Recruitment and Talent Acquisition Manager (Chicago)

Position is located in Chicago, IL and is required to be in the office. This is not a hybrid role.

The Manager of Recruitment and Talent Acquisition owns the full-cycle staffing strategy to attract, hire, and retain top talent across both corporate office, restaurant locations andour manufacturing plant. This role balances high-volume restaurant management & restaurant hourly hiring and manufacturing hiring with strategic corporate searches to combat the hospitality industry's high turnover rates. 

JOB OVERVIEW

The Talent Acquisition Manager partners closely with Executive Leadership, Regional Directors of Operations, and Restaurant General Managers and Americana leadership to forecast workforce needs across over thirty plus locations and as we continue to grow nationally. This role is responsible for modernizing the recruitment framework to source hourly staff—including pizza cooks, servers, and hosts—alongside salaried management positions, directly combating high hospitality turnover rates through strategic employer branding. forecast headcount needs, build sustainable pipelines, and reduce time-to-hire. 

This leader ensures every candidate reflects the brand’s hospitality and service standards.

REPORTS TO Vice President of Human Resources

KEY RELATIONSHIPS

Internal: Executive Leadership, Regional Director of Operations, Restaurant managers, HR team, corporate staff and Americana staff.

External: Candidates, Vendors, Restaurant networking

Required Qualifications

The Ideal candidate will have restaurant management staffing coupled with human resources capabilities: 

• Experience: Minimum 7 years of full-cycle recruiting experience for high-volume corporate restaurant or hospitality brands.

• Education: Bachelor’s degree in human resources, Hospitality Management, Business Administration, or an equivalent combination of field experience.

• Technical Fluency: Proficient with enterprise HRIS/ATS systems and specialized hospitality job portals like UKG.

• Market Knowledge: In-depth understanding of the competitive Chicago labor landscape and broader national hospitality markets.

• Soft Skills: Strong interpersonal dexterity to manage corporate negotiations with upper management while maintaining approachable relations with restaurant team members. 

• Compliance Management: Maintain strict alignment with federal, state, and local labor laws, ensuring absolute compliance with I-9 verifications and fair-chance ordinances.

ESSENTIAL

Succeeding at Giordano's requires managing a unified corporate strategy that adapts to localized, high-volume market needs:

• Strategic Pipeline Architecture: Build localized sourcing channels for high-turnover hourly roles and critical leadership positions for all restaurant management levels, corporate staff, hourly team members, and Americana staffing.

• High-Volume Logistics Tech: Optimize and scale the mobile-friendly Applicant Tracking System (ATS) to capture and quickly process on-the-go applicants. 

• Brand Ambassadorship: Champion Giordano’s rich 1974 Chicago heritage at regional culinary school panels, hospitality job fairs, and digital platforms. 

• Data Optimization Tracking: Review and analyse talent acquisition metrics—such as time-to-fill, cost-per-hire, and 90-day retention—to refine sourcing spends. 

Employer Branding & Community Outreach

Building external local brand equity serves as a crucial cushion for high-turnover hospitality environments:

• Culinary Pipeline Engineering: Build ongoing partnerships with regional culinary arts schools (such as the Washburne Culinary & Hospitality Institute in Chicago) to lock in fresh graduating talent.

• Job Fair Event Production: Plan, resource, and organize localized open-call hiring days for new restaurant openings or seasonal restaurant volume surges.

• Digital Footprint Monitoring: Monitor corporate Glassdoor, Indeed, and LinkedIn review trends. Provide continuous feedback to leadership regarding overall employee sentiment and brand perception.

Compliance & Standard Operating Procedures

This position acts as a critical line of defence ensuring local restaurant management remains legally compliant:

• Hiring Manager Training: Conduct routine instructional workshops for General Managers regarding lawful interview questioning, bias mitigation, and proper candidate communication techniques.

• Compliance Documentation Storage: Partner with the VP of HR to build structured, fair-chance hiring templates that conform to changing local and state labor ordinances across all our markets and expansion markets.

SECONDARY JOB FUNCTIONS

This role works deeply behind the scenes to bridge corporate headquarters with local operational management:

• Internal Mobility Design: Partner with HR & Operations to map clear internal promotion pathways. This ensures kitchen workers or servers have visible lines of sight to transition into shift leads and restaurant assistant manager roles. 

• Onboarding Content Curation: Collaborate with Regional Directors and training leads to continuously refresh day-one onboarding materials, corporate welcome kits, and foundational brand history assets.

• Exit Interview Analytics: Periodically audit localized exit interview trends. Use this feedback to diagnose regional retention gaps and suggest cultural updates to executive leadership.

• Background Check Audit Management: Oversee external background check providers and drug testing vendors to ensure seamless processing timelines.

ESSENTIAL PHYSICAL ABILITIES

- Ability to stand and walk continuously throughout the day.

- Frequently bend, reach, squat, lift, carry, push, and pull. 

- Ability to lift to 30 pounds. 

- Ability to perform repetitive hand motions for extended periods. 

- Ability to travel 60% of the time throughout the country as needed.

Salary - $90,000 - $130,000 plus annual bonus.

Benefits - medical / dental/ vision/ prescription/ PTO and paid sick leave/ STD and LTD disability/ 401(K) with match/ EAP and pet insurance and lots and lots of pizza!!!