Director of Professional Staff Talent Acquisition
At Taft, we work as one team, driven and committed to helping our clients succeed. A full-service law firm with more than 1,300 attorneys and over 2,000 on our team, we have the collaborative approach, advanced technological resources, and depth of services that make us a preeminent law firm.
Taft is seeking a Director of Professional Staff Talent Acquisition to join our Human Resources team.
We are seeking a Director of Professional Staff Talent Acquisition with 8 or more years’ experience to join our team. The Director is responsible for working with the Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) and Senior Human Resources Director to develop and lead Taft’s professional staff recruiting strategy and execution across all offices. This role oversees the full recruitment lifecycle for professional staff positions, develops innovative sourcing strategies, builds strong relationships with Firm leadership and hiring managers, and ensures that Taft attracts and hires exceptional talent.. All Taft employees operate under a “Client First” philosophy—in all things, we seek to provide exceptional services to our clients.
Duties and Responsibilities:
Talent Acquisition Strategy
- Develop and execute Taft’s professional staff recruiting strategy.
- Partner with Firm leadership to understand workforce planning and anticipated hiring needs.
- Build relationships with hiring managers.
- Build proactive talent pipelines for critical and difficult-to-fill positions.
- Monitor recruiting trends and recommend innovative sourcing strategies and technologies.
- Strengthen Taft’s employer brand and candidate experience.
Recruitment Lifecycle Management
- Personally manage the full recruitment lifecycle for assigned professional staff positions, including sourcing, screening, interviewing, offer development, and onboarding coordination.
- Partner with hiring managers to define position requirements and recruitment strategies.
- Develop creative sourcing approaches utilizing direct sourcing, networking, referrals, professional organizations, and recruiting technology.
- Ensure a consistent, high-quality candidate experience throughout the hiring process.
- Negotiate employment offers in partnership with hiring managers and Human Resources leadership.
Leadership & Team Development
- Build, mentor, and lead Firm’s Talent Acquisition team, including future recruiting staff.
- Establish recruiting priorities and workload distribution.
- Coach recruiter(s) and promote best practices in sourcing, interviewing, and candidate management.
- Foster collaboration with HR, practice leaders, office administrators, and business services leaders.
Process Improvement
- Evaluate and improve recruiting workflows to increase efficiency and reduce time-to-fill.
- Develop standardized recruiting processes, interview guides, and hiring manager resources.
- Ensure consistent use of the applicant tracking system and recruiting technologies.
- Analyze recruiting metrics and identify opportunities for continuous improvement.
Vendor & Budget Management
- Manage relationships with external search firms, recruiting vendors, and advertising partners.
- Evaluate when external recruiting support is appropriate.
- Monitor recruiting expenditure and agency usage.
- Identify opportunities to reduce external recruiting costs while maintaining hiring quality.
Metrics & Reporting
- Develop and report meaningful recruiting metrics, including:
- Time-to-fill
- Offer acceptance rates
- Candidate pipeline development and health
- Source effectiveness
- Hiring manager satisfaction
- Candidate experience
- New hire retention
- Agency utilization and recruiting costs
- Provide regular reporting and strategic recommendations to firm leadership.
Knowledge, Abilities, Skills, Interpersonal and Other Requirements
- Experience recruiting professional staff in a professional services, legal, accounting, consulting, or similarly complex organization.
- Demonstrated success leading high-volume, full-cycle recruiting efforts.
- Experience developing recruiting strategies for exempt and non-exempt positions.
- Strong leadership, coaching, and team development skills.
- Exceptional relationship-building and consultative communication abilities.
- Experience using applicant tracking systems, recruiting technologies, and LinkedIn Recruiter.
- Strong analytical skills with the ability to use recruiting metrics to drive decision-making.
- Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced, client-service-oriented environment.
Education and Experience:
- Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree or relevant professional certification preferred.
- 8-10+ years of progressive talent acquisition experience, including leadership responsibilities.
Candidates interested in the Chicago office should apply here.
Candidates interested in the Columbus office should apply here.
Candidates interested in the Indianapolis office should apply here.
Candidates interested in the Minneapolis office should apply here.