What does a recruiting lead do?

A recruiting lead is responsible for identifying the staffing needs of an organization by coordinating with the department's heads for their hiring requirements and qualifications. Recruiting leads update job posting on the company's website and other media platforms, ensuring that the job description and other hiring factors are accurately delivered. They filter job applicants, review applications and portfolios, and schedule interviews and assessments with the qualified candidates. A recruiting lead also assists the successful applicants in processing their documents until the final onboarding.
Recruiting lead responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real recruiting lead resumes:
- Manage the team's daily activity, KPI's, weekly and monthly goals.
- Partner with managers, compensation, workforce management, legal, and HRIS to attain goals.
- Manage the RFP selection for ad agency and ATS system, along with composing the scripts and requirements.
- Manage enterprise-wide HRIS software implementation through product release.
- Manage Taleo applicant tracking system and requisition posting.
- Manage the scheduling and logistics of all interviews between candidates and hiring managers including post-interview calibration/feedback with interview teams.
- Post jobs to niche sites and LinkedIn and other social media.
- Ensure processes comply with EEO and other federal, state and local employment laws.
- Handle all payroll processing, worker's compensation, specialize reporting and unemployment claims.
- Gather requirements to ensure accurate labor mapping and job requirements for federal and state OFCCP compliance.
- Maintain personnel files, payroll discrepancies, expense reimbursements; travel arrangements, and time cards.
- Source candidates through referrals, online recruiting, agency relationships, LinkedIn and industry networking functions.
- Roll out sourcing social 'Gamification' game on Facebook and contact top performers for positions within Accenture.
- Monitor the company affirmative action programs to ensure compliance with equal employment opportunity (EEO) requirements.
- Attract highly qualify candidates using diverse resources such as job boards, LinkedIn, Facebook and networking activities.
Recruiting lead skills and personality traits
We calculated that 9% of Recruiting Leads are proficient in Healthcare, Recruitment Process, and Applicant Tracking Systems. They’re also known for soft skills such as Communication skills, Detail oriented, and Interpersonal skills.
We break down the percentage of Recruiting Leads that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Healthcare, 9%
Worked with the northeast division of SunBridge Healthcare Corporation, a leading provider of long-term care, skilled nursing services.
- Recruitment Process, 9%
Managed recruitment personnel and participated in full cycle hiring process while ensuring department marketing strategy was compatible with the recruitment process.
- Applicant Tracking Systems, 8%
Researched vendors providing applicant tracking systems for best fit into retail environment.
- Human Resources, 7%
Develop Human Resources programs to support the organizations Talent Management strategy and Affirmative Action Plan requirements.
- Recruitment Strategies, 6%
Develop strategic recruitment strategies using social media, networking, referrals, career services and professional associations to identify passive candidates.
- Work Ethic, 5%
Developed solid candidate base utilizing relationship and networking abilities and solid work ethic.
Most recruiting leads use their skills in "healthcare," "recruitment process," and "applicant tracking systems" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential recruiting lead responsibilities here:
Communication skills. One of the key soft skills for a recruiting lead to have is communication skills. You can see how this relates to what recruiting leads do because "listening and speaking skills are essential for human resources specialists." Additionally, a recruiting lead resume shows how recruiting leads use communication skills: "train members in appropriate communication skills for the recruitment process plan for and supervise the chapter's selection of new members"
Detail oriented. Another essential skill to perform recruiting lead duties is detail oriented. Recruiting leads responsibilities require that "specialists must pay attention to detail when evaluating applicants’ qualifications, doing background checks, maintaining records of an employee grievance, and ensuring that a workplace complies with labor standards." Recruiting leads also use detail oriented in their role according to a real resume snippet: "maintain applicant tracking system (ats) with detailed up-to-date candidate information and associated recruiting activities. "
Interpersonal skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of recruiting leads is interpersonal skills. This skill is critical to many everyday recruiting lead duties, as "specialists continually interact with others and must be able to converse and connect with people from varied backgrounds." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "possess excellent interpersonal and communication skills. "
The three companies that hire the most recruiting leads are:
- Deloitte204 recruiting leads jobs
- Accenture62 recruiting leads jobs
- US Foods25 recruiting leads jobs
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Recruiting lead vs. Senior human resources specialist
A senior human resources specialist is responsible for monitoring the human resources operations of an organization, managing employment processes and policies, and handling staffing needs and concerns. Senior human resources specialists design training and programs to maintain staff's efficiency and maximize the employees' productivity to support business functional operations. They also coordinate with management leaders to identify their hiring needs, evaluating their specifications for recruitment. A senior human resources specialist reviews the company's policies and guidelines regularly, adjusting procedures according to state regulations and business requirements.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a recruiting lead are more likely to require skills like "email marketing," "healthcare," "human resources," and "recruitment strategies." On the other hand, a job as a senior human resources specialist requires skills like "payroll," "customer service," "powerpoint," and "develop recommendations." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
The education levels that senior human resources specialists earn slightly differ from recruiting leads. In particular, senior human resources specialists are 5.2% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a recruiting lead. Additionally, they're 0.4% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Recruiting lead vs. Human resources supervisor
A human resources supervisor is an individual responsible for developing and administering human resources programs so that the company can achieve efficient operations. Human resources supervisors coordinate all stages of the hiring process, such as checking all candidates' backgrounds, conducting interviews, and drug screening. They address conflicts among employees, investigate employee problems, and work with management to administer employee discipline or corrective action. The human resources supervisor also develops training and development programs for their salaried employees.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real recruiting lead resumes. While recruiting lead responsibilities can utilize skills like "email marketing," "healthcare," "recruitment process," and "human resources," human resources supervisors use skills like "customer service," "state laws," "payroll processing," and "personnel actions."
Average education levels between the two professions vary. Human resources supervisors tend to reach similar levels of education than recruiting leads. In fact, they're 2.7% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.4% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Recruiting lead vs. Staffing consultant
A staffing consultant develops and maintains the accounts of clients through outside and inside organizational activities. Staffing consultants induct, assess, and monitor the job applicants preparing them for their assignments. They match jobs to applicants and the candidates to their jobs. Their duties include helping both employees and employers in their respective responsibilities. They also act as business development and sales consultant to talent acquisition firms.
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, recruiting leads are more likely to have skills like "email marketing," "work ethic," "background checks," and "client facing." But a staffing consultant is more likely to have skills like "r," "direct hire," "criminal background checks," and "linkedin."
When it comes to education, staffing consultants tend to earn similar degree levels compared to recruiting leads. In fact, they're 3.4% less likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.1% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Recruiting lead vs. Senior corporate recruiter
The main job of a senior recruiter is to provide businesses with staffing services. Senior recruiters seek out potential talents, conduct an interview with candidates, and assist in the recruitment process. Their job involves the analysis of business operations to identify the departments benefiting from the newly added staff. They design and enforce hiring strategy. Skills in communication, marketing, relationship building, time management, and listening are necessary for this job.
Even though a few skill sets overlap between recruiting leads and senior corporate recruiters, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a recruiting lead might have more use for skills like "email marketing," "work ethic," "client facing," and "cloud." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of senior corporate recruiters require skills like "digital marketing," "sr," "excellent interpersonal," and "coordinators. "
In general, senior corporate recruiters hold similar degree levels compared to recruiting leads. Senior corporate recruiters are 0.2% less likely to earn their Master's Degree and 0.1% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Types of recruiting lead
Updated January 8, 2025











