Talent Acquisition Consultant

The University of Minnesota seeks a Talent Acquisition Consultant to lead recruitment strategy for designated health sciences units, with an initial focus on Public Health, Pharmacy, and Dentistry. This onsite role is based in Minneapolis, MN, with a salary range of USD 83,500 to 90,000 per year and requires a BA/BS plus four or more years of professional experience in talent acquisition or a related field.

Responsibilities

• Develop and oversee recruitment strategies for health sciences units such as Public Health, Pharmacy, Dentistry, and other designated areas.
• Advise hiring managers, HR partners, and unit leaders on recruitment approaches, labor market conditions, candidate pools, and effective hiring practices.
• Provide strategic planning guidance for complex, high-priority, hard-to-fill, and recurring positions.
• Collaborate with departments to align recruitment plans with unit priorities, staffing needs, and University policies.
• Proactively identify current and future hiring needs through workforce planning discussions, data analysis, and ongoing partner consultation.
• Counsel hiring managers on candidate attraction, sourcing options, position requirements, search timelines, and selection processes.
• Serve as a primary Talent Acquisition contact for assigned health sciences recruitment portfolios.
• Oversee full-cycle recruitment for Civil Service and P&A positions across the assigned units.
• Source, screen, interview, and recommend internal and external candidates for roles at multiple levels.
• Create and execute recruitment plans tailored to each position, unit, candidate market, and hiring need.
• Work with hiring managers and HR partners to ensure timely, consistent recruitment aligned with University policy.
• Ensure recruitment practices comply with University policy, employment regulations, equal opportunity standards, and applicable governance or bargaining requirements.
• Maintain accurate recruitment records, applicant documentation, and reporting for assigned searches.
• Support additional University recruitment needs as directed by Talent Acquisition leadership.
• Develop and sustain pipelines of qualified candidates for critical, recurring, and difficult-to-fill positions.
• Apply proactive sourcing strategies to identify passive candidates and expand the applicant pool.
• Build relationships with professional associations, academic programs, industry networks, and other external sources to support health sciences recruitment.
• Research market trends and candidate availability to inform recruitment strategy and manager expectations.
• Advise on competitive positioning, candidate outreach, and strategies to improve talent attraction.
• Identify opportunities to enhance the University’s visibility as an employer within health sciences talent markets.
• Analyze recruitment metrics, applicant flow, hiring trends, and search outcomes to identify process improvements.
• Use recruitment data to inform sourcing strategies, hiring timelines, workforce planning discussions, and unit partner consultations.
• Provide recommendations on recruitment challenges, compensation considerations, internal equity, and candidate market conditions in partnership with HR and compensation teams.
• Identify patterns in hiring activity and propose strategies to improve efficiency, consistency, and candidate quality.
• Prepare recruitment updates and summaries for Talent Acquisition leadership and unit partners as needed.
• Serve as a resource and subject matter expert within Talent Acquisition for assigned health sciences recruitment activities.
• Collaborate with Talent Acquisition leadership, supervisors, consultants, and specialists to ensure consistent recruitment practices across portfolios.
• Offer guidance, consultation, or informal support to other recruiters when needed.
• Assist colleagues across the Talent Acquisition team when additional recruitment support is required.
• Participate in process improvement efforts, recruitment projects, team initiatives, and other duties as assigned.
• May support recruitment for other University units, job families, or priority hiring needs based on operational demands.

Requirements

• BA/BS degree plus at least four years of professional experience in talent acquisition, recruiting, human resources, or a related field, or a combination of education and experience totaling at least eight years.
• Experience recruiting within higher education, academic health sciences, healthcare, research, public sector, or other large complex organizations.
• Experience consulting with hiring managers, HR partners, and senior leaders on recruitment strategy and workforce planning.
• Demonstrated ability to develop sourcing strategies and talent pipelines for hard-to-fill or specialized roles.
• Experience managing full-cycle recruitment across multiple job families and organizational areas.
• Experience analyzing recruitment data and applying insights to improve hiring outcomes.
• Knowledge of compensation practices, internal equity considerations, and market-informed recruitment strategy.
• Ability to manage competing priorities across multiple units, searches, and stakeholders.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to advise, influence, and build trust with diverse partners.

Independence and Decision Making

• The Talent Acquisition Consultant operates with significant autonomy and oversees recruitment strategy and execution for assigned portfolios with limited day-to-day supervision. Work is guided by priorities, schedules, deadlines, and defined deliverables; supervision occurs mainly for complex issues, recurring concerns, or at-risk deadlines.
• This role applies professional judgment to complex recruitment scenarios and frequently serves as a technical recruiting resource for hiring managers, HR partners, and colleagues within Talent Acquisition. The consultant is expected to make timely, sound recommendations and escalate issues to Talent Acquisition leadership when appropriate.