Early Talent Recruitment Manager

Laing O'Rourke; Dartford; On-site; GBP 55,000 - 75,000; Full time

Job summary

Laing O'Rourke is seeking an ambitious Early Talent Recruitment Manager to lead Graduate, Apprentice, Placement and Work Experience programmes from attraction through onboarding and development.

You will shape recruitment strategies, partner with schools and universities, and champion diversity across pathways, while delivering end-to-end recruitment for multiple programmes and leading a small team.

Qualifications

• Experience leading graduate, apprentice or early careers programmes.
• Strong track record in recruitment campaigns and stakeholder engagement.
• Excellent planning, organisation and project management skills.
• Proactive, innovative and data-led approach.
• Genuine passion for developing future talent and creating opportunity.
• Experienced in using ATS systems.
• Familiarity with early-career recruitment in technical or skills-based environments.

Responsibilities

• Shape and deliver innovative early talent recruitment strategies and programmes.
• Partner with business leaders, schools, colleges, universities and training providers.
• Create engaging attraction campaigns and an outstanding candidate experience.
• Champion diversity, inclusion and social mobility across all pathways.
• Oversee end-to-end recruitment delivery for all Early Talent pathways, ensuring high-quality hiring outcomes.
• Ensure recruitment processes deliver an outstanding and inclusive candidate experience.
• Manage annual recruitment campaigns and assessment activities across multiple programmes.
• Use data and insight to improve hiring, retention and return on investment.
• Lead and develop a small, high-performing team.

Skills

Leadership

Stakeholder engagement

Recruitment campaigns

Data analytics

Project management

Diversity & inclusion

Talent development

Team leadership

Tools

ATS systems

Job description

Location: National (Required to travel to Dartford once a month)
Come and help shape the talent of our future.
Laing O'Rourke is looking for an ambitious, people-focused Early Talent Recruitment Manager to lead our Graduate, Apprentice, Placement and Work Experience programmes from attraction through to onboarding and development.

What You'll Do

• Shape and deliver innovative early talent recruitment strategies and programmes.
• Partner with business leaders, schools, colleges, universities and training providers.
• Create engaging attraction campaigns and an outstanding candidate experience.
• Champion diversity, inclusion and social mobility across all pathways.
• Oversee end-to-end recruitment delivery for all Early Talent pathways, ensuring high-quality hiring outcomes.
• Ensure recruitment processes deliver an outstanding and inclusive candidate experience.
• Manage annual recruitment campaigns and assessment activities across multiple programmes
• Use data and insight to improve hiring, retention and return on investment.
• Lead and develop a small, high-performing team.

What We're Looking For

• Experience leading graduate, apprentice or early careers programmes.
• A strong track record in recruitment campaigns and stakeholder engagement.
• Excellent planning, organisation and project management skills.
• A proactive, innovative and data-led approach.
• A genuine passion for developing future talent and creating opportunity.
• Experienced in using ATS systems
• Familiarity with early-career recruitment in technical or skills-based environments

This is more than recruitment; it's an opportunity to shape careers, strengthen future capability, and create exceptional drive to meet the business goal for Early Talent Requirement.

About Us

We are an international engineering and construction company delivering state-of-the-art infrastructure and buildings projects for clients in the UK, Middle East and Australia.

Certainty, reliability, quality - this is what our clients want. And at Laing O'Rourke, we have more than 150 years of experience delivering it. Laing O'Rourke's story is one of energy, passion, ambition, people and teamwork. We harness the power of our experience, stretching back over a century and a half to deliver certainty for our clients.

As part of the Disability Confident scheme, we would like to enable access to candidates with long term health conditions and disabilities through the Offer an interview scheme. This supports applicants that meet the essential criteria by offering an interview for the advertised position. Please let us know prior to interview what adjustments are required as well as discussing how we can support you in the workplace.