Strategic Talent Acquisition Partner

Cleaver-Brooks • Lincoln, NE

4d • Hybrid

About The Position

Cleaver-Brooks is looking for a Strategic Talent Acquisition Partner to help us take a more proactive approach to finding and engaging the talent our business needs—both today and in the future. This is not a traditional recruiter role focused solely on managing active requisitions. We're looking for an experienced recruiter and strategic sourcer who enjoys solving difficult talent challenges, finding people others can't, understanding where talent exists in the market, and building relationships and pipelines before a position ever opens. You'll serve as a sourcing and talent intelligence resource for our Talent Acquisition team, developing strategies for critical and difficult-to-fill talent, building proactive pipelines, conducting market and talent research, and establishing partnerships that expand our access to talent. You'll also remain connected to full-cycle recruiting by managing a small requisition portfolio and providing additional recruiting support when business needs or team capacity require it.

Requirements

• 5+ years of progressive Talent Acquisition experience, including full-cycle recruiting, strategic sourcing, proactive talent pipeline development, and related talent acquisition initiatives.
• Experience recruiting within manufacturing, industrial services, engineering, construction, energy, skilled trades, technical environments, or similarly complex talent markets strongly preferred.
• Strong proactive sourcing skills and demonstrated success identifying and engaging passive and difficult-to-find talent.
• Experience using sourcing platforms, Boolean and X-ray search techniques, talent databases, professional networks, referrals, and other creative sourcing methods.
• Experience with platforms such as Indeed, HireEZ, FactoryFix, Handshake, or comparable recruiting and sourcing tools.
• Ability to conduct talent-market research, competitive mapping, and labor-market analysis and turn findings into actionable recruiting strategies.
• Experience building proactive talent pipelines, talent communities, or alternative talent channels.
• Strong full-cycle recruiting skills, including intake, sourcing, candidate assessment, hiring-manager partnership, offer development, and candidate closing.
• Strong relationship-building and communication skills with the ability to influence hiring managers, HR partners, business leaders, candidates, and external partners.
• Strong organization, project management, accountability, and follow-through.
• Ability to independently identify opportunities and move work forward without continuous direction.
• Ability to balance immediate recruiting priorities with longer-term strategic initiatives.
• Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business, Marketing, Communications, or a related field preferred; equivalent relevant experience will be considered.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with skilled trades, service technicians, engineering, or other difficult-to-fill technical talent
• Talent mapping or competitive talent research
• Partnerships with technical schools, workforce organizations, or military transition programs
• SkillBridge, apprenticeships, internships, or early-career programs
• Employer-brand or talent-attraction partnerships
• Emerging sourcing technologies and AI-enabled recruiting tools

Responsibilities

• Develop proactive sourcing strategies for critical, recurring, specialized, and difficult-to-fill positions.
• Identify and engage passive talent through Indeed, HireEZ, FactoryFix, Handshake, Boolean and X-ray search techniques, professional networks, referrals, industry resources, and other creative sourcing channels.
• Conduct talent-market research and mapping to understand where talent exists, who employs it, competitive market conditions, and potential barriers to attracting candidates.
• Identify adjacent industries and transferable skill sets that can expand our available talent pools.
• Translate market intelligence into practical recommendations for recruiters, HR partners, hiring leaders, and the business.
• Support priority and difficult-to-fill searches with targeted sourcing and market intelligence.
• Build and maintain proactive pipelines for critical and recurring talent needs.
• Partner with Talent Acquisition, HR, and business leaders to understand anticipated workforce demand and identify where pipelines should be developed.
• Create talent communities and engagement strategies that keep prospective candidates connected to Cleaver-Brooks.
• Develop strategies for capturing, organizing, and re-engaging prospective talent as opportunities become available.
• Measure pipeline quality, engagement, readiness, and conversion.
• Build relationships with technical schools, trade programs, colleges and universities, workforce development organizations, military transition programs, industry associations, and community partners.
• Support SkillBridge, military and veteran recruiting, internships, apprenticeships, early-career programs, and skilled-trades workforce initiatives.
• Identify new partnerships and talent channels that support current and anticipated workforce needs.
• Represent Cleaver-Brooks at targeted recruiting, workforce development, educational, military, and industry events.
• Evaluate partnerships based on their ability to generate qualified candidates, pipelines, and hires.
• Identify priority talent audiences and provide candidate, sourcing, and labor-market insights that inform our talent attraction strategy.
• Partner closely with our Communications & Employer Brand Specialist to develop targeted approaches for reaching priority talent.
• Help identify the messages, employee experiences, career paths, and workforce programs that will resonate with specific candidate populations.
• Leverage employer-brand content and campaigns within sourcing, talent communities, workforce partnerships, and candidate outreach.
• Measure how talent attraction efforts influence candidate quality, engagement, pipeline growth, and hiring outcomes.
• Manage a small portfolio of full-cycle requisitions, from intake through offer acceptance.
• Partner with hiring managers to understand talent needs, develop recruiting strategies, assess candidates, and keep searches moving forward.
• Provide additional recruiting support during periods of increased hiring volume, critical hiring needs, or recruiter capacity constraints.
• Deliver a high-quality candidate and hiring-manager experience through proactive communication and strong follow-through.
• Provide insight on talent availability, market conditions, compensation considerations, and recruiting challenges.
• Identify and evaluate new sourcing channels, recruiting technologies, tools, and approaches.
• Test new ways to identify and engage difficult-to-find and passive talent.
• Explore opportunities to improve sourcing, candidate engagement, talent rediscovery, and pipeline management through technology and automation.
• Share sourcing best practices, market insights, and successful strategies across the Talent Acquisition team.
• Lead assigned Talent Acquisition projects and help us continuously improve how we find, attract, and engage talent.

Benefits

• Competitive salary
• Comprehensive benefits, including medical, dental, vision, maternity support program, discounted virtual physician visits, voluntary medical benefits (Critical Illness, Hospital Care, and Accidental Injury), FSA, HSA, life insurance, short term and long-term disability
• Cash matching 401(k) plan
• Employee assistance program (EAP)
• Pet insurance
• Employee discount program
• Tuition assistance
• Paid time off and 11 paid holidays

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior