Recruitment & HR

Recruiter Job Description

A Recruiter manages vacancies from intake through offer, finding and assessing candidates while keeping hiring managers and applicants informed throughout the process.

Adapt the candidate-facing description to your hiring model, then use the recruiter notes to agree workload, service expectations, and evidence before interviews begin.

Use the template Prepare the intake meeting

Candidate-facing template

Edit the description for your organisation

Replace bracketed details, remove anything that is not genuinely required, and obtain the appropriate internal approval before advertising.

Ready-to-edit job description

Copying excludes all recruiter notes below.

Recruiter

Location: [Location or working arrangement]
Employment type: [Full-time, part-time, temporary, or contract]
Reports to: [Manager title]

About the role

[Company name] is looking for a Recruiter to manage agreed vacancies from initial briefing through offer. You will build relevant candidate pipelines, run fair and focused screening conversations, coordinate selection activity, and give candidates and hiring stakeholders dependable updates.

What you will be responsible for

Run vacancy intake meetings and turn hiring requirements into an agreed search and selection plan.
Source candidates through appropriate databases, referrals, networks, job boards, outreach, and existing talent pools.
Screen applicants against agreed evidence, motivation, availability, compensation, and working arrangements.
Maintain accurate candidate, vacancy, communication, and next-step records in the recruitment system.
Prepare shortlists that explain relevant evidence, open questions, and candidate expectations without overstating fit.
Coordinate interviews, feedback, offers, rejections, and pre-employment steps with clear ownership and deadlines.
Review pipeline coverage and adapt the search when response, quality, diversity, or conversion indicates a problem.

What success looks like

Hiring stakeholders receive relevant shortlists supported by clear candidate evidence.
Candidates understand the opportunity, process, timescales, and outcome at each stage.
Recruitment records are complete enough for colleagues to continue work without relying on private notes.
Vacancy risks are raised early, with practical changes agreed before time is lost.

Essential qualifications

Experience managing recruitment activity for multiple candidates, vacancies, or hiring stakeholders.
Evidence-led screening and interviewing skills with the judgement to probe unclear claims.
Confident written and verbal communication, including difficult or time-sensitive updates.
Organised pipeline management and accurate use of an ATS, CRM, or comparable recruitment system.
Ability to prioritise competing deadlines without losing candidate follow-up or record quality.
Responsible handling of confidential candidate and client information.

Preferred qualifications

Experience recruiting within [sector, discipline, location, or employment type].
Practical knowledge of sourcing tools, Boolean search, recruitment marketing, or talent pooling.
Experience supporting offers, references, compliance checks, or onboarding hand-offs.

Tools and working knowledge

Applicant tracking or recruitment CRM system
Professional networks and candidate databases
Email, calendar, video interviewing, and reporting tools

Compensation and benefits: [Add the approved salary or hourly range, currency, any commission or bonus basis, and relevant benefits for this location.]

[Company name] welcomes applicants from different backgrounds and will discuss reasonable adjustments for the recruitment process and role, subject to applicable local requirements.

How to apply

Apply through [application method] with [CV, résumé, profile, or other required information]. Please include [any essential availability or work-authorisation detail that can lawfully be requested].

Edit the complete candidate-facing description

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Recruiter

Location: [Location or working arrangement]

Employment type: [Full-time, part-time, temporary, or contract]

Reports to: [Manager title]

About the role
[Company name] is looking for a Recruiter to manage agreed vacancies from initial briefing through offer. You will build relevant candidate pipelines, run fair and focused screening conversations, coordinate selection activity, and give candidates and hiring stakeholders dependable updates.

What you will be responsible for
- Run vacancy intake meetings and turn hiring requirements into an agreed search and selection plan.
- Source candidates through appropriate databases, referrals, networks, job boards, outreach, and existing talent pools.
- Screen applicants against agreed evidence, motivation, availability, compensation, and working arrangements.
- Maintain accurate candidate, vacancy, communication, and next-step records in the recruitment system.
- Prepare shortlists that explain relevant evidence, open questions, and candidate expectations without overstating fit.
- Coordinate interviews, feedback, offers, rejections, and pre-employment steps with clear ownership and deadlines.
- Review pipeline coverage and adapt the search when response, quality, diversity, or conversion indicates a problem.

What success looks like
- Hiring stakeholders receive relevant shortlists supported by clear candidate evidence.
- Candidates understand the opportunity, process, timescales, and outcome at each stage.
- Recruitment records are complete enough for colleagues to continue work without relying on private notes.
- Vacancy risks are raised early, with practical changes agreed before time is lost.

Essential qualifications
- Experience managing recruitment activity for multiple candidates, vacancies, or hiring stakeholders.
- Evidence-led screening and interviewing skills with the judgement to probe unclear claims.
- Confident written and verbal communication, including difficult or time-sensitive updates.
- Organised pipeline management and accurate use of an ATS, CRM, or comparable recruitment system.
- Ability to prioritise competing deadlines without losing candidate follow-up or record quality.
- Responsible handling of confidential candidate and client information.

Preferred qualifications
- Experience recruiting within [sector, discipline, location, or employment type].
- Practical knowledge of sourcing tools, Boolean search, recruitment marketing, or talent pooling.
- Experience supporting offers, references, compliance checks, or onboarding hand-offs.

Tools and working knowledge
- Applicant tracking or recruitment CRM system
- Professional networks and candidate databases
- Email, calendar, video interviewing, and reporting tools

Compensation and benefits: [Add the approved salary or hourly range, currency, any commission or bonus basis, and relevant benefits for this location.]

[Company name] welcomes applicants from different backgrounds and will discuss reasonable adjustments for the recruitment process and role, subject to applicable local requirements.

How to apply
Apply through [application method] with [CV, résumé, profile, or other required information]. Please include [any essential availability or work-authorisation detail that can lawfully be requested].

Performance expectations

What good performance looks like

Use these outcomes to replace vague activity lists with the evidence the hiring manager expects to see after the person joins.

Vacancy intake produces an agreed brief, decision process, communication plan, and realistic search approach.

Shortlists contain relevant evidence and clearly distinguish confirmed facts from recruiter judgement.

Candidates receive timely, accurate updates and hiring managers know where decisions are waiting.

Pipeline data supports forecasting because stages, reasons, notes, and next actions are kept current.

Hiring-manager intake

Questions to settle before advertising

Record specific answers so sourcing, screening, and interview decisions use the same definition of the role.

1
Which vacancy types, locations, seniority levels, and hiring volumes will this recruiter own?
2
Is success based on placements, hires, time, quality, revenue, stakeholder experience, or a balanced set of measures?
3
Which sourcing channels and candidate databases are available, and who pays for external advertising?
4
What authority does the recruiter have to challenge requirements, change the search, or negotiate an offer?
5
Which administrative or compliance tasks belong to the recruiter, coordinator, HR team, or client?
6
What candidate communication standard is expected when feedback or decisions are delayed?

Evaluation criteria

Evidence to use in a Recruiter scorecard

Agree the criteria before interviews begin, then score examples against the same evidence standard.

Criterion

Useful evidence

Concern to explore

Intake judgement

Clarifies outcomes, essentials, trade-offs, process, and market constraints before opening a search.

Accepts a broad brief and starts sourcing without resolving contradictions or priorities.

Candidate assessment

Uses structured questions, tests evidence, records uncertainty, and avoids presenting assumptions as facts.

Relies mainly on title and keyword matches or gives every candidate a similar summary.

Pipeline ownership

Plans activity, maintains next steps, identifies stalled decisions, and adapts from conversion evidence.

Measures activity volume but cannot explain pipeline quality, ageing, or why candidates leave.

Stakeholder communication

Gives concise updates, raises risk early, and handles rejection, delay, or disagreement professionally.

Avoids difficult updates or waits for stakeholders to request basic progress information.

Structured interview

Recruiter interview questions and strong signals

Ask the same core questions in the same order, then use follow-ups to understand the candidate’s individual contribution.

Tell me about a vacancy brief you challenged. What changed and why?

Strong answer signal

Shows respectful questioning, market evidence, a clear trade-off, and an agreed improvement to the search or selection plan.

How do you decide whether a candidate belongs on a shortlist?

Strong answer signal

Connects evidence to agreed criteria, records open questions, and separates motivation or availability from capability.

Describe a search that was not producing suitable candidates.

Strong answer signal

Diagnoses the stage causing the problem, tests a targeted change, and communicates the revised expectation.

How have you handled a candidate when a hiring manager stopped responding?

Strong answer signal

Protects the relationship with honest updates, escalates appropriately, documents commitments, and avoids inventing a decision.

Related titles

Check the scope behind the title

Agency Recruiter — normally combines candidate delivery with client service and may include revenue or business-development expectations.

In-house Recruiter — normally hires for one organisation and works closely with internal managers, HR, and employer-brand teams.

Recruitment Consultant — can include both vacancy delivery and commercial account development; confirm the desk structure and targets.

Common hiring mistakes

Problems to remove before publishing

Advertising “full-cycle recruitment” without defining whether business development, onboarding, compliance, or administration is included.

Using placements or hires as the only measure when role difficulty, candidate experience, or decision delays sit outside the recruiter’s control.

Requiring experience in the company’s exact ATS when strong recruitment-system discipline is the real need.

Describing the role as relationship-led while setting activity expectations that leave no time for meaningful candidate conversations.

Continue the hiring workflow

Related roles and recruiter resources

Related job descriptions

Technical Recruiter Agency Recruiter Talent Acquisition Specialist Recruiting Coordinator

Helpful recruiter resources

Candidate Screening Questionnaires

Use role-specific evidence questions before submitting a candidate.

Recruitment Pipeline Management

Connect intake, sourcing, screening, submission, and interview stages.

Recruiter Screening Call Script

Prepare a consistent candidate conversation without sounding mechanical.

Source and review notes

How this template was prepared

Language: International English
Prepared by: ATZ CRM Editorial Team
Review: ATZ CRM Recruitment Editorial Review
Last reviewed: 2026-08-04

O*NET: Human Resources Specialists

Reference for occupation tasks, knowledge, skills, abilities, and work activities.

ESCO: occupations and skills

Reference for internationally recognised occupation and skills terminology.

Qualifications, compensation, licences, working conditions, and equal-opportunity wording must be checked for the role and location before use.

Recruiter questions

Recruiter job description FAQs

What should be included in a Recruiter job description?

Explain the vacancy types, hiring model, workload, stakeholders, sourcing resources, screening responsibility, systems, compliance hand-offs, and the outcomes used to judge success.

What is the difference between a Recruiter and a Talent Acquisition Specialist?

Both can manage hiring, but Talent Acquisition Specialist roles often place more emphasis on longer-term pipelines, workforce needs, hiring programmes, and employer positioning. Define the real responsibilities because titles vary.

Should a Recruiter job description include targets?

Yes when targets materially shape the role. State whether they relate to hires, placements, revenue, vacancy coverage, activity, candidate experience, or service levels, and explain how quality is balanced with pace.