In the agency world, you will generally hear from a recruiter, and sometimes the offer letter and any supporting documents may come from an Account Manager.
The actual hiring team usually consists of:
The Hiring Manager: this is your ultimate “target audience”. The hiring manager is both the person the role reports to and the person with the budget to actually make the hire.
Lead/Delegate: the hiring manager may have another person on their team conduct the functional screen assessing your skills. You should be introduced to them during the scheduling process, and it should include their title.
During the interview process, your interviewers may come from different teams, so there isn’t a specific title other than their actual title. That being said, some organizations do have someone on the interview loop who can be from any paThere can be a lot of confusion when you FINALLY engage with an employer about “who are you and why are we having this exchange?”
Usually the first touch you have with an employer will be someone in recruiting. There are basically three titles/functions you may have contact with. I’m going to start with internal recruiters and discuss agencies a bit later.
Recruiter, Talent Acquisition Specialist: this is the person responsible for shepherding you through the process to the offer stage. They may be the first or second person you talk to, but they should be your main point of contact as you move through the process.
Sourcer, Sourcing Specialist: this is a specialized recruiting function. Sourcers generally focus on the “finding” part of the process. They may be evaluating your application, and they also are proactively “hunting” for profiles/resumes to fit specific functions or even jobs. Usually they will stay with you through a specific phase of the process (usually functional phone screens or the interview process). They are not going to be the person you discuss an offer with but they should have all the information on the compensation for the role you are discussing.
Recruiting Coordinator/Scheduler/ TA Operations Specialist: this is a dedicated resource handling the administrative parts of the recruiting process. This usually includes scheduling with anyone other than the recruiter/sourcer; it may include sending you any documents needed during the process including background check requests, it can include the actual offer letter or an amended offer letter. They don’t have anything to do with functions outside of scheduling and operations (that is your recruiter – consider the recruiter your main point of contact for all questions other than scheduling.)
During the interview process, your interviewers may come from different teams, so there isn’t a
specific title other than their actual title. That being said, some organizations do have someone
on the interview loop who can be from any part of the business that acts as a “final” decision
maker.
Their role is generally to evaluate people as representatives of the company/employer at large, and to assess your long-term potential as an employee versus your fit for a specific role, they usually concentrate on soft skills, often related to the employer’s stated values.
Amazon is probably the most famous with their “Bar Raiser”; Microsoft has an equivalent role called the “As Appropriate”. Other employers may have VP’s or very senior staff function in this role. Certainly ask your recruiter if there is someone functioning in this capacity.
At the offer/onboarding stage, you may hear from someone in HR after you have accepted your offer letter. At this point you are considered an employee and no longer a “candidate”. Congratulations!
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