Navigating the World of Hiring Managers and Recruiters

More on Hiring Manager vs. Recruiter

Hiring managers and job recruiters are two different positions that share the goal of hiring the ideal candidate for a company. From who does what and how they arrive at the perfect hire, we provide all the inner workings of the recruitment process!

What is a Hiring Manager?

A hiring manager is typically someone in a managerial role on a company's internal team. They are responsible for filling a position for someone who will likely be their direct report. While they do have tasks associated with finding the right hire, it's important to note that finding new talent is not their full-time job. They still oversee their other day-to-day duties, like managing their team.

So, what does a hiring manager do? Usually, the hiring manager will identify open positions on their team and then write up the job descriptions since they know the characteristics and skills the ideal candidate will need.

Once applications and resumes start rolling in, hiring managers review them and interview viable candidates. During these interviews, they'll inquire about the candidates' experience and skill set to determine whether they fit the position well. The hiring manager may also invite other colleagues to interview the candidates to evaluate them and pinpoint the best choice. After making a selection, the hiring manager is usually responsible for negotiating salaries and contracts and onboarding the new hire.

What Does a Recruiter Do?

A job recruiter is different from a hiring manager in that their entire role is dedicated to finding appropriate candidates to fulfill open positions.

Sometimes job recruiters are part of the company’s internal Human Resources team, but other times a company will hire outside recruiters to help attract new hires. Regardless of whether they’re internal or external job recruiters, they’ll partner with the hiring manager to get a better sense of the role and the ideal candidate. The more they understand what the hiring manager has in mind, the easier it is for them to seek out a good fit.

Part of the recruiter's job description involves developing a recruitment strategy. For instance, if they’re seeking college students for a paid internship position, they may attend university-run job fairs, make job postings on social media, and develop a relationship with local college career centers.

After the job recruiter receives applicants and resumes, they may do an initial screening to determine if the candidate can move on to the next round with the hiring manager. The hiring manager may even provide the job recruiter with some questions to ask to help weed out unqualified candidates. If the applicant passes this preliminary round of questions, the job recruiter will send them to meet with the hiring manager for additional interviews. At this point, the recruiter typically has no more interaction with the applicant.

How Do Hiring Managers and Recruiters Work Together?

As previously mentioned, hiring managers can help recruiters better understand the role that needs to be fulfilled. The hiring managers will explain the position and skillsets, qualities, and characteristics required.

For instance, if the open role is for a sales lead, the ideal candidate would likely have people skills, experience generating sales leads, the ability to develop the sales pipeline, and a business or sales background or degree. But if the open role is for an editorial position, the ideal candidate would have a different skill set than the salesperson. Knowing this information can help the recruiter sift through the applicants and find the most promising candidates from the batch.

While the recruiter is responsible for gathering potential hires for the hiring manager to review and interview, the hiring manager ultimately decides whether to hire them or not.

How Can SMS Texts Help the Recruitment Process?

Hiring teams are tapping into HR solutions like SMS texting to get the word out about open positions. For example, they can create messages encouraging job seekers to text a shortcode to receive more information about a position or join a text program to receive updates about future job listings. SMS messaging helps recruiters attract a wide pool of job seekers and even identify positions that might be a good fit for individual candidates.

As a recruiter, your message on a job posting might say, “Tech Field is hiring! Text 858585 for a full list of our open positions.” Or, “Tech Field is looking to hire a social media manager! Text 858585 for a link to our application process.” Better yet, if you want to open it up to a wider pool of job hunters, your message could say, “Looking for a new job? We have tons of job openings! Text 858585 to see all our job postings.”

Now, if you have a list of job seekers who are already signed up for your text program, you can also send them personalized messages about jobs that might interest them. For instance, “(Cal Sky Job Recruiter) Jim, we have a copywriter job opening that might be a good fit for you! Follow the link for the job listing.” Or, “(Cal Sky Job Recruiter) Jim, we know you’re interested in a career in the medical field. Click the link to see our medical-related job listings!”