What is a hiring manager?

When a company has a job opening, the hiring manager is the person who will manage whoever fills that role. For example, if a company is hiring a sales development representative (SDR), the hiring manager is likely to have a job title like sales manager or sales leader. Another way to think about this is if you are the person who is applying, the hiring manager is the person you would report to if you got the job.

If you’re a job seeker, you will likely have several touchpoints with the hiring manager. They will often review your resume or application, conduct interviews with you, review your assessments and they will often be available throughout the hiring process to answer your questions about the specifics of the role.

Hiring managers have a critical role in the recruitment process. In addition to the activities we just mentioned, they work closely with the recruiter (who we’ll also refer to as a “talent acquisition partner” or “TA partner”) to write the job description and define what success will look like in the role. And while the recruiter is a key part of this process and often serves as an advisor to the hiring manager, in most cases, the hiring manager is ultimately the person who makes the decision about which candidate to extend an offer to.

Key responsibilities of a hiring manager

Hiring managers tend to be involved in every step of the hiring process. Here’s an overview of some of a hiring manager’s key responsibilities.

• Creating job descriptions and requirements

Before a company can start advertising its job openings, the hiring manager will work with the recruiter to define what they’re looking for by writing a job description. By the way, defining what success will look like in the role is a critical step of any structured interview process.

Hiring managers will often start by thinking about how this role will contribute to the business and then come up with a list of experiences, skills and qualifications that would make someone likely to succeed in the role. For example, if they’re hiring a product manager for a business-to-business (B2B) product, they might decide that having experience working on a product team at another B2B company is required (or at least preferred).

Hiring managers may also have ideas about soft skills that would lead to success in the role, such as the ability to present to executives or the ability to be decisive in situations where there’s no clear direction.

• Reviewing resumes and sourcing candidates

Generally, recruiters take responsibility for posting job openings and doing the initial resume review before passing promising candidates on to the hiring manager, who will then review them and conduct interviews with the top candidates – but this isn’t always the case. Sometimes, recruiters have too much on their plates and don’t have the time to do resume screening or initial interviews. For example, this case study with CrowdStreet describes how one hiring manager did the initial resume screens and candidate outreach to make their hiring process more efficient. In other cases, such as at very small startups, there may not even be a dedicated recruiter. In these situations, the hiring manager may have to post the job, review the resumes and conduct all initial screening calls themselves.

Large, well-known companies often get hundreds of applicants whenever they have a job opening, but this isn’t necessarily the case for smaller companies with lesser-known employer brands. For these companies, recruiters or hiring managers may need to spend time looking for qualified candidates and reaching out to encourage them to apply. This process, called “sourcing,” is also common when companies want to ensure they have candidates from a wide range of backgrounds.

• Conducting interviews and making hiring decisions

Hiring managers usually take the lead in conducting interviews. During interviews, their job is to see how well the candidate matches the criteria they defined in the job description and how likely they think the candidate is to be successful in the role. They will also help the candidate understand the expectations for the role and determine whether they would like to continue to be considered for it.

Once the hiring team has completed their interviews and provided feedback, the hiring manager will decide which candidate to extend an offer to. In some cases, the hiring manager will negotiate the details of the offer with the candidate, but in other cases, the recruiter will handle these tasks.

Qualities of a successful hiring manager

What does it take to be a successful hiring manager? Here are a few of the qualities you’ll need:

• Strong communication and interpersonal skills

As a hiring manager, you’ll need strong communication skills to help you stay aligned with your recruiter and the rest of your hiring team. By clearly communicating why you’re hiring for this role and what you’re looking for, you’ll create an efficient hiring process that respects everyone’s time and efforts. You’ll also need to communicate well with candidates to set their expectations about the company and role. This increases the chances that they accept your offer and have a positive experience if they end up joining your company.

• Ability to assess and identify top talent

When you’re hiring – whether you’re replacing a team member who left your company or opening up a brand-new role – as a hiring manager, you will need to be able to assess and identify top talent. This means you can review resumes, write interview questions and design assessments that will help you consider an applicants’ skills in a consistent manner. If you’ve never done any of these things before, your TA partner or a more experienced hiring manager from your company should be able to help.

• Understanding of legal and ethical hiring practices

Depending on where your company is based, there will likely be laws and regulations about hiring practices. For example, US employers must follow federal EEO laws and are not allowed to ask about or make hiring decisions based on protected classes like age or religion. As a hiring manager, you’ll need to be aware of any laws or company rules related to hiring practices so you stay compliant.

With the growing availability of artificial intelligence (AI) tools, there are now ethical questions to consider as part of the hiring process as well. Some hiring managers may consider the use of AI tools to be cheating, while others welcome its use in specific situations. If your company has already established an AI policy, make sure you’re familiar with it – and share it with candidates so they know what’s acceptable. Check out Greenhouse’s Guidelines for using AI in our interviewing process here.

Collaboration between hiring managers and recruiters

Hiring managers and recruiters must work closely together throughout the hiring process. Here are a few points to keep in mind for optimizing your collaboration with recruiters.

• Roles and responsibilities for recruiters

When you decide to kick off the hiring process, make sure you take some time to walk through the roles and responsibilities with your recruiter. Which steps will you own? Are there parts of the process where you’d like their input? What’s a realistic turnaround time for each of the various steps? Generally, the recruiter’s job is to guide the process and create an effective structure for success (which includes tasks like doing initial resume reviews, interview scheduling and sharing market and compensation data), while the hiring manager is the subject matter expert for the role (which often involves writing the interview questions, designing the assessments, and making the final hiring decision).

• Effective communication and alignment in the hiring process

One of the keys to good collaboration with your TA partner is having clear communication and alignment. This isn’t just something you’ll do once – you must make an ongoing effort. Here’s how Sherine Kazim, Chief Experience Officer at Wunderman Thompson, explained it in the Hiring manager’s guide to a structured hiring process: “My tip for working well with your TA partner? Come from a place of trust first when dealing with people who are unfamiliar with your world or your way of talking about things. Don’t make assumptions that they know. Don’t assume that you know. I think being able to admit what you do and don’t know is the basis of a good relationship.”

Greenhouse’s Leadership Talent Acquisition Manager Mason Calaiaro likes to do a calibration exercise with hiring managers, where she’ll bring ten profiles for them to review together. This is a great way to share different types of candidates with the hiring manager and determine which profiles to focus on during the candidate search. You might ask your TA partner to go through a similar exercise with you to ensure you’re on the same page from the early stages of the hiring process.

• Leveraging technology for streamlined recruitment

Having the right technology can support your collaboration with recruiters and any other members of the hiring team. For example, an applicant tracking system (ATS) can ensure you track all candidates and move them smoothly through your hiring pipeline. Many of these tools send automated reminders, so if you’ve kept a candidate in one stage for too long, they prompt you to make a decision or get in touch with the candidate to share an update with them. An ATS can also collect the interview team’s feedback so you can compare how different interviewers assess candidates and make faster, more data-driven hiring decisions.

Best practices for candidates interacting with hiring managers

Now, let’s imagine that you’re applying for a job and you’d like to make a good impression on your hiring manager. What should you do? Here are a few best practices to keep in mind.

• Researching the company and job position

Take a minute to put yourself in the hiring manager’s shoes. For each open role on their team, they’re likely speaking with dozens of candidates for initial interviews. This, by the way, is time that they can’t spend doing their regular job, so they’re often feeling pressure to move as quickly as possible.

You can make this much easier for them by researching the company and position ahead of time. By looking at the company’s website and social media accounts, you will likely be able to find the answers to many questions (like “What does company X do?” or “Who are some of company X’s main customers?”).

When you do this type of research before your interview, you can ask much more interesting and in-depth questions during your conversation with the hiring manager. For example, you can start your conversation by mentioning some press about the company or research they published that you’ve recently come across.

• Preparing for interviews and showcasing relevant skills

In the past, some competitive companies earned a reputation for trying to trick candidates by asking them brain-teaser questions during their interviews. These types of questions don’t always have a right answer. Hiring managers often ask them because they’re interested in seeing how you think or respond under pressure. And while you might occasionally encounter a hiring manager who likes to ask this type of question, it’s much more common for hiring managers to ask questions related to your past experience and your ability to perform the job.

To prepare for your interview with a hiring manager, consider everything they’ve listed as a required skill, experience or qualification in the job description, and think about how you would showcase these skills by giving a specific example. You might want to research typical job interview questions and practice answering them with someone so you feel more confident going into the interview.

If you’re ever unsure about what to expect or how to prepare for an interview, ask your recruiter. They will usually be happy to let you know who you’ll be meeting with, the purpose of the interview and any preparation you should do for each session.

• Following up and maintaining professional communication

After you’ve interviewed with a hiring manager, it’s generally considered a good idea to follow up with a quick email to thank them for their time. You can also use this as an opportunity to give your response to any questions you weren’t able to answer on the spot during the interview or share additional materials, like a project you might have discussed with them.

In many cases, the hiring manager will give you a timeframe of when you can expect to hear back from them or the recruiter. If this amount of time has passed and you haven’t heard back, you may want to send a follow-up email to remind them that you’re still waiting and ask if they have any updates. In all these cases, it’s generally a good idea to keep your email brief and professional. Remember, hiring managers often have a lot on their plates in addition to their recruiting duties!

Learn more about how you can stand out in the job search in this blog post.

Future trends in hiring management

The role of a hiring manager has always essentially been the same – to find and select the best people for their team. But some aspects of their work are also changing due to trends in how people work.

• Impact of artificial intelligence (AI) and automation

The widespread availability of AI and automation tools is impacting both how hiring managers can find and assess candidates and how candidates can approach the job search process. Some examples on the hiring manager’s side include tools that source candidates, sort through resumes, schedule interviews and send automated responses.

When it comes to job seekers, a Greenhouse candidate survey found that 48% of respondents said that they had used or were considering using generative AI for job searches. In the same survey, more than one-third (35%) of candidates said it felt fair to use AI since companies were probably using it to sort through their resumes.
As the technology continues to evolve, hiring managers will need to clearly define what type of AI use they consider acceptable, both for their own work and for anything candidates submit as part of their application.

• Diversity and inclusion initiatives in hiring

Many companies have established diversity and inclusion initiatives, whether this relates to the people they’re considering for roles or the eventual hires they make. If your company wants to welcome candidates from a broad range of backgrounds, there are certain steps you can take to promote inclusive hiring as a hiring manager, which include sourcing candidates from diverse backgrounds, writing more inclusive job descriptions and using structured interviewing so you assess all candidates in an equitable manner.

• Remote and virtual hiring practices

Now that remote and distributed teams have become commonplace, hiring managers will often need to adapt their hiring practices so they work for remote candidates. This can include things like conducting video interviews instead of in person, having candidates submit take-home assessments virtually and designing the interview process to assess a candidate’s aptitude for and experience with distributed work. For more information on this topic, check out Distributed hiring and remote working – the essential guide.