This post is adapted from a recent episode of Rec Tech: The Recruiting Technology Podcast.
Recruitment operations (RecOps) has evolved from a vague concept into one of the most critical functions in talent acquisition. But how do you actually build it? A recent JobSync roundtable brought together experts from Adobe and Lineage to share their real-world journeys — and the insights are invaluable for any TA leader considering this investment.
What Actually IS Recruitment Operations?
Ben Abare from Adobe describes RecOps as "the foundation of your house" — the infrastructure that makes recruiting scalable and understandable to the business side. It encompasses process design, tech stack management, reporting, compliance, enablement, and even talent marketing.
"Everybody else has an ops function," Ben noted. "Sales has rev ops. Technology has dev ops. Marketing has mark ops. Where's mine?"
The key insight? You're probably already doing recruiting operations — you just haven't concentrated it into a singular function. Instead, it's spread thin across your team like peanut butter, with everyone doing a little bit but no one owning it fully.
The Turning Point: When Do You Need RecOps?
Susan Williams from Lineage shared her organization's journey. Two years ago, Lineage faced a critical juncture: they had scaled their recruiting team to 50+ people supporting North America, but Susan was a single point of failure — she held all the institutional knowledge about their tech stack, integrations, and processes.
"We were about to implement Phenom CRM, and I went to my VP and said, 'I can't do this alone. We need a different partner than our HR operations team. We need that capability on our side.'"
The business case? They repurposed a recruiting coordinator headcount into a recruiting operations analyst role — funded through cost efficiencies in advertising spend. The ROI was clear: the skillset and price point for a RecOps professional was materially different than a coordinator.
Hiring Your First RecOps Person: What to Look For
Jamie Kasasa, recruiting operations analyst at Lineage, joined after working at Madison Square Garden and Glassdoor. Her advice for building the function?
Start with people, not technology.
"Start with the people who are closest to the work and listen actively," she advised. "Not just because it's on an onboarding checklist — really get to know them. Listen for what people aren't telling you, as well as what they are."
Building trust is crucial. Recruiters often view operations folks skeptically: "You've never done my job. How can you tell me to do something different?" There's also the reality that you're often "taking their baby" — processes they built that now fall under your remit.
The mindset? "This is good. Let's keep building. We're not done yet."
Skills That Matter
For your first hire, Susan emphasized looking for:
- Data analytics — ability to dig through raw data and translate it into insights
- Systems thinking — understanding how all the parts connect
- Process analysis — identifying inefficiencies and recommending adjustments
- Change management — especially during technology implementations
As the function matures, you'll need specialized skills in talent marketing, branding, and campaign automation.
The Data Imperative: What Should You Report On?
The panelists agreed that recruiting operations must connect to what matters to the business: revenue, risk, and ROI.
At Lineage, Jamie directly supports business unit leaders with data needs — something that wasn't scalable before. The results? Elevated customer satisfaction, more efficient budget management (travel, ad spend, tech stack utilization), and continuous optimization of their tools.
Ben Abare emphasized the often-overlooked piece: data quality. "Everybody wants to build shiny dashboards," he said. "But it's far less sexy to talk about how a process is broken — that someone didn't move a candidate from stage A to stage B at the right time. Yet it all contributes to that foundation."
AI in Recruiting: The Reality Check
The conversation turned to AI, and the panel offered a grounded perspective.
"I firmly believe we need to keep the human component," Jamie said. "This is their livelihood — they're making a job decision. Using AI for us means automation: CRM fit scores to help sort through 800+ applications, email templates, messaging assistance. But the human element stays intact."
Ben offered a "spicy take": AI will become so customized that the tools themselves become invisible — a backend that supports individual preferences while maintaining compliance and process. "The human in the loop is the most important part. Recruiting is all about people and building connection."
The regulatory landscape is evolving rapidly. As Susan pointed out: "The ICO in the UK has said, 'You have a fit score — lovely. But how do you know the AI didn't get it wrong?'"
Process Architecture: Start With an Inventory
When you walk into a new RecOps role, you're often handed a list of tasks. But the better approach?
Create an inventory of all tasks that could be done — then advocate for what should be done.
Jamie shared an example from her time at Blend: taking over onboarding and building a through-line from "apply to day one." They eliminated redundancies, built IT integrations, and created consistent messaging. The measurable outcome? Better candidate experience and improved retention during the critical 30-60-90 day window.
Ben's example? Redesigning equipment shipping for high-volume hiring. Instead of shipping devices centrally (taking 11 days), they shipped inventory to local locations — reducing start time from Friday sign-off to Monday start.
The Bottom Line
Recruitment operations isn't a nice-to-have anymore — it's the engine that makes scalable, predictable hiring possible. As Leah Daniels from JobSync put it:
"The answer isn't to yell at your TA leaders and say, 'do it better.' It's to ask, 'How do we make the right investments so we're not asking our TA leaders to also be our recruiting ops people?'"
The organizations winning on talent are the ones investing in this infrastructure — not just hoping their recruiters can do it all.
Want to hear more? Subscribe to Rec Tech: The Recruiting Technology Podcast for weekly insights on recruiting technology and talent acquisition strategy.
