Talent Acquisition Specialist

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About Us:

EssentiallySports is a digital-first sports media house that delivers engaging, insightful, and high-quality sports content to millions of fans across the globe. With a presence in over 150 countries, we specialize in covering a wide range of sports, including American sports like the NFL, NBA, and CFB, alongside other major global sports.

Talent Acquisition Specialist

Key Responsibilities:

• End-to-End Recruitment:

  Drive the complete recruitment cycle—sourcing, screening, interviews, offers, and onboarding—while ensuring a smooth and engaging candidate experience across roles like writers, editors, designers, developers, and business professionals.

• Business Partnership:

  Partner with business and HR leaders to understand workforce plans, define role requirements, and ensure hiring aligns with organizational goals and long-term strategic vision.

• Sourcing Strategy:

  Use a balanced mix of channels such as LinkedIn, referrals, alumni networks, job portals, and social media to build quality pipelines and proactively map talent for future needs.

• Headhunting & Passive Talent Outreach:

  Actively approach high-potential candidates, especially from niche spaces and competitor brands, leveraging LinkedIn and professional communities.

• Strategic LinkedIn Hiring:

  Comfortable using LinkedIn Recruiter and similar platforms to independently run end-to-end hiring campaigns, talent mapping, and cold outreach at scale.

• Campus Recruitment:

  Lead college outreach and campus programs—from institute selection and assessment coordination to converting high-potential interns into full-time hires.

• Screening & Trial Management:

  Collaborate with hiring managers to build sharp screening criteria, manage assignment/trial evaluations where relevant, and influence decisions using data-backed insights.

• Candidate Experience:

  Ensure a humanized, respectful, and transparent recruitment experience that reflects our culture and values at every touchpoint.

• Data-Driven Hiring:

  Track hiring metrics like time-to-hire, TAT, funnel health, source performance, and conversion rates using ATS, Excel, and Google Sheets. Use insights to optimize processes.

• Employer Branding:

  Support employer brand initiatives by showcasing company culture through campaigns, social media, testimonials, and recruitment-driven narratives.

• Future-Ready Talent Planning:

  Anticipate future talent gaps by tracking industry trends and proactively aligning hiring strategy with evolving skill demands and business goals.

• Pipeline Management:

  Build and nurture a high-quality talent pool for current and upcoming hiring needs across verticals.

Requirements:

• Minimum 2 years of recruitment experience in media, tech, digital content, or high-growth startup environments.
• Hands-on experience hiring for content (writers/editors) or product/tech (designers/developers) roles.
• Proven outbound sourcing and headhunting capability, especially through LinkedIn.
• Strong communication, coordination, and stakeholder management skills.
• Experience with tools like LinkedIn Recruiter and any ATS.
• Interest in sports, pop culture, or openness to learning in a sports-first setup.

Preferred Qualities:

• Sharp instinct for cultural and performance fit beyond what's on a resume.
• Proactive, solution-oriented, and creative in sourcing and engagement.
• High accountability with a bias for ownership and execution.
• Business-aware, with interest in how hiring influences broader org goals.
• Open to feedback, quick to adapt, and collaborative in nature.

Why Join Us?

• Be part of a fast-scaling global sports media company redefining sports storytelling.
• Work in a remote-first, high-energy team that values initiative, ownership, and speed.
• Drive recruitment in a setup that values innovation, transparency, and outcomes.

How to Apply:

hiring@essentiallysports.com

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