availability. Even if your organization has decided that hiring a recruiting manager would be the best fit for your company, finding a hiring manager who fits the mold could actually be a disadvantage. With the vast duties of a recruiting manager, the time spent filling this role could be focused on other positions rather than looking for a candidate that may or may not help your recruiting process overall.
Responsibilities of a Recruiting Manager
The role of a recruiter plus the role of a manager equals the responsibilities of a recruiting manager. Let’s look at the heavy load this role can carry.
Recruiting
As the recruiting manager, this role must be able to recruit themselves. If there is a role the team is struggling to fill, the manager should be able to step in and fill the gap to find the talent the company needs. This could be a great teaching tool for the team while the organization is still being provided with the candidates to fill open positions. The manager should be able to handle any step of the hiring life cycle effectively.
Supervising
While maintaining a working knowledge and effectiveness in recruiting, the manager should also manage the recruiting team. An effective manager can wear many hats and this role is no exception. On any given day, the recruiting manager could be attending career events with the team, researching the best way to promote a job, trying to maintain a strong candidate pipeline, and keeping employee team morale in check. A quality recruiting manager will be able to handle the supervising aspect of the role effectively while maintaining their other job functions.
Strategic Planning
The strategic planning of a recruiting manager can include updating procedures or creating new ones, working with other hiring managers on best practices, evaluating ways to improve the employer’s brand, knowledge of changing labor laws, and assessing the need for applicant tracking software or HR databases. As a recruiting manager, the strategic planning aspect of the role is large and can make this role difficult to fill. An individual who can handle recruiting, manage recruiters, plan strategically, cast vision, and prepare for the future makes a quality recruiting manager.
Skills that Recruiting Managers Need
Now that the responsibilities of a recruiting manager have been evaluated, let’s look at what skills make an effective recruiting manager.
Experience
As you have seen, a recruiting manager can double as a recruiter from time to time, so knowledge, skill, and experience in recruiting can set a person apart. Having management experience to back up the recruiting aspect is a must-have skill for this role. Not all experienced recruiters make effective managers. Not everyone has or desires to have management skills. Seeing this experience in a recruiter prior to management is a critical skill your recruiting manager needs.
Legal Knowledge
The labor laws, hiring laws, and diversity regulations are ever-changing. As a recruiting manager, prior legal knowledge is a skill to have. This knowledge can come from previous experience but should include the ability to manage changing legal compliance issues while managing the other aspects of the role. The ability to multitask legal compliance with the recruiting pipeline and company morale is a skill a recruiting manager should have.
Leadership
Leadership encompasses decision-making, effective communication, time management skills, and emotional maturity. Possessing strong leadership skills qualifies a candidate for recruiting manager. The recruiting manager needs effective verbal and written communication skills, and the ability to prioritize and manage time for the team and make sound decisions quickly. Having the emotional maturity to encourage the team is a skill of a leader. A recruiting manager for your organization should possess these skills.
Marketing and Social Media
A recruiting manager should have a working knowledge of marketing tactics and social media and professional networks. Recruiting is not only evaluating job applications, but hitting the pavement and seeking out candidates via professional networks, attending job fairs or marketing events, or advertising word of mouth. Having a recruiting manager that already has an effective knowledge and network is an added benefit to the company.
How To Become a Recruiting Manager
Becoming a recruiting manager takes time, as do most management-level roles. Let’s look at what you should know if you want to become a recruiting manager.
Step 1: Education
For most manager-level positions today, a four-year degree is required or preferred. Some organizations accept appropriate experience in lieu of a degree, but often having that degree is the first requirement. If you want to become a recruiting manager, look for a degree such as human resources, business, communications, marketing, or even employment law. Evaluate which aspect of the recruiting manager role is most exciting to you and find a degree that fits that mold as you take steps to achieve your dream.
Step 2: Experience
Degree and experience can go hand in hand. For example, you can complete your degree as you build up your experience as a recruiter. Be sure to put in the work and learn all you can in your role, take on new opportunities, and embrace challenges to boost your experience in recruiting. Keep broadening your recruitment scope with diverse roles and perhaps request some higher-level jobs in order to keep posting to your resume.
Step 3: Skills
As you learn the skills required to become a recruiting manager, do not skip overworking on your degree and experience. Learn all you can about the changing legal aspects of your role and ask to sit in on meetings to become knowledgeable about the laws surrounding recruiting. Build your network and always market and build relationships from your first job. Evaluate the skills that make a quality recruiting manager and work on bringing them out in yourself as you strive towards this goal.
Step 4: Confidence
Without confidence in yourself to get there, the dream to become a recruiting manager might not happen. Becoming a recruiting manager requires hard work, time, and dedication, but it also requires confidence in yourself. Take the knowledge you have and forge on with confidence. A confident individual is more likely to achieve their goals because they will not give up!
Topics
Shalie Reich
Shalie has over 4 years of experience working in a variety of HR positions and organizations including: working as an HR department "of one", working with a start-up based in Europe, to working in a fully established robust USA based HR department. Shalie has experience in multiple states and countries with all aspects of the HR spectrum. She has a passion to share her knowledge and experience to benefit the HR profession!
Frequently asked questions
Other Related Terms
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