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SalaryMISSION: The Texas Education Agency (TEA) will improve outcomes for all public-school students in the state by providing leadership, guidance, and support to school systems.
Core Values:
- We are Determined: We are committed and intentional in the pursuit of our main purpose, to improve outcomes for students.
- We are People-Centered: We strive to attract, develop, and retain the most committed talent, representing the diversity of Texas, each contributing to our common vision for students.
- We are Learners: We seek evidence, reflect on success and failure, and try new approaches in the pursuit of excellence for our students.
- We are Servant Leaders: Above all else, we are public servants working to improve opportunities for students and provide support to those who serve them.
This posting has been updated to reflect an additional opening. This new position is funded through August 31, 2025.
Position Overview
At TEA, the Human Resources Division is dedicated to attracting, supporting, and retaining a workforce of high-performing professionals who are committed to the agency’s broader mission. With that core belief as a guiding principle, the Talent Acquisition Specialist plays a vital role in supporting and driving organizational change by empowering leaders to make key business decisions related to hiring.
In this role you will partner closely with hiring managers acting as a consultant to provide guidance and expertise related to Talent Acquisition (TalAcq), as well as support with the tactical aspects of hiring including posting vacancies, managing an applicant database, creating recruitment marketing materials, reviewing offers, and the creation and delivery of all written letters of employment. You will also play a critical role in developing and implementing all hiring related resources including tactical hiring training.
Qualified candidates will demonstrate exceptional knowledge of full life-cycle Talent Acquisition, be detailed oriented, data-driven, possess well developed communication skills, have a track record of successfully balancing competing priorities, strong critical thinking skills, and high emotional intelligence. Additionally, an ideal candidate will possess the desire to proactively seek out and absorb information, data, and research from disparate sources and the intuition to determine relevance to make evidence-based decisions; the desire and ability to communicate from a place of data-driven thinking; the ability to structure and process qualitative and/or quantitative data and draw insightful, second and third order insights.
This role reports directly to the Associate Director of Talent Acquisition
Flexible work location in Texas may be considered for qualified candidates. Please note that a resume and short answer responses are required attachments for applying to this position. Incomplete applications will not be considered.
Essential Functions
1. TalAcq Operations: independently manage a cohort of requisitions, ensuring requisitions are compliantly managed daily; review job descriptions and relevant selection documentation, ensuring candidates are comprehensively screened and assessed as to select and secure high-quality talent to the agency; prepare and post vacancies to internal and external job boards; and review and disposition candidates accurately using the applicant tracking system (ATS); provides limited support with recruitment marketing that will attract a robust pool of high-quality candidates to TEA’s available job opportunities, including attending career events and other activities as needed to enhance our Talent Acquisition efforts
2. Selection Consultancy: serve as a strategic thought partner to business line leaders and hiring managers through the duration of the hiring process by effectively providing ongoing guidance, training, and support that adheres to state and federal laws, as well as agency policy and TA best practice; serves as a resource to agency business line leaders and hiring managers by providing support with job descriptions, selection design, classification, and compensation-related inquiries; provides exceptional customer service that builds credibility and rapport with all stakeholders in the hiring process
3. Hiring Analysis: support the design, implementation, and continuous improvement of hiring-related policies, practices, and processes by reviewing stakeholder-centered processes and strategy related to hiring; analyze selection documentation including all hiring recommendations and offers to ensure all hiring decisions and personnel actions are compliant with state and federal laws; produce timely, accurate, and impactful analyses of the hiring data to inform TalAcq practices, procedures, and decisions
4. Management of Special Projects: oversee the development and/or continuous improvement of specific TalAcq projects, collaborating with multiple stakeholders with the goal of delivering high-quality resources and supports to business line leaders and hiring managers that align with division, office, and agency priorities
Minimum Qualifications
- Education: Graduation from an accredited four-year college or university.
- Experience: At least [4] years of related experience in people operations (e.g., full-time recruitment, selection, training) to include at least one year of experience working closely in a coaching or consultancy role with a diverse range of stakeholders including executives, hiring managers, and support staff. Strong preference will be given to candidates with formal Talent Acquisition experience.
- Share the belief that all Texas students can achieve at high levels and are able to succeed in college, career, or the military
- Ability to work in complex organization with discernment, initiative, and adaptability
- Ability to be flexible and practical when addressing issues related to hiring, with an understanding there is a high-impact responsibility to reduce risk and exposure on matters related to hiring
- Highly service focused with commitment to outcomes, which includes the ability to be proactive and anticipate next steps and needs within the issue
- Results focused and accountable with the ability to lead projects and high degree of follow up
- Demonstrate strong verbal and written communication skills with the ability to build trust and maintain confidentiality with employees at all levels of the organization
- Ability to break complex information or problems into component parts, ask questions, synthesize, develop, and execute plans to address identified issues
- Be extremely relational and able to work with a diverse range of individuals including executives, Chiefs of Staff, hiring managers, and staff employees
- Operational and analytical acumen, and an ability to manage toward high-quality execution with an eye toward details
As an equal opportunity employer, we hire without consideration to race, religion, color, national origin, sex, disability, age or veteran status, unless an applicant is entitled to the military employment preference.
To review the Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) codes from each branch of the U.S. Armed Forces to each job classification series in the State’s Position Classification Plan (provided by the State Auditor's Office), please access the Military Crosswalk (occupational specialty code) Guide and click on the military “occupational category” that corresponds with the state classification in this job posting title.
This position requires the applicant to meet Agency standards and criteria which may include passing a pre-employment criminal background check, prior to being offered employment by the Agency.
No phone calls or emails, please. Due to the high volume of applications, we do not accept telephone calls and cannot reply to all email inquiries. Only candidates selected for interview will be contacted.
