Talent Acquisition Specialist

Overview:

We are currently recruiting for an experienced Talent Acquisition Specialist to join a growing and dynamic business based in Chorley. You will be responsible for the full recruitment lifecycle across the Company, from initial briefing through to offer and onboarding. The post-holder is the Company’s primary point of contact for all hiring activity, ensuring that every vacancy is filled with high-quality talent in a timely and cost-effective manner.

Key Responsibilities:

1. End-to-end recruitment
- Manages the full recruitment lifecycle for all vacancies — from receiving the brief and drafting the job advert through to offer, negotiation, and onboarding handover.
- Partners with hiring managers at the outset of each vacancy to agree the candidate profile, sourcing strategy, interview process, and timeline.
- Conducts structured telephone and video screening interviews to assess candidate suitability before progressing to hiring manager stage.
- Coordinates all interview scheduling, manages candidate communications, and ensures a positive experience throughout.
- Prepares and issues offer documentation and supports the pre-boarding and onboarding process in conjunction with HR, including responsibility for Induction planning.

2. Candidate sourcing & pipeline
- Sources candidates proactively through LinkedIn Recruiter, job boards, CV databases, social media, and direct search.
- Builds and maintains a pipeline of active and passive candidates for current and anticipated vacancies across all functions.
- Writes compelling, accurate job adverts tailored to the target audience and manages postings across multiple platforms.
- Tracks and reports on key recruitment metrics including time to hire, cost per hire, and source of hire.

3. Apprenticeship Programme
- Takes ownership of the development, coordination and promotion of the Company's apprenticeship programme, acting as the primary point of contact for training providers.
- Manages apprentice applications end-to-end, including advertising, screening, selection, and onboarding in line with programme requirements.
- Oversees the administration of the apprenticeship levy and ensures accurate records are maintained.
- Builds relationships with schools, colleges, and training providers to develop a pipeline of early-careers talent.

4. Employer branding & reporting
- Drives employer branding initiatives to promote the Company as an employer of choice across digital and physical channels.
- Represents the business at careers events, job fairs, and educational partnerships.
- Maintains accurate and GDPR-compliant candidate records.
- Produces regular recruitment reports and MI for the HR Director and senior leadership.
- Supporting the development of EVP.

5. Stakeholder partnership
- Acts as a trusted recruitment partner to hiring managers across the business, providing market insight, salary benchmarking, and candidate guidance.
- Supports workforce planning activity and contributes to headcount forecasting in conjunction with HR.
- Continuously reviews and improves recruitment processes, tools, and candidate experience.

6. HR
- Supporting the HR function as and when required

Skills & Experience Required:

Essential:
- Proven experience in an in-house recruitment or talent acquisition role.
- Demonstrable ability to manage multiple vacancies simultaneously across different functions.
- Strong direct sourcing skills with confident use of LinkedIn Recruiter and major job boards.
- Experience building effective relationships with hiring managers and influencing at all levels.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to write engaging job adverts and communicate professionally with candidates.
- Highly organised, with strong attention to detail and the ability to work at pace in a fast-moving environment.
- Proficient in Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Outlook).

Desirable:
- Experience recruiting within an engineering, manufacturing, or technology environment.
- Experience supporting or coordinating apprenticeship programmes, including working with training providers and the apprenticeship levy.
- Familiarity with an applicant tracking system (ATS).
- CIPD Level 3 or above, or working towards it.

What's on Offer:
Salary up to £38,000, depending on experience
Opportunity to join a growing and successful organisation
22 days of annual leave + bank holidays
Supportive and collaborative working environment
DIS cover of three times salary
Simply Health
EAP, and access to Virtual GP
Discount platform, including cycle to work and holiday purchase
A genuine opportunity to shape the talent function in a growing, innovative business If you have talent acquisition or recruitment experience and are looking for your next challenge in Chorley, we'd love to hear from you