Hiring Manager vs Recruiter: What’s the Difference?

When you’re applying for jobs, you might encounter hiring managers and recruiters, both of whom may seem to be doing the same thing — trying to hire for a specific position. While it’s true that both people want to make the best hire, their roles throughout the interview process are quite different. Knowing what each position does can help you approach each conversation feeling prepared, confident, and like you have all the right answers. So, what’s the difference between a hiring manager vs. recruiter? 

>>MORE: On the job search? Learn what types of careers are right for you in our free and fun five-minute quiz. 

Hiring Manager vs. Recruiter: What They Do

Both hiring managers and recruiters aim to fill open positions at their companies. 

Recruiters are always looking to fill open roles across the company, whether that’s on the marketing or engineering team. This responsibility is often a main part of their job description. 

Hiring managers are looking to fill open roles within their teams. These are usually people they’ll be managing after the person gets hired. Hiring new people for their team is often one of many job responsibilities. 

What Does a Recruiter Do? 

A recruiter’s main job is to connect qualified candidates with a company’s open roles. This means they’re trying to find people with the right skills and experience to match what a company is looking for. 

Some of a recruiter’s responsibilities may include:

• Conducting candidate outreach: Recruiters actively search for candidates who have the right skills and experience for the roles the company is hiring for. For example, a recruiter might conduct searches on LinkedIn and message specific people to invite them to apply for a role.
• Reviewing applications: A recruiter is often the first person to see a candidate’s application. They’ll review submitted resumes and cover letters to see if they fit the basic job requirements. 
• Conducting introductory interviews: Recruiters are also typically the first people to speak to a candidate. They’ll set up an introductory interview, usually a quick phone screening, to ensure the candidate meets the basic job requirements. They may also ask about compensation expectations to ensure the candidate and company are aligned. 
• Answering candidate questions: Recruiters aren’t necessarily the experts on each role — especially compared to the hiring manager — but they will answer basic questions about the company, how the role fits into the organization, and benefits.
• Passing on candidates: After an initial phone screening, a recruiter will decide whether to pass on a candidate to the hiring manager or not move forward with the interview process.

Recruiters can work in a variety of different capacities. Some recruiters sit within a company’s human resources department and hire only for roles within that company. Other recruiters may work for a recruiting agency and help multiple companies. Companies without internal recruiters will hire agency recruiters to help them find candidates. 

>>MORE: What Is a Recruiter (and How to Talk to One)?

What Does a Hiring Manager Do?

A hiring manager is someone hiring for positions on their team. Yet hiring managers typically don’t necessarily spend much of their time hiring; hiring is just one aspect of their job responsibilities. Instead, they have a title that describes what they do, like a consultant, marketing manager, or sales executive. They only become a “hiring manager” when they have an open role they’re hiring for.

Hiring managers lead the hiring process, usually with the help of the rest of their team and the company’s human resources department. Some of their responsibilities may include:

• Writing the job description: A company’s human resources department may give a hiring manager a template or example to help them draft the description, but the hiring manager will describe the role’s function, responsibilities, required skills, goals, and more.
• Interviews with qualified applicants: After the recruiter passes along a candidate, the hiring manager will interview the candidate to get in-depth information about their experience and skills, as well as why they’re interested in the role. 
• Collecting feedback from the team about what they think of an applicant: While the hiring manager often leads the interview process, other members of their team may also conduct interviews with the candidate. The hiring manager collects their feedback and will take their opinions into consideration when making hiring decisions.
• Deciding who to hire: Ultimately, the hiring manager decides who they want to hire onto their team. 
• Offering the role to an applicant: Once they’ve made their decision, the hiring manager will extend an offer to their chosen candidate and answer any questions or negotiate any terms.

>>MORE: What Is a Hiring Manager (and How to Talk to One)?

How to Talk to a Recruiter vs. Hiring Manager

Whether you’re talking to a recruiter or hiring manager, you want to make the right impression to help you land the role. But you don’t need to speak to them in the exact same way — in fact, it’s likely your interviews with each of them will look very different.

How to Talk to a Recruiter

You might have a short phone interview with a recruiter first to see if your skills and experience align with what the company’s looking for. Your goal for this interview should be to clearly establish that you have the basic experience needed to succeed in this role and that you’re a good fit for the company.

>>MORE: How to Reach Out and Find Recruiters on LinkedIn

“They’ll want to understand what you’ve done, how your skillset matches the requirements of the role, why you’re looking for a new job, your motivation to apply for this specific role, what you know about the company, your notice period, and salary expectations,” Margaret Buj, senior talent partner at MixMax and recruiter with over 17 years experience, says.

They might ask you questions like:

• Why are you interested in this role?
• How does your skill set match what we’re looking for in this role?
• Can you walk me through your experience with [relevant skill]?
• What are your salary expectations?
• What is your preferred work environment and company culture?
• Do you have any questions about the company or the role? 

When talking to a recruiter, it’s really about seeing if you’re a match for the company — and that doesn’t just include your experience. It’s also whether you match more logistical things like their working preferences (remote, hybrid, in-person) and salary range.

How to Talk to a Recruiter: Dos and Don’ts

It’s most important to be honest about your experience and what you’re looking for when talking to a recruiter. It’s better to know upfront whether the role is right for you rather than wasting your and the company’s time down the road. 

• Do ask tough questions: Go ahead and ask the tough questions about salary, working preferences, and company culture. It’s much easier to align on things like salary upfront than learn later on that the company is offering something much below your expectations.
• Do name-drop your specific skills: The recruiter’s job is to ensure you have the basic skills to do the job — so make sure you restate that you have them! For example, if programming skills are necessary, be sure to state clearly that you know how to code.
• Don’t ask about all of the role’s specifics: A recruiter might not know all the role’s technical aspects, the specifics of the team structure, or how the role is managed. These are good questions to ask the hiring manager.

How to Talk to a Hiring Manager

When talking to a hiring manager, you want to sell yourself on why you’re right for the role — after all, this person makes the final decision on whether you’re hired or not. 

You also want to connect with this person! You’ll most likely be working closely with the hiring manager; the hiring manager might end up being your manager, your manager’s manager, or someone else on your team.

Compared to the conversation with the recruiter, a hiring manager will likely ask you more in-depth questions about your skills and experience, like:

• Describe a project you’re particularly proud of and your role in it.
• How would you approach [specific job-related task]?
• Tell me about a time you had to work effectively with a team to achieve a goal. 
• How do you stay up to date with the latest trends in this field?
• Can you describe a situation when you had to make a difficult decision? How did you approach it? 
• What metrics would you use to measure the success of your work in this role?
• What kind of management style do you work best with and why? 
• Do you have any questions for me about the team or the day-to-day responsibilities?

>>MORE: Ace the interview by learning how to answer common interview questions.

How to Talk to a Hiring Manager: Dos and Don’ts

Your conversation with the hiring manager is your time to shine and really share in-depth examples of your experience, the tools and skills you’ve used, how you work, and your personality. 

• Do reshare details about your experience: While it’s likely the recruiter and hiring manager have communicated about your experience, don’t assume the hiring manager heard about everything you said in previous interviews. Be sure to share all of your relevant skills and experiences, even if you’ve talked about it with the recruiter already. It’s better to over communicate! 
• Do make sure this role is right for you: The hiring manager should be intimately familiar with the everyday responsibilities of this role, so it’s more than OK to ask questions about what the day-to-day work looks like, expectations, tools, responsibilities, and anything else that can help you understand exactly what you’d be doing.
• Do make sure this hiring manager is the right teammate for you: This is also the time to assess whether you think this person would be the right manager (or teammate) for you. In a conversation with a hiring manager, you can ask questions about their communication style, the team, and how they measure success.
• Don’t ask basic questions about the company and role: While you should be asking questions to make sure the role, company, and even hiring manager is a good fit, don’t ask questions that can be answered with a simple Google search. Show that you’ve done your research and reference items in the job description or company website, news, or social media when asking questions. For example, you might ask something like, “I saw in the job description that this role works closely with the product team. Can you tell me more about how that relationship works?” 

Hiring Manager vs. Recruiter: The Bottom Line

While hiring managers and recruiters look to fill open roles, this responsibility and associated tasks are weighted differently between their positions. 

For hiring managers, hiring is just one part of their job — they have a slew of unrelated responsibilities that describe their actual job function, like software engineer or accountant. However, they’re the person you’ll report to and they make the final hiring decision.

On the other hand, sourcing new applicants is the main part of a recruiter’s job. They’re there to ensure you have the basic skills and experience to do the job, and if you do, they’ll pass you off to the hiring manager to interview you and make the final call. 

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