Recruiter job description template: in-house and agency versions, with screening questions

A recruiter job description has to answer one question before anything else: which desk is this? An in-house full-cycle recruiter, an agency recruiter who also wins clients, a sourcer and a recruiting coordinator are four different jobs, and a posting that blends them attracts people who are good at one and claim the rest. Below is a copy-ready template for a full-cycle recruiter with an agency variant, the pay and EEO wording to finish it, how each must-have becomes a screening question and a scorecard row, and the mistakes that make recruiter postings pull in the wrong people.

The general method, building requirements from first-year outcomes, is in how to write a job description that screens. This page applies it to recruiting roles specifically.

Settle the desk before you write

Also settle the requisition load and the function (technical, hourly, sales, executive) with the hiring manager. Twelve technical roles and forty hourly roles are different jobs with the same title, and the intake meeting is where you find out which one you are hiring for.

The recruiter job description template

Replace the brackets. Delete any line that does not apply to your desk rather than leaving it vague.

[Recruiter / Senior Recruiter / Technical Recruiter]
[Company], [city] — [On-site / Hybrid: days / Remote within: states]
Pay: [$min]–[$max] base per year, plus [bonus or commission:
how it is earned, e.g. quarterly bonus tied to hires; or % of fees
collected above a threshold]. [Benefits summary, if required.]

SUMMARY
You will own [8–12 / 25–40] open roles in [engineering / operations /
sales / hourly] for [team or client base], from the intake meeting to
the accepted offer. You will work with [N] hiring managers and report
to [title].

WHAT YOU WILL DO
- Run intake meetings and agree on must-haves, the pay range and the
  interview plan before a role goes live.
- Source candidates who are not applying, through [LinkedIn,
  referrals, our ATS database, events].
- Phone screen candidates and write submittals a hiring manager can
  decide from without a call.
- Coordinate interviews and run the debrief so decisions happen
  within [N] business days.
- Extend offers within approved ranges and close candidates.
- Keep the ATS current the same day; report pipeline weekly.
[Agency variant: Win new clients and take job orders; agree fee and
guarantee terms; manage [N] active accounts.]

YOU MUST HAVE
- Owned open roles end to end, from intake to accepted offer, in
  [function or industry] for at least [one hiring cycle / a year].
- Sourced and hired candidates who did not apply on their own.
- Managed hiring managers who disagreed with you on a candidate or a
  requirement.
- Used an applicant tracking system daily.
[Agency variant: Brought in at least one new client account.]

NICE TO HAVE
- Recruiting in [industry] or for [role family].
- Boolean search across more than one platform.
- A recruiting or HR certification.
If you meet the must-haves and none of these, please apply.

FIXED CONDITIONS
- Requisition load: usually [N] open roles at a time.
- Schedule: [hours]; occasional evening screens for [shift workers /
  other time zones].
- Travel: [none / career fairs, about N days a quarter].
- Offers are subject to [checks] as permitted by law.

[EEO STATEMENT — see below]
If you need an adjustment to apply or interview, email [address].

Pay range and EEO statement

Pay. Leave the placeholder until the range is approved on the requisition; do not invent one from a salary site. A growing number of states require a range in covered job postings, and some apply the rule to employment agencies as well as employers (New York's Labor Law 194-b, for example). The rules by state, with sources, are in pay transparency laws by state. Recruiter pay is often part variable, which matters here: Colorado's Equal Pay for Equal Work Act requires a posting to include bonuses, commissions and other compensation offered for the job, plus a general description of benefits (Colorado CDLE). If you want an outside reference point for the range, BLS publishes wage estimates through its Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) program. Recruiters fall under Human Resources Specialists (SOC 13-1071), a group that also includes other HR roles, so treat it as a rough check rather than a recruiter benchmark.

EEO statement. Federal law bars job ads that show a preference based on a protected characteristic. The EEOC lists those as race, color, religion, sex (including transgender status, sexual orientation and pregnancy), national origin, age (40 or older), disability and genetic information (EEOC). A common closing statement:

[Company] is an equal opportunity employer. We consider qualified
applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including
pregnancy, sexual orientation and gender identity), national origin,
age, disability, genetic information, protected veteran status, or
any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local law.

Federal contractors have specific wording duties for veterans and disability; see job posting requirements for federal contractors. Agencies should also check whether their state licenses employment agencies; see employment agency license requirements.

From must-haves to screening questions and scorecard rows

Each must-have should come back three times: as a question on the phone screen, as a competency on the scorecard, and as the evidence you write down. If you cannot write the question, the must-have is too vague.

The fuller question bank, including billings and placement verification and what not to ask about pay history, is in recruiter screening questions. For the scale and anchors, start from the interview scorecard template, and once you hire, carry the same outcomes into the new recruiter's first 90 days.

Common mistakes in recruiter job descriptions

Hiding the requisition load

Load is the first thing an experienced recruiter wants to know, and it decides whether the job is doable. Leaving it out attracts people who assume a load they are used to, and you discover the mismatch at offer stage.

Inflated requirements

"Bachelor's degree in human resources", "five to seven years of recruiting" and "experience with Workday, Greenhouse and iCIMS" are all proxies. Years stand in for fill history, and ATS skills transfer within weeks. Ask for what was done: roles owned, hires made, sourcing methods. If a degree is truly required by your organization for the level, say so once and do not dress it up as a skill.

Vague "network" requirements

"Must bring an established network" tells candidates nothing and invites people to overstate their contacts. It can also push candidates toward taking client or candidate lists from a current employer. Ask for outbound sourcing ability instead, and never ask a candidate to bring a former employer's data.

Biased or empty wording

"Hunter", "rockstar recruiter" and "hungry, young team" describe a culture rather than the work, and age-coded phrases are exactly what the EEOC warns about in ads. Replace them with the numbers and tasks: "about 30 phone screens a week across 10 open roles" says more than any adjective. If you write a volume, use your real figure.

Blending desks

A posting that asks for business development, full-cycle recruiting, sourcing and coordination in one role either describes an unrealistic job or hides which part matters. Pick the desk, and put the other duties under "you may also" if they are genuinely occasional.

No variable pay description

A base range alone misleads agency candidates, whose total pay is mostly commission, and can fall short of state posting rules that cover commission. Describe how the variable part is earned, even if you cannot promise a figure.

Before you publish

• The title matches the desk, and the summary states the load and the function.
• Three to five must-haves, each with a screening question you have written.
• The pay line has an approved range and a plain description of bonus or commission.
• The EEO statement and an accommodation contact close the posting.
• The hiring manager has read it and agrees on what would make them reject a candidate.

If you use Interview Signal, paste the finished description and it builds the screen's question guide from the must-haves, so the questions above are on screen during the call.