Talent Acquisition Specialist

As a Talent Acquisition Specialist (12-month contract) at Sporting Life Group (SLG), you will lead full-cycle recruitment across retail and corporate support functions. Reporting to the Director, Talent Development and Acquisition, this role blends hands-on candidate engagement with talent strategy and employer branding to elevate SLG's talent acquisition practices.

You'll work directly with hiring managers to proactively source, assess, and hire top talent in the sports retail industry, while contributing to scalable recruitment campaigns and projects that strengthen our employer brand, build talent pipelines, and support internal mobility.

Success in this role will be measured through quality of hire, speed-to-fill, hiring manager satisfaction, and contribution to scalable talent practices.

Responsibilities;

• Own full-cycle recruitment for assigned roles across SLG banners, including retail management and shared corporate services.
• Conduct hiring manager intake meetings to align role requirements, key success factors, and ideal candidate profiles.
• Design and execute sourcing strategies using multiple platforms to attract both active and passive candidates.
• Build and maintain candidate pipelines for priority and hard-to-fill roles, with a focus on long-term talent engagement.
• Independently manage competing priorities across multiple requisitions, stakeholders, and timelines in a fast-paced environment.
• Facilitate screening, interviewing, and selection processes, ensuring a consistent, inclusive, and structured approach at every stage.
• Coach hiring managers on interview best practices and contribute to stronger hiring decisions through structured assessment tools.
• Reduce agency dependency through proactive sourcing, pipeline development, and effective stakeholder partnership.
• Track and maintain accurate recruitment data, ensuring visibility to pipeline health, time-to-fill, and candidate outcomes.
• Collaborate with HR and Store Operations to support workforce planning, internal promotions, and succession needs.
• Contribute to the evolution of SLG's employer brand by supporting recruitment marketing and storytelling content for LinkedIn, career sites, and internal campaigns.

Requirements and Qualifications;

• 3+ years of experience in recruitment, ideally in a multi-site, high-volume retail or corporate environment.
• Demonstrated ability to manage end-to-end recruitment processes, from intake through offer, across a variety of roles and levels.
• Strong experience with proactive sourcing, pipeline development, and candidate engagement using tools such as LinkedIn Recruiter, ATS platforms (Ceridian Dayforce), and job boards.
• Strong interviewing and assessment capability, with the ability to evaluate both technical skills and cultural alignment.
• Experience writing compelling, inclusive job ads and maintaining accurate job descriptions.
• High emotional intelligence with strong communication skills (written, verbal, and interpersonal) to build trust and influence hiring decisions.
• Comfortable working with recruitment metrics and using data to inform sourcing strategies and stakeholder conversations.
• A strategic mindset with curiosity for talent trends, labour market shifts, and emerging recruitment technology.
• Knowledge of employer branding strategies and digital recruitment marketing is considered a strong asset.
• Passion for the sports lifestyle and an understanding of talent across retail, active, and lifestyle industries.
• Bilingualism (English/French) is considered an asset.

Who We Are;

Sporting Life is a leading, iconic Canadian sports lifestyle retailer. Since 1979, we've been committed to providing our customers and their families with the best possible experience—and we are continuously working to improve it every day. We offer the best in outdoor apparel and fashion, footwear, equipment and accessories for men, women and kids. The mix of sport and fashion is what makes us unique.

YOU live for the great Canadian outdoors and take pride in living the Sporting Life. You relish in the exhilarating experience of skiing, snowboarding, cycling, running, tennis, hiking and camping and want to inspire our customers to do the same. You believe in the spirit of team, adapting to the ever changing retail environment, being part of constant innovation and working alongside the best leaders, associates and vendors in the business. We are looking for those who live what we sell every day and who celebrate the love of sport and an active way of living.

Sporting life is a member of the Sporting Life Group, a Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited company, and is a leading Canadian sports lifestyle retail organization comprising iconic banners, Golf Town, Sporting Life and Team Town. Operating from coast to coast, both Golf Town, Sporting Life and Team Town's fleet of stores inspire Canadians to get outside and live an active lifestyle, whether it's playing some of Canada's top golf courses, running through community trails, experiencing the exhilarating feeling of the hills, or any sports activity in between fit for the individual or whole family.

Come work with us Experience what it's like to work in a fun and engaging environment where you'll be challenged and inspired to contribute to both brands and surrounded by like-minded teams who have a passion for the game of golf, are devoted to outdoor and team activities and sports.