Talent Acquisition Recruiter – Blue Buffalo Pet Food R&D / Supply Chain Love them like family, feed them like family.” ® Everything at Blue Buffalo starts with this simple idea. Blue Buffalo (BLUE), is one of the strongest and most recognized pet food brands in America, and the undisputed leader in Wholesome Natural pet food, the fastest growing segment of the market. At over four times the size of the next largest brand in this segment, BLUE has become the new mainstream brand that’s delivering products that pet parents are looking for, and connecting with them in a true, authentic way. BLUE thinks of dogs and cats as family members and believes their food should be natural and healthy. In fact, this was the motivation for the Bishop Family’s decision to create the Blue Buffalo Company. When the beloved Bishop family dog, Blue, faced a variety of health issues, Bill and his two sons, Billy and Chris, set out to create a pet food that was made with only the highest quality natural ingredients—the kind of things a family member deserves. Fifteen years later BLUE has, in many ways, accomplished what the Bishops set out to do—help our dogs and cats live happy, healthy lives. BLUE has a broad portfolio of natural pet foods, enabling pet parents to satisfy their pet’s specific dietary, lifestyle, and life-stage needs, offering them no-compromise product solutions. OVERVIEW In this role as a Talent Acquisition (TA) Recruiter on the TA team, you will be responsible for full lifecycle recruitment including proactive candidate research and sourcing, talent pipelining and on-going partnership with our Supply Chain and Innovation, Technology & Quality (ITQ) functions of Blue Buffalo. Reporting to the Manager of Experienced recruitment, you will manage day to day recruiting activities for niche, hard-to-fill roles including R&D Scientists/Engineers, Quality Leaders, Manufacturing/Operations Leaders and lead a variety of projects to lead Blue Buffalo branding efforts and talent pipelining in the food/pet industry. RESPONSIBILITIES INCLUDE Develop and execute creative sourcing strategies for tough to fill roles and locations: identify qualified candidate profiles using various sourcing techniques; sending recruiting emails to engage with passive candidates, cold calling, active outreach sourcing and networking. Provides perspective on industry, competitive talent landscape, remains current on business and recruiting trends, shifts in talent pools and personas, compensation and other relevant insights and trends Remains current on external talent pools, talent personas, salary levels and other trends Partners with employee networks and Diversity Recruiting Manager with the goal of building diverse talent pipelines and converting talent Ensures structured interview process is widely adopted and communicated throughout the candidate journey while maintaining compliance within our Applicant Tracking System and CRM Build relationships with key stakeholders: candidates, Hiring Managers, HR Business partners, Talent Acquisition colleagues Establishes regular touch points and provides diligent follow through, resulting in best-in-class candidate and client experience Utilize social media platforms and other recruitment channels to market positions and create talent pools for current and future needs. MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS 5+ yrs recruiting experience including research/sourcing, assessment, networking, and attracting and recruiting diverse skills sets and background. Corporate and/or search firm progressive recruiting experience including sourcing and full life cycle recruiting. Experience recruiting in the pet food industry is required. Prefer candidates with experience recruiting for technical functions including R&D Engineering, Scientists, Food Scientist, etc. Proven experience managing multiple client relationships and searches at a time and experience influencing key stakeholders throughout the entire recruitment lifecycle process. Ability to execute DE&I recruiting strategies, including employer promotion in the marketplace, candidate management, diversity sourcing and interview process management. Experience with a CRM or ATS with sourcing, tracking and managing candidates. Strong client management skills: positive, pro-active, team-oriented, professional, strong credible influence and sound judgement. Strong written and verbal communication/negotiation skills. PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS Pet parents and pet enthusiasts preferred! Experience working in iCIMS / Workday or other Talent AI tools. Strong consulting skills and demonstrated ability to work in a team environment, as a team leader and member. Experience working in a fast-paced recruiting environment with the ability to take initiative with little direction. ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATION Applicants must be currently authorized to work in the U.S. General Mills will not sponsor applicants for a U.S. work visa. Relocation support will not be offered to applicants within the United States. International relocation or international remote working arrangements (outside of the US) will not be considered. The location for this role is Minneapolis, MN - remote work-at-home applications within the United States will be considered at this time. COMPANY OVERVIEW We exist to make food the world loves. But we do more than that. Our company is a place that prioritizes being a force for good, a place to expand learning, explore new perspectives and reimagine new possibilities, every day. We look for people who want to bring their best — bold thinkers with big hearts who challenge one other and grow together. Because becoming the undisputed leader in food means surrounding ourselves with people who are hungry for what’s next.