Recruitment Adviser

University of Birmingham; Birmingham; On-site; GBP 40,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading educational institution in Birmingham seeks a Recruitment Adviser to manage recruitment across various departments. This role involves advising hiring managers, coordinating recruitment activities, and ensuring compliance with best practices. You will engage in outreach efforts to attract candidates and contribute to ongoing recruitment projects. Ideal candidates should possess strong organizational skills, recruitment backgrounds, and the ability to manage high-volume caseloads. Join a diverse team focused on fostering inclusivity.

Benefits

Generous holiday package including 40 days paid leave

Pension scheme

Occupational sick pay

Flexible working arrangements

Qualifications

• Proven track record of delivering volume end to end recruitment campaigns.
• Experience working within a higher education environment is desirable.
• Recruitment experience within an in-house setting is desirable.

Responsibilities

• Plan and coordinate recruitment activity across the University.
• Advise managers on recruitment including policies and guidelines.
• Maintain recruitment records and share regular reports.

Skills

Excellent organisational skills

Ability to manage a high-volume caseload

Effective communication skills

Excellent relationship building skills

Good IT skills

Ability to lead and manage projects

Experience in end-to-end recruitment

Knowledge of UK employment legislation

Tools

Case management platforms

Job description

Position Details

Human Resources

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £33,002 to £35,608 with potential progression once in post to £39,906

Grade: 6

Full Time, Fixed Term contract up to April 2027

Closing date: 15th February 2026

This role is also open as an internal secondment opportunity which would need to be agreed by your current line manager.

Our offer to you

People are at the heart of what we are and do.

The University of Birmingham is proud to have been a part of the City of Birmingham and the wider region for over 100 years, and we are equally proud to be recognised as a leading global university. We want to attract talented people from across the city and beyond, support them to succeed, and celebrate their success.

We are committed to helping the people who work here to develop through our sector‑leading Birmingham Professional programme which provides all professional services staff with development opportunities and the encouragement to reach their full potential. With almost 5,000 professional services jobs in a wide range of functions in Edgbaston and in our campus in Dubai, there are plenty of opportunities for you to be able to develop your career at the University.

We believe there is no such thing as a typical member of staff and that diversity is a source of strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation, and debate. We warmly welcome people from all backgrounds and are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where diversity is at the heart of who and what we are and how we work.

Supporting our people to achieve a healthy work/life balance is important both to our employees and to the success of the University and, depending on the role, we offer a variety of flexible working arrangements. We therefore welcome discussions on all forms of flexible working. In addition, you will receive a generous package of benefits including 40 days paid holiday a year, one paid day a year for volunteering, occupational sick pay, and a pension scheme. We also have three high quality subsidised day nurseries.

The University is situated in leafy Edgbaston and there are excellent transport links to our beautiful campus, including main bus routes and a train station on site. On campus we have a state‑of‑the‑art sports centre with pool, shops, places to eat and drink, our own art gallery, museum and botanical gardens.

Find out more about the benefits of working for the University of Birmingham

Role Summary

The University of Birmingham’s in‑house Recruitment Team, which oversees all Recruitment activity at the University, are looking for a new Recruitment Adviser. In this role, you will lead on all aspects of recruitment for our varied customer base, including our academic Colleges and Professional Services teams.

You’ll be responsible for overseeing and advising hiring managers on advertising, interview, and onboarding processes. You will also act as the first point of contact for specific areas of the University and lead on outreach activities to attract and communicate to candidates for jobs. In addition, you will participate in Recruitment‑related projects and assist in the delivery of training.

Main Duties

• Facilitate effective recruitment by coordinating recruitment and selection campaigns for a variety of appointments with a range of stakeholders. Examples of duties include placing advertisements, campaign management and offer management, ensuring activity meets agreed SLAs and KPIs and taking appropriate corrective action where required
• Advise and guide colleagues throughout the University on recruitment best practice in line with legislation, University policy and guidance
• Promote equality and diversity values acting as a role model and fostering an inclusive working culture individually as well throughout recruitment processes
• Work in partnership with other HR and Central Staff Hub colleagues to ensure recruitment best practice and HR Core values are followed, contributing to wider people and culture projects, identifying and leading recruitment‑related projects
• Managing relationships with stakeholders, delivering recruitment and selection training and using a range of communication methods to enable consistency in approach, knowledge, and alignment to employment legislation
• Conduct immigration and other compliance activities (including following internal policies such as redeployment), gathering documentation to support visa applications and supporting audit activities
• Effective use of HR platforms and systems, including supporting systems testing, redesigning processes to adapt to systems changes and communicating systems changes to stakeholders
• Maintain recruitment records and data, sharing regular reports to inform resource planning and costing
• Actively contribute to improving recruitment and selection processes, so they are fit for purpose and effective, ensuring the recruitment service is continuously evaluated and improved in line with wider strategic goals
• Develop a broad range of selection approaches for managers across the University, to enable inclusivity and transparency
• Ensure an effective approach to attracting candidates and talent through advertising, third‑party agencies, search firms and co‑ordination of talent management processes
• Undertake other duties commensurate with the grade of the position

Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience

• Excellent organisational skills with the ability to prioritise and manage own workload
• Ability to manage a high‑volume caseload, demonstrating attention to detail and ability to meet high‑volume deadlines
• Ability to work and communicate effectively with staff at all levels of the organisation, including advising, communicating on and implementing policy and guidelines
• Excellent relationship building skills and the ability to use tact and diplomacy to manage a range of customers, including both internal and external stakeholders
• Experience of working to set key performance indicators and objectives
• Good IT skills, with an ability to learn and adapt to new IT software (previous experience using case management platforms would be an advantage)
• Ability to lead on and manage projects, analysing data to drive change and implement new approaches
• Proven track record of delivering volume end to end recruitment campaigns (Desirable)
• Experience working within a higher education environment (Desirable)
• Knowledge of UKVI or UK employment legislation (Desirable)
• Experience of working in an HR shared service centre environment (Desirable)
• Recruitment experience within an in‑house setting (Desirable)
• Experience of sourcing candidates using different recruitment platforms i.e.: LinkedIn (Desirable)

Dimensions

Some Recruitment Advisers in the team have line management responsibilities, but this is not a universal requirement of the role.

This role does not own a budget.

Planning and Organising

The role is required to plan and co‑ordinate recruitment activity across the University: this involves advising managers on recruitment, and directly managing recruitment activity and assessment processes for some roles. The role holder therefore needs to be able to plan and manage their time to deliver effective recruitment support.

Problem Solving and Decision Making

The role is thinking and operating within the University’s policies and procedures, as well as any statutory requirements. Informed and guided by recruitment best practice, they are required to improve the processes to ensure that the University gets the most out of their recruitment activity. In reviewing the recruitment effectiveness and identifying improvements, the role will therefore need to be evaluative and analytical.

Internal and External Relationships

The role will need to communicate extensively with managers across the University, advising and supporting them in their recruitment activity. They will also need to communicate extensively with external candidates, and as such need to be a positive ambassador for the University of Birmingham.

Informal enquiries to Sophie Cheng, [e-mail] (before 5th February) or Natasha Dunne, [e-mail] (after 5th February).

View our staff values and behaviours here.

We believe there is no such thing as a 'typical' member of University of Birmingham staff and that diversity in its many forms is a strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation and debate at the heart of University life. We are committed to proactively addressing the barriers experienced by some groups in our community and are proud to hold Athena SWAN, Race Equality Charter and Disability Confident accreditations. We have an Equality Diversity and Inclusion Centre that focuses on continuously improving the University as a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone has the opportunity to succeed. We are also committed to sustainability, which is a key part of our strategy.You can find out more about our work to create a fairer university for everyone on our website.