Outbound Recruiter Job Description: Skills & Responsibilities

The reason why you ended up reading this blog is most likely because you’re interested in creating job positions for recruiters who will focus on outbound recruiting. If you’re still on the fence about whether you or your current recruiting teams should become outbound recruiters, we highly recommend that you check out this blog to see if you check all of the boxes. 

If you search the job title “Recruiter” on job boards, you will most likely find over 375,602 openings for inbound recruiters. On the contrary, there are few job openings for outbound recruiters. While inbound recruiters’ tasks somewhat consist of outbound recruiting tactics and strategies, Tim Sackett, the President of HRU Technical Resources, states that “You’ve got to have recruiters who aren’t asked to do both (inbound and outbound recruiting) because they won’t. I’ll add here, these two types of recruiters have to be paid differently, and you can’t expect the same outcomes from both types.” 

That being said, let’s dive into the details on why outbound recruiters are needed in today’s market and how employers can craft a well-written job description for this new role. 

Why Are Outbound Recruiters Needed?

Outbound recruiters are needed for several reasons in today’s market. 

1. The tight labor market drives fewer candidates to the talent pipeline, leading to recruiters hiring less qualified candidates to help companies build a scalable business. 
2. By no surprise, the Great Resignation caused people to re-evaluate their work-life balance, therefore, leading to few applicants to the talent pipeline. 
3. LinkedIn is becoming a sales pitch hub, leaving little to no room for professionals to search for jobs. 

Out of all of the reasons that have been listed, do you see a common theme? They all stem from the inherent inadequacies of inbound recruiting. That’s why recruiters need to stop “posting and praying” for the right talent to come in; recruiters have to take action and be more proactive.

💡 In case you missed it, check out why we think outbound recruiting is important and why it is here to stay in 2022. 

Hiring Outbound Recruiters

Before you craft a job description for an outbound recruiter, let’s see if you have the proper support for this position/team.

✅  You understand the definition of outbound recruiting and how this strategy is used in recruiting 

✅  You can differentiate inbound and outbound recruiting strategies and tactics 

✅  You have the proper training and support for your potential outbound recruiting team

✅  You have the right technology to help support your outbound recruiting team with all of their outbound recruiting efforts 

Having the right training will set the right message for your new hires, hence, a  better candidate experience. If you check all the boxes, let’s move on to learn how to craft a job description for outbound recruiters. 

Outbound Recruiter: Skills and Responsibilities

Before we hop onto an outbound recruiters’ job description, let’s recap the responsibilities of an inbound recruiter. It includes (and is not limited to) sourcing, recruiting, scheduling interviews, documenting candidate assessments, assisting hiring managers in executing recruiting requirements, and streamlining the recruiting lifecycle. No doubt, this is already a handful of tasks for a recruiter to handle. With the current state of our economy, some inbound recruiters may not have the bandwidth to stretch their attention to outbound recruiting; thus, employers should consider hiring team members that specialize in outbound recruiting.

The primary responsibility of an outbound recruiter is to proactively go OUT to find candidates, similar to outbound sales teams who go OUT and find leads. Outbound recruiting involves many candidates researching, outreaching, engaging, and nurturing, thus, bringing jobs to people and building meaningful relationships with talent. 

Responsibilities include: 

• Utilizing real-time data to develop strategic outbound recruiting strategies that address team and talent needs.

• Identifying target talent and proactively engaging with them with a customized approach based on the candidates’ persona and background. (Not “posting and praying” that the right candidate finds you)

• Contacting candidates directly via personal email, instead of relying on platform-specific messaging channels like LinkedIn’s InMail

• Assessing and successfully addressing DE&I shortcomings in the organization

• Integrating directly with ATS databases to keep information up-to-date (phone screen, interviewed, offered, hired, or rejected) and streamline workflows

• Utilizing email automation for candidate outreach, engaging, and nurturing

• Optimizing the best candidate experience throughout the recruitment process

• Assisting hiring managers to design and refine job descriptions based on skills, responsibilities, and experiences for each job position

• Identify, outreach, and nurture the top candidates through outbound recruiting strategies

Indeed, an outbound recruiters’ job does not end here; more goes into it depending on company needs. These key responsibilities are solely targeted for outbound and outreach instead of having a mix of both inbound and outbound recruiting efforts. 

Skills include: 

• Strong ability to prospect new candidates through networking (In-person or online)

• Cold-calling/messaging targeted and quality candidates with a creative and candidate-focused approach

• Strong oral, written, and interpersonal communication skills with candidates, support personnel, and members across teams.

• Ability to strategize outbound recruiting efforts to nurture passive candidates

• Ability to dive deep and research target candidates’ contact information and identify the match between the candidate and company

• Excellent knowledge of company culture and products

Outbound recruiters’ job description doesn’t end here. To craft an attractive job description, it should include – company background and culture, keys to success, perks and benefits, and other qualification requirements set by the employers. 

In Sum… 

Executing a new job position requires a lot of preparation in researching to demonstrate a solid return on investment and value, along with comprehensive training for employees to support employees’ professional growth and the company’s growth. Let’s start by creating a job position with the proper training for outbound recruiters to help your company find the best talent in the market to stay ahead of the candidate-driven market.