Talent Acquisition Specialist
Location: Cleveland, OH or St. Louis, MO
Schedule: Hybrid
Employment Type: Full-Time
A well-established, multi-office law firm is seeking a Talent Acquisition Specialist to join its Human Resources team in either Cleveland or St. Louis. This position will take primary ownership of full-cycle recruiting for professional staff positions across the firm , while also supporting attorney recruiting, summer associate programs, and other talent acquisition initiatives.
This is a hands-on recruiting role for someone who is comfortable managing searches from initial intake through accepted offer and onboarding. The Talent Acquisition Specialist will work closely with hiring managers, HR leadership, department leaders, and firm leadership to understand hiring needs, develop recruiting strategies, identify strong candidates, and manage a high-quality candidate experience throughout the process.
The ideal candidate will have prior experience recruiting within a law firm, legal environment, or professional services organization and will understand the pace, discretion, and level of service expected when recruiting attorneys and professional staff.
Key Responsibilities
- Own the full-cycle recruitment process for exempt and non-exempt professional staff positions across multiple firm offices.
- Partner directly with hiring managers and HR leadership to conduct intake meetings, define position requirements, and develop effective recruiting strategies.
- Manage searches from requisition approval through sourcing, screening, interviewing, offer, pre-employment, and onboarding.
- Proactively source candidates through LinkedIn Recruiter, professional associations, employee referrals, job boards, networking, and other targeted channels.
- Review resumes and conduct initial candidate interviews to assess experience, qualifications, career motivations, compensation expectations, and overall fit.
- Conduct behavioral and competency-based interviews and evaluate candidates against clearly defined position requirements.
- Coordinate the interview process and work closely with hiring teams to gather feedback and maintain momentum throughout each search.
- Develop and recommend offer terms in partnership with HR leadership and assist with presenting and closing candidate offers.
- Maintain consistent communication with candidates throughout the recruiting process and ensure a professional, high-touch candidate experience.
- Support pre-employment activities including background checks, references, new hire documentation, and coordination with internal teams for onboarding.
- Assist with new hire orientation and integration activities.
- Maintain accurate candidate, requisition, and hiring information within the applicant tracking system.
- Track recruiting activity, time-to-fill, sourcing effectiveness, and other key talent acquisition metrics.
- Develop and maintain relationships with external search firms, recruiting partners, professional associations, and other talent sources.
- Build proactive talent pipelines for recurring and difficult-to-fill positions.
- Assist with employer branding, recruiting process improvements, and other initiatives designed to strengthen the firm's ability to attract and retain talent.
- Provide support for attorney recruiting, including lateral attorney hiring and other attorney talent initiatives.
- Assist with summer associate and internship recruiting, interview coordination, and program logistics.
Qualifications
Required:
- Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Communications, or a related field.
- 3+ years of full-cycle recruiting experience.
- Demonstrated experience independently managing searches from intake through accepted offer.
- Experience recruiting across multiple departments, practice areas, offices, or functional teams.
- Strong sourcing capabilities, including experience using LinkedIn Recruiter and other recruiting platforms.
- Experience conducting behavioral and competency-based interviews.
- Strong ability to evaluate candidates against defined job requirements and hiring criteria.
- Experience working directly with hiring managers and senior-level stakeholders throughout the recruiting process.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills.
- Experience using applicant tracking systems and recruiting technology.
- Excellent organization, follow-through, and ability to manage multiple active searches simultaneously.
Preferred Experience
- Prior recruiting experience within a law firm or legal services environment .
- Experience recruiting legal support and professional staff, including legal assistants, paralegals, administrative professionals, accounting and finance, HR, marketing, IT, and other business services functions.
- Experience supporting attorney, lateral, summer associate, or law school recruiting.
- Professional services or financial services recruiting experience will also be considered.
- Working knowledge of employment laws, recruiting compliance, and hiring best practices.
What This Opportunity Offers
This role offers the opportunity to take meaningful ownership of the recruiting process within a sophisticated, multi-office law firm. The Talent Acquisition Specialist will have direct exposure to hiring managers and firm leadership while playing an important role in building teams across the organization.
The firm offers a hybrid work schedule , a collaborative and professional work environment, and a competitive compensation and benefits package including medical, dental, and vision coverage, retirement benefits with employer contribution, disability and life insurance, well-being programs, paid parental leave, and additional employee benefits.