What Does a Recruiting Coordinator Do?

In most cases, the term "recruiting coordinator" is used to describe a human resources professional involved in recruiting and hiring new employees. Duties frequently include placing classified ads for job openings, collecting resumes and performing a variety of clerical functions. Such a coordinator might also help plan and execute job fairs or recruiting days, and might assist potential employees in filling out applications and other employment documents. Usually, a recruiting coordinator reports to a human resources manager or recruiting manager.

Recruitment centers around finding employment candidates, so the duties of a recruiting coordinator are often centered around advertising jobs. Coordinators often maintain files for frequently-used advertising sources, including both print and online options. These files typically include the contact names for each resource as well as the terms of advertising and payment, and the advertising rates. Coordinators are often responsible for placing advertising orders and may, on occasion, be responsible for writing the ad as well. A coordinator might also be responsible for researching new advertising outlets.

Some companies participate in job fairs, either on occasion or as a regular course of business. The recruiting coordinator, sometimes called a "recruitment coordinator," is often the person responsible for arranging the details of the company's fair presence, including reserving a space, coordinating the schedules of those needed to attend the fair and collecting booth materials, such as tables, tablecloths, applications, business cards and other collateral materials. A coordinator might also be tasked with researching new job fairs that might be good for the company to attend.

The recruiting coordinator is also usually the main administrative support person for the human resources department. This means that record keeping and correspondence are often part of the coordinator's duties. This might mean maintaining electronic or physical files for employees or position openings, managing a database of potential employees and coordinating general communications with applicants. A coordinator would rarely be responsible for communicating a job offer to a candidate, but he might be responsible for sending out electronic or physical rejections, or for sending out follow-up documents, such as benefit summaries and letters of acceptance to those who have been offered jobs.

While human resources is the most common field in which this position title is used, a recruiting coordinator might also be a person who works in the membership department of a club, gym, association or any other establishment that regularly recruits members. The term might also be used for someone who helps recruit students to a private school or to a college, or for someone who recruits college-level student athletes. In these situations, responsibilities can be quite varied, but they generally center around disseminating information and, in the case of member associations, selling memberships.