In the world of talent acquisition, recruiters are the ones getting all the attention, but the heart of a busy department are the recruitment coordinators.
Recruitment coordinators, sometimes called staffing coordinators, are the ones keeping the proverbial trains running on time. They juggle so many tasks that the top requirements you see on a recruitment coordinator job description are organizational skills and good time management. Not far behind are excellent communication skills, multitasking and teamwork.
Not that long ago, most of what a recruitment coordinator did was clerical and administrative. They screened job applicants, scheduled candidate interviews and arranged their travel, and tracked open job requisitions.
As newer, AI-enabled applicant tracking systems and candidate relationship management tools took on some of the routine clerical tasks, especially such time-consuming ones as scheduling, screening and candidate tracking, the job of a recruitment coordinator broadened.
While today’s recruitment coordinators still have responsibility to ensure administrative functions are being handled, the role is likely now incorporate planning of recruitment strategies and campaigns.
Recruitment Coordinator Tasks
At companies hiring dozens or more workers a month, a recruitment coordinator may work with HR business partners and hiring managers directly to anticipate openings and update job descriptions to stay ahead of developing skills and talent needs.
They may be charged with analyzing recruitment data to track the department’s progress toward meeting its goals. As part of that responsibility, a recruitment coordinator may be expected to identify and report on the key performance indicators (KPIs).
Ensuring government required reports, such as the annual EEO-1 survey to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and compliance with company and government hiring laws and policies may be delegated to a recruitment coordinator.
Historically, the job of recruitment coordinator was a stepping-stone to an HR generalist or recruiting job. It still is. Recruitment coordinators routinely are called upon to help source and recruit candidates, especially passive candidates and assist in building talent pipelines. Frequently, they manage those pipelines, staying in touch with the candidates there by newsletter and email.
Particularly at smaller companies, a recruitment coordinator may find themself making job offers, handling the onboarding paperwork of new hires and sometimes even conducting new employee orientation.
It’s not unusual for a recruitment coordinator to also be an event organizer. For a company large enough to hold its own job fairs, it’s often recruitment coordinators who plan, arrange and oversee the event. They are as likely to do the recruiting at job fairs and on campus as schedule them.
Because of the breadth of responsibilities, most recruitment coordinators have at least an undergraduate degree. According to the job board Zippia, 73% of recruiting coordinators have a bachelor’s degree; 10% have a masters. ZipRecruiter says a degree in HR, psychology, business administration or related field is preferred.
Recruitment Coordinator Salaries
The salary range for the job is broad. Payscale puts the median at $50,246 with a high of about $67,000. At the lower end, around $37,000, the job is largely, but not exclusively, clerical.
So far in this article we’ve discussed corporate recruitment coordinators. That’s where most of the jobs are. However, a few sports teams and many college athletic departments have recruitment coordinators.
A college athletic recruitment coordinator shares many of the same responsibilities as a coordinator in a corporate job. But instead of recruiting employees, the job involves working with college athletic prospects, helping to identify promising young players, arranging their campus visits – and their parents’ visits – monitoring recruitment practices to comply with the school’s policies and NCAA rules and budgeting.
SportsCareerFinder says a college athletic recruitment coordinator is “among the hardest working members of the staff and commits very long hours to the job. Responsibilities range from on field coaching to evaluation of talent.”
It can also be particularly lucrative. At the largest schools with top teams, the job is exclusively about recruiting and carries a six-figure salary.
Written by John Zappe
