Executive Recruiting Specialist at Northwestern Mutual

Summary:  

Support our in-house executive recruiting team focusing on supporting the top 300 leadership positions within our organization, collaborating directly with senior executives and their support staff. Facilitate complex talent acquisition processes and ensure seamless execution of recruiting initiatives.  

Primary Duties & Responsibilities:

• Track progress on executive-level searches and provide regular updates to the recruiting team for hiring managers and executives.  

• Collaborate with internal stakeholders to manage candidate pipelines, relocation processes, and onboarding timelines.  

• Develop and implement project plans for executive recruiting initiatives and manage tasks to ensure timely execution.  

• Oversee the end-to-end coordination of executive search processes, ensuring milestones are met and timelines adhered to.   

• Serve as the primary contact for scheduling, calendar management, and meeting coordination for the executive recruiting team.  

• Coordinate and manage internal and external candidate interviews with senior leaders and their executive assistants.  

• Assist with travel arrangements and manage logistical details for candidates and executives throughout the recruiting process, including all aspects of the on-site experience.  

• Workday Support: Ensure seamless experience for the team and candidates. Responsibilities include creating requisitions, opening and closing requisitions, scheduling interviews in Workday, pulling Workday audit reports, and posting/unposting roles.  

• Prepare briefing materials (decks) for executive search processes, including candidate profiles, scorecards, and interview guides.  

• Assist in drafting and editing job descriptions, executive summaries, and other candidate-facing documentation.  

• Conduct research on potential candidates and industry trends, providing insights to the executive recruiting team.  

• Pull metrics and reports to track KPIs/OKRs for team success. Including survey results.  

• Schedule on-site interviews and coordinate with Executive Assistants (EAs) supporting senior leadership, ensuring the on-site experience is seamless by working with appropriate CEE teams.  

• Handle room setup, coordination of candidates, candidate gifts, meal planning, restaurant reservations, and thank you cards for on-site executive candidate coordination.  

• Ensure an excellent candidate and hiring manager experience through prompt follow-up, high-quality work, and communication with executive candidates throughout the candidate's lifecycle from initial contact to the start date.  

• Serve as the liaison between the recruiting team and senior executives’ assistants to facilitate smooth coordination of schedules and other recruitment-related activities.  

• Serve as the subject matter expert on the company’s relocation policy and benefits, and liaise with executive candidates and vendor/HR Operations through the relocation process.  

• Assist with onboarding process logistics ensuring appropriate handoffs are made.  

• Contribute to ongoing efforts to improve the quality of the executive candidate experience.  

• Service as administrator for assessment following established process, pull appropriate candidate reports, and conduct coordination of debriefs as required.  

Qualifications:   

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience.  

• Minimum of 7 years of experience in an executive support or project management role, ideally within recruiting or human resources.  

• Excellent organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities and deadlines.  

• Strong written and verbal communication skills.  

• High proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and experience with applicant tracking systems, specifically Workday.  

• Ability to work autonomously, exercise good judgment, and handle confidential information with care.  

• Proven experience supporting senior executives, with strong calendar management and logistical coordination skills.