Tops Day Nurseries
Talent Acquisition Specialist - MAT Cover
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Location: Dorset. Hybrid. With occasional travel to site / events
Job type: Full Time, Temporary. 14 Months FTC.
Salary: £30,929.60
Contracted Hours: 40 hours per week
Why Join Tops Day Nurseries?
At Tops Day Nurseries, we believe great childcare starts with great people. Since 1990, we have been creating inspiring early years environments where children thrive and colleagues are valued, supported, and given room to grow. As the UK’s largest employee-owned childcare group, every team member has a voice, a stake in our success, and real opportunities to shape their future.
With more than 30 nurseries across the South of England, we offer rewarding opportunities for Apprentices, Nursery Practitioners, Nursery Managers, and Casual Staff who share our passion for outstanding early years care.
Proud winners of the 2026 King’s Award for Enterprise in Sustainable Development and recognised as a World’s Happiest Workplace 2025, we are proud to be a place where people love to work and children love to learn.
About The Role
Tops Day Nursery have an exciting opportunity for a Talent Acquisition Specialist to join our Talent team.
As a Talent Acquisition Specialist, you will play a key role in attracting, identifying and hiring talented people to support the organisation's workforce needs. You will manage recruitment activity from initial sourcing through to offer and onboarding, working closely with hiring managers to understand their requirements and deliver an effective recruitment process.
This is a fast-paced role that would suit someone with previous recruitment experience, ideally within a volume recruitment environment. You will need to be highly organised, confident communicating with a wide range of people and able to build strong relationships with candidates, hiring managers and colleagues.
Why You’ll Love Working with Us
At Tops Day Nurseries, we believe in rewarding our team for their hard work and dedication. Here are some of the fantastic benefits you’ll enjoy as part of our family.
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- Exclusive discounts & rewards via Blue Light Card and Each Person platform (gyms, cinema, shopping, travel & many more)
- Health & wellbeing support- NHS prescriptions, optical care & dental treatment
- A generous holiday allowance- including your birthday off & a wellbeing day!
As well as many more exciting benefits! You can view the full list on our page or Careers website!
What does the role involve?
- Source and attract candidates through a range of channels, including job boards, social media, professional networks, referrals and proactive sourcing.
- Review applications and CVs, conduct initial screening and assess candidates against the requirements of each role.
- Work closely with hiring managers to understand recruitment requirements and provide appropriate recruitment support and advice.
- Coordinate interviews and support candidates and hiring managers throughout the recruitment process.
- Manage the offer process, including extending formal offers and supporting discussions around salary, benefits and start dates.
- Coordinate employment references and relevant pre-employment and background checks.
- Facilitate DBS checks and other checks required as part of the organisation's safer recruitment processes.
- Support candidates through offer acceptance and onboarding, ensuring the process is smooth and timely.
- Provide a positive candidate experience through clear, timely and professional communication.
- Maintain accurate candidate and recruitment records using applicant tracking system and other recruitment tools.
- Develop and maintain talent pipelines to support current and future recruitment requirements.
- Keep up to date with recruitment trends, market developments, competitor activity and emerging recruitment technologies.
- Contribute to recruitment projects, process improvements and wider team activities as required.
- Attend team, regional and operational meetings as required.
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What We're Looking For
- Previous recruitment experience, either in-house or agency recruitment (Essential). With the ability to handle volume recruitment & competing vacancies.
- Experience in candidate management, proactively sourcing candidates & building talent pools. With the ability to screen candidates quickly, confident calling candidates & coordinating interviews.
- Experience of recruitment within the childcare or Early years sector would be advantageous, including an understanding of relevant qualifications and safer recruitment requirements.
- Previous experience in candidate onboarding, background checks & issuing contracts. With a good attention to detail
- Confident using recruitment technology, application tracking systems (ATS) & other digital tools.
- Excellent communication skills, with ability to build strong relationships with hiring managers and colleagues.
Why Join Us?
This is an excellent opportunity for an experienced recruitment professional to join a growing organisation and play an important role in shaping how we attract and recruit our people.
You will be joining a supportive team where you can contribute your ideas, develop recruitment processes and make a real difference to the candidate and hiring manager experience.
Important Safeguarding Information
All successful candidates will be required to successfully complete the appropriate pre-employment, background and reference checks relevant to the role.
Tops Day Nurseries is an equal opportunities employer, committed to creating an inclusive workplace where everyone feels valued and respected.
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Excited to make a difference? Take the next step in your career and join Tops Day Nurseries
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