| Detail | For this role |
|---|---|
| Department | Human Resources |
| Level | Manager |
| Reports to | Head of Talent Acquisition |
| Direct reports | Talent Acquisition Specialist, Talent Acquisition Executive, Technical Recruiter |
| Experience | 8 to 12 years in recruitment, with 3 or more years managing recruiters for professional roles |
Talent Acquisition Manager job description template
Copy this job description, replace the text in square brackets and post it on your careers page or a job portal.
Job title: Talent Acquisition Manager
Department: Human Resources
Reports to: Head of Talent Acquisition
Location: [City], [office, branch or site]
About the role
A Talent Acquisition Manager leads hiring for professional, specialist and mid-management roles, working as a partner to hiring managers rather than a CV supplier. The role plans hiring against the workforce plan, builds talent pools for recurring roles, runs a team of TA specialists and recruiters, manages offer negotiations and improves the candidate experience. It reports to the Head of Talent Acquisition or HR Head. A good TA manager is measured by the quality and retention of the people hired, not only the number of offers.
Key responsibilities
- Hold an intake meeting with the hiring manager for every new requisition to agree must-have skills, interview panel, salary range and dates.
- Plan hiring against the quarterly workforce plan, and flag roles that need early sourcing or a revised brief.
- Lead a team of TA specialists and recruiters, allocate requisitions and review pipelines twice a week.
- Build talent pools for recurring and hard-to-fill roles through networking, alumni groups, referrals and past applicants.
- Design structured interview guides and assessments with hiring managers, and train interviewers to use them.
- Negotiate offers within the approved range, handle counter-offers and keep candidates engaged until joining.
- Improve candidate experience with prompt updates, clear interview schedules and feedback for every interviewed candidate.
- Manage employer brand content for the careers page, LinkedIn and job portals together with the marketing team.
- Use data on source quality, stage conversion and time to hire to change sourcing plans each quarter.
- Manage search firms for specialist roles, and hold them to agreed service levels and replacement terms.
Requirements
- MBA or PGDM in HR
- Graduate in any discipline; an engineering degree helps for technology hiring
- Certification in sourcing or assessment tools is an advantage
- 8 to 12 years in recruitment, with 3 or more years managing recruiters for professional roles
KRAs and KPIs for a Talent Acquisition Manager
Key result areas for the appraisal form, each with a KPI you can measure every month or quarter.
| Key result area | How to measure it |
|---|---|
| Requisition closure | At least 85 percent of requisitions closed within the agreed time to hire |
| Quality of hire | At least 90 percent of hires confirmed at the end of probation |
| Offer acceptance | Offer acceptance rate of 80 percent or higher |
| Hiring manager satisfaction | Hiring manager feedback of 4 out of 5 or higher for each closed requisition |
| Candidate experience | Every interviewed candidate told the outcome within 5 working days |
| Source mix | At least 30 percent of hires from referrals and direct sourcing |
Skills and tools
Tools used day to day: Applicant tracking system, LinkedIn Recruiter, Naukri Resdex, Online assessment platforms, Calendar scheduling tools, Excel or Power BI.
Reporting line and career path
Next roles: Head of Talent Acquisition, Senior HR Business Partner, HR Manager
Interview questions for a Talent Acquisition Manager
- What do you cover in an intake meeting with a hiring manager for a new role?
- How would you build a pool of data engineers before the positions open?
- A strong candidate asks for 30 percent more than the range. How do you handle it?
- What makes an interview structured, and how do you get managers to follow the structure?
- Beyond volume, which numbers tell you that a sourcing channel is good?
- Tell us about a hire who failed within six months. What did you change afterwards?
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What does a talent acquisition manager do?
A talent acquisition manager leads hiring for professional and specialist roles. The role agrees requirements with hiring managers, plans sourcing and talent pools, leads TA specialists and recruiters, sets interview standards, negotiates offers, manages search firms and tracks hiring quality and speed.
What are the KPIs for a talent acquisition manager?
Common KPIs are requisitions closed within the agreed time to hire, offer acceptance rate, share of hires from referrals and direct sourcing, hiring manager satisfaction, candidate experience and quality of hire, usually measured by confirmation after probation and first-year attrition of new hires.
What qualifications are needed for a talent acquisition manager?
Most TA managers hold an MBA or PGDM in HR, though many technology recruiters come from engineering backgrounds. Employers look for 8 to 12 years of recruitment experience, proven sourcing for hard-to-fill roles, team management and comfort with recruitment data.