Talent Acquisition Executive - Early Careers

The Recipe

The Early Careers Talent Acquisition Executive will join the Talent Acquisition team on a 6-month fixed-term contract, playing a key role in delivering Warburtons' 2026 Early Careers recruitment campaign. The role will manage the end-to-end recruitment campaign across Apprenticeships, Graduates, Internships and T Levels, coordinating attraction, assessment, selection and onboarding activities to ensure a seamless experience for candidates and hiring managers. Working closely with stakeholders across the business, you'll leverage recruitment tools, market insights and proactive attraction strategies to identify and secure high-quality early careers talent, while confidently managing multiple recruitment activities and ensuring key hiring milestones are delivered on time.

Key Accountabilities and Measures

End-to-End Recruitment Delivery

• Deliver end-to-end recruitment for Early Careers opportunities, from advertising and attraction through to offer management and onboarding.
• Ensure recruitment activities are delivered to agreed timescales to support the successful delivery of the 2026 Early Careers intake.
• Manage candidate pipelines and recruitment campaigns across Apprenticeship, Graduate, Internship and T Level opportunities.

Candidate Assessment & Selection

• Screen and assess candidates through telephone screening, competency-based interviews and assessment centre activities.
• Support hiring managers in making informed hiring decisions through robust and consistent assessment processes.
• Design, plan and deliver engaging assessment centres and recruitment events, ensuring exercises effectively assess capability, potential and cultural alignment. Coordinate event logistics, stakeholder participation, candidate communications and evaluation processes to deliver a positive candidate experience and robust hiring outcomes.

Stakeholder & Candidate Management

• Build strong relationships with hiring managers and key stakeholders across the business.
• Provide regular updates on recruitment activity, candidate progress and campaign performance.
• Act as the primary point of contact for candidates throughout the recruitment process, ensuring a positive experience from application through to onboarding.

Attraction & Employer Branding

• Support the delivery of employer branding initiatives, careers fairs, recruitment events and attraction campaigns.
• Promote Warburtons as an employer of choice across all candidate touchpoints.
• Work with external suppliers and education partners to support recruitment activities and candidate attraction.

Recruitment Operations & Compliance

• Maintain accurate candidate and vacancy records within SuccessFactors and associated recruitment systems.
• Ensure all recruitment activity is compliant with GDPR, employment legislation and company policies.
• Coordinate pre-employment checks and onboarding activities to ensure a smooth transition into the business.

Data & Reporting

• Produce and maintain recruitment reports, tracking key metrics such as pipeline activity, source effectiveness and time-to-hire.
• Monitor campaign progress, highlighting risks, challenges and opportunities for improvement.
• Use data and insights to support continuous improvement and efficient recruitment delivery.

Continuous Improvement

• Identify opportunities to enhance recruitment processes, candidate engagement and team effectiveness.
• Share best practice and contribute ideas that improve the overall recruitment experience for candidates and hiring managers.
• Keep up to date with market trends, recruitment tools and emerging talent attraction approaches.

Essential Ingredients

• Extensive In-House Recruitment Experience: Demonstrated success managing recruitment across diverse business areas, with a strong focus on Early Careers, and Next Generation Talent (NGT) roles, ideally within FMCG.
• Professional Resourcing Expertise: Proven ability to apply best practice sourcing and screening techniques, leveraging modern recruitment technologies and methodologies.
• Comprehensive Recruitment Cycle Knowledge :Deep understanding of end-to-end recruitment processes within large, complex organisations.
• Specialist Knowledge in Early Careers & Technical Hiring: In-depth experience recruiting for Early Careers, understanding the unique requirements of these functions.
• Recruitment Systems Proficiency: Skilled in using Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS), preferably Success Factors, to manage and optimize recruitment workflows.
• Direct Sourcing & Headhunting Skills: Significant experience sourcing candidates directly, including headhunting, LinkedIn, job boards, social media, and branded advertising for both active and passive talent.
• Employment Law & Compliance Awareness: Up-to-date knowledge of employment legislation, GDPR, and recruitment compliance standards.
• Outstanding Communication: Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with a professional and confident telephone manner.
• Collaborative Team Player: Strong ability to work effectively within a team, supporting collective goals and sharing best practices.
• Stakeholder Management: Experience engaging and influencing senior stakeholders, acting as a trusted advisor throughout the recruitment process.
• Attention to Detail: High level of accuracy and a commitment to delivering quality outcomes.
• Organisational & Time Management: Exceptional ability to prioritize tasks, manage workload independently, and meet deadlines.
• Results-Oriented: Demonstrated track record of working to SLAs, KPIs, and targets, including cost-per-hire, time-to-hire, and quality metrics.
• Analytical Capability: Proficient in producing, interpreting, and acting on recruitment data and analytics to drive continuous improvement.
• Drive & Resilience: Energetic, resilient, and motivated by achieving high-quality results in a fast-paced environment.

Extra Dough

At last and by no means least, you will want to know what your breads worth:

• A slice of the annual profits (discretionary profit share)
• Family time is important to us and we know it will be to you so you have the opportunity to purchase up to an extra weeks annual leave.
• Award winning pension scheme with company contributions of 7%
• Life assurance
• Products you will love along with deals and discounts for you and the family through our Extra Dough website
• Continued investment in your personal development
• Fully stocked kitchens filled with our delicious products for you to enjoy with your daily brew! 
• Support for your health and wellbeing, including access to free physiotherapy, 24/7 access to a confidential helpline for practical advice and a comprehensive occupational health service