Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Branch Recruiter

🎯 Role Definition

The Branch Recruiter is a hands-on talent acquisition professional who partners with branch managers and regional leadership to staff branch networks with qualified, customer-focused employees. This role executes full-cycle recruiting for frontline and branch operations roles (tellers, personal bankers, branch managers, operations specialists), drives local sourcing strategies, maintains candidate pipelines, ensures regulatory and background compliance, and reports on recruiting metrics to continuously improve hiring outcomes. Success requires strong stakeholder management, high-volume sourcing expertise, efficient ATS use, and a relentless focus on candidate experience and retention.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Talent Sourcer or Recruiting Coordinator transitioning to full-cycle recruiting
HR Coordinator with exposure to hiring and onboarding processes
Retail or branch operations professional moving into recruiting

Advancement To:

Senior Branch Recruiter / Lead Recruiter
Regional Talent Acquisition Manager
Talent Acquisition Business Partner for Retail/Branches

Lateral Moves:

HR Business Partner (frontline operations focus)
Training & Development Specialist (onboarding and learning)
Workforce Planning Analyst

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Own full-cycle recruiting for assigned branch network roles — from intake and job posting to offer negotiation, acceptance, and pre-hire onboarding — ensuring a consistent, high-quality candidate experience across all touchpoints.
Partner closely with branch managers and regional leadership to understand headcount plans, skills requirements, cultural fit, and seasonal or product-driven hiring spikes; translate business needs into prioritized sourcing and selection strategies.
Develop and execute proactive local sourcing strategies that include community outreach, job fairs, campus recruiting, employee referral programs, targeted social media advertising, and partnerships with local staffing/recruiting firms to build robust pipelines for teller, personal banker, branch manager, and operations roles.
Write clear, SEO-optimized job descriptions and requisitions that attract qualified candidates and improve organic discoverability on job boards, corporate career pages, and professional networks.
Screen resumes, conduct structured phone and video interviews, administer behavioral and competency-based assessments, and evaluate candidate fit against role-specific competencies and branch culture.
Schedule, conduct, and coordinate in-person interviews with branch hiring teams; train and advise hiring managers on interview best practices, consistent evaluation criteria, and legal interviewing guidelines to reduce bias.
Manage high-volume requisitions simultaneously while tracking time-to-fill, candidate pipeline health, offer acceptance rate, pass-through ratios, and other KPIs; provide regular reporting and insights to talent acquisition leadership.
Use applicant tracking systems (ATS) to manage end-to-end recruitment workflow — creating and closing reqs, updating candidate statuses, generating reports, and ensuring data accuracy for headcount and compliance auditing.
Negotiate salary and benefits, extend offers, and support hiring managers through compensation discussions to achieve competitive, equitable hiring outcomes and strong acceptance rates.
Coordinate background checks, drug screens, credential verifications, and pre-employment compliance steps in accordance with company policy and regulatory requirements (including banking and financial services compliance where applicable).
Maintain candidate relationships and manage talent pools for future branch hiring needs by creating nurture campaigns, re-engaging passive candidates, and leveraging CRM/ATS touchpoints to reduce time-to-fill on repeat roles.
Implement and iterate on local diversity, equity, and inclusion sourcing initiatives — engage community organizations, minority-serving institutions, veteran groups, and affinity networks to diversify candidate slates and meet DE&I hiring goals.
Facilitate new hire onboarding coordination with HR/People Operations and branch managers — ensuring timely paperwork completion, orientation scheduling, equipment provisioning, and first-day readiness to maximize new hire retention.
Conduct exit and stay interviews when applicable to surface hiring and retention insights; partner with HR and branch leadership to implement retention-focused changes for frontline staff.
Coach and mentor branch hiring managers on behavioral interviewing techniques, structured scorecards, selection decisions, and legal compliance to improve hiring quality and consistency across locations.
Coordinate scheduling logistics for multi-site hiring events, open houses, and group interviews to drive efficient candidate throughput and strong employer brand presence in local communities.
Maintain and update recruiting collateral, branch-specific interview guides, offer templates, and onboarding checklists to standardize best practices and reduce time-to-productivity for new branch employees.
Serve as a subject-matter expert on local labor market trends, competitor hiring activity, pay rates, and candidate expectations; proactively advise business leaders on creative workforce solutions (contract-to-hire, part-time, float pools).
Collaborate with Talent Acquisition Operations on process improvements, ATS enhancements, and data-driven recruitment marketing campaigns to optimize sourcing costs and improve time-to-fill.
Handle sensitive candidate and employee data with confidentiality and in compliance with privacy regulations (e.g., GDPR where applicable, state privacy laws) and company data policies.
Drive continuous improvement by soliciting hiring manager and candidate feedback, running A/B tests on sourcing campaigns, and applying lessons learned to refine interview scorecards, job designs, and outreach messaging.
Support crisis and emergency staffing needs (e.g., branch openings, unexpected attrition) by quickly scaling sourcing efforts and coordinating cross-functional resources to maintain branch coverage and customer service levels.
Act as a local ambassador for employer brand — represent the company at community events, schools, and professional associations to build long-term talent relationships and positive brand recognition.
Execute special projects aligned with branch growth initiatives, such as launching new branch recruiting programs, implementing seasonal hiring models, or piloting referral incentive campaigns.

Secondary Functions

Maintain accurate headcount and recruiting metrics in partnership with HRIS and workforce planning teams to support payroll and budget reconciliation.
Assist in developing localized recruiting marketing content (blog posts, social media copy, community event materials) in collaboration with corporate employer brand and marketing teams.
Provide ad-hoc recruiting analytics and insights for regional leadership, including candidate funnel performance, diversity metrics, and cost-per-hire breakdowns.
Participate in cross-functional meetings to align branch staffing strategies with product launches, seasonal promotions, and community outreach programs.
Support succession planning efforts by maintaining talent pools for key branch leadership roles and recommending internal mobility candidates when appropriate.
Contribute to the design and rollout of interview training and hiring manager enablement sessions in regional manager forums.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Full-cycle recruiting expertise for branch-level roles (tellers, personal bankers, branch managers, operations specialists) with measurable track record of meeting hiring targets.
Proficiency with Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) and Candidate Relationship Management (CRM) tools (examples: Workday Recruiting, iCIMS, Greenhouse, Lever, SmartRecruiters).
Advanced Boolean search and sourcing techniques across LinkedIn Recruiter, job boards, and niche community platforms to identify passive talent.
Strong job description writing and SEO optimization for job listings and career site content to improve organic applicant flow.
Experience conducting structured behavioral interviews and competency-based assessments; familiarity with scorecards and calibrated hiring decisions.
Knowledge of background checks, FCRA, I-9 verification, drug screens, and industry-specific compliance (banking/financial services regulations where applicable).
Comfort with recruiting analytics: time-to-fill, time-to-offer, offer acceptance rate, source-of-hire, pipeline conversion metrics, and simple dashboard creation.
Experience managing high-volume hiring and multi-site requisitions with demonstrated prioritization and throughput skills.
Familiarity with employment laws and regulations at federal and state level, including EEO, ADA accommodations, and recordkeeping requirements.
Proven experience using recruiting automation and outreach tools (e.g., mail merge, outreach sequencing, recruiting bots) to scale candidate engagement.

Soft Skills

Exceptional stakeholder management and influence — able to partner with branch managers, regional directors, and HR leaders to align hiring strategy with business needs.
Outstanding written and verbal communication skills for compelling outreach, offer negotiation, and candidate counseling.
Strong relationship-building skills to engage passive candidates, community partners, and referral sources.
High emotional intelligence and cultural sensitivity to assess fit and support inclusive hiring practices.
Excellent organization, time management, and multi-tasking capacity in a fast-paced, high-volume recruiting environment.
Problem-solving mindset and adaptability to pivot sourcing strategies based on changing business priorities or local market conditions.
Resilience and persistence in follow-up, candidate nurturing, and closing offers under competing offers or tough labor markets.
Coaching and training aptitude to upskill hiring managers and interview panels in evidence-based selection techniques.
Attention to detail and process orientation to maintain compliance, accurate candidate records, and smooth onboarding experiences.
Data-driven decision-making with the ability to translate recruiting metrics into actionable improvements.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Associate degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Communications, or related field; or equivalent professional experience in recruiting.

Preferred Education:

Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business, Psychology, Communications, or related field.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Human Resources Management
Business Administration
Organizational Psychology
Communications
Marketing

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 2–5 years of full-cycle recruiting experience, with at least 1–2 years focused on branch-level or high-volume frontline hiring.

Preferred: 3–5+ years recruiting in banking, financial services, retail banking, or multi-site retail operations with proven success in meeting hiring SLAs and improving retention for frontline staff.