Talent Acquisition Specialist [Maternity Cover]

Takealot.com, a leading South African online retailer, is looking for a highly talented Talent Acquisition Specialist to join our Talent Team in Cape Town.

We are a young, dynamic, hyper growth company looking for smart, creative and hard-working people with integrity to join us.  We offer a market related Total Remuneration Package, which allows full flexibility according to your needs, a great work environment and a promise that you won’t be bored, as long as you are prepared for a challenge and want to build something great.

The position reports to the Head of Talent.

Purpose of the role: 

To proactively build and execute comprehensive talent acquisition strategies that align with business objectives and long-term organisational goals. To initiate and drive sourcing and search strategies is key to introducing top talent into the Takealot Group.

Key responsibilities: 

Strategic Planning

• Develop innovative talent acquisition strategies that support business growth


• Analyse workforce planning needs and future talent requirements 


• Partner with leadership to understand organisational priorities

Talent Sourcing & Recruitment

• Identify and engage passive candidates through various channels


• Build and maintain talent pipelines for critical roles


• Utilise advanced sourcing techniques (social media, networking, databases, career fairs)

Stakeholder Management

• Collaborate with hiring managers to define role requirements


• Provide market insights and salary benchmarking


• Manage a high-touch candidate experience throughout the end-to-end recruitment process

Process Optimisation

• Streamline recruitment processes for efficiency and effectiveness


• Implement recruitment technologies and tools


• Develop metrics and analytics to measure success

Candidate Pipeline

• Pipeline qualified candidate pool for current and future roles


• Build talent community database for ongoing engagement


• Engage with passive candidate network and relationship mapping for talent pipeline

Hiring Metrics & Reports

• Adhere to time-to-hire and cost-per-hire analysis


• Adhere to source effectiveness and ROI measurements


• Meet diversity and inclusion hiring metrics

Conduct quality of hire assessments

Job Descriptions & Profiles

• Ensure that the JDs are compelling and market-competitive job postings


• Detailed role specifications and requirements


• Employer value propositions and referrals for specific positions are in place

Sourcing Materials

• Candidate source and search templates and messaging are optimally utilised


• Social media and networking strategies are customised based on business talent requirements


• Recruitment marketing content deployed to attract top talent

 ATS optimisation and configuration

• Greenhouse recruitment technology effectively utilised 


• Dashboard and reporting systems updated 

Training & Development

• Update and deploy hiring manager training programs


• Conduct interview skills workshops


• Update recruitment best practices documentation

Minimum Required Qualification

• Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Psychology, or related field


• OR equivalent combination of education and relevant work experience

Minimum Required Experience

• 5-7  years experience in a Talent Acquisition / Recruiter role


• Solution minded in building effecting Talent Attraction Strategies


• Proven track record of headhunting at various levels.


• Must have experience building effective hiring manager relationships.


• Experience managing and prioritising multiple searches, projects and client relationships.


• ATS experience with sourcing, tracking and managing candidates.


• Google Suite knowledge and experience .


• Understanding data and ability to tell stories with data

Minimum Required Competencies

Recruitment Expertise

• Full-cycle recruitment process management


• Advanced sourcing techniques (Boolean search, social recruiting)


•  Applicant Tracking System (ATS) proficiency

Interview design and competency-based interviewing

Market Knowledge

• Industry and role-specific salary benchmarking


• Competitive landscape analysis


• Employment law and compliance requirements


• Diversity, equity, and inclusion best practices

Technology Proficiency

• LinkedIn Recruiter and other sourcing platforms


• HRIS and recruitment technology tools


• Data analysis and reporting capabilities


• CRM systems for candidate relationship management

Skills, knowledge & abilities

Technical Skills

Boolean search and sourcing techniques

• Working knowledge of the ATS system


• Interview facilitation and assessment skills


• Data analysis and reporting using Excel/analytics tools


• Social media recruiting (LinkedIn, Pnet, Indeed)


• Candidate screening and evaluation


• Salary negotiation and offer management


• Pipeline management and CRM utilisation

Interpersonal Skills

• Active listening and empathetic communication


• Relationship building and networking


• Conflict resolution and mediation


• Cross-cultural communication


• Presentation and public speaking


• Written communication (emails, job descriptions, reports)

Industry Knowledge

• Current labor market trends and conditions


• Compensation and benefits benchmarking


• Industry-specific roles and skill requirements


• Competitive landscape and talent movement patterns


• Emerging roles and future workforce needs

Legal and Compliance Knowledge

• Employment laws (LRA, BCEA, EE)


• Visa and immigration requirements


• Background check and reference protocols

Data privacy regulations (POPIA)

• Anti-discrimination and fair hiring practices

The Environment:

• takealot.com employees are entrepreneurial and dynamic, smart, customer-centric, fun and have the shared ambition of takealot.com being the leading e-commerce company in Africa.


• We have fun, work hard, take ownership, work in teams to create solutions, and are always open to direct feedback/new ideas on where we can improve.


• We are short on ego and high on output.


• We are doers and not only thinkers, it’s all in the execution after all.


• We love what we do and what we are creating.

We seek to Employ an Extraordinary Mind who:

• is respectful but forthright


• is an expert at doing, who can not only design but also execute


• is analytical, able to use data to make decisions


• is competitive, self-directed and strive to be the BEST (GREAT requires a lot of work and does not only happen during business hours)


• is passionate about the potential of e-commerce and delivering a world-class customer experience


• is entrepreneurial, thrives under change and accepts it is a constant and always looks for solutions to do something better and faster


• is business SMART. Able to think about problems from a business perspective using technical and product input;


• is curious and challenge the status quo


• is innovative and enjoys iteration


• is collaborative


• will be at the cutting edge of developing new concepts for takealot.com


• thinks like an owner of the business


• is SMART, has INTEGRITY and is HARD WORKING

If you meet the above you are an Extraordinary Mind so come and join us!

Takealot is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Applicants from the previously disadvantaged groups and people with disabilities will be given preference