A “hiring manager” is the manager who has open positions for a job — typically reporting to them, or reporting to someone who reports to them.
They look at the resumes as they come in, before setting up interviews for those positions.
In larger companies, it usually goes something like this:
A resume comes in, and is handed to HR’s team of recruiters. They do an initial pass on the resume, and look at the candidate for both the specific job they’re applying to, and trying to find other open positions that the candidate can also be considered for. (They also keep the resume on file for 6 months in case new positions open up).
The recruiter then contacts the hiring manager for the open position, and sends them the resume to be considered.
The hiring manager does an initial cut — does the candidate look like they have the skills for the position, or can they learn them? Do they have relevant experience?
At this point, either the hiring manager, or someone on their team will contact the candidate for a phone screening. This saves money and time for everyone — including the candidate — by performing an initial check to see if the candidate actually has the skills they say they do on their resume, and can answer simpler questions that might come up during the job.
Assuming that the candidate passes the phone screen (this means that they have a pulse, and can put together logical and rational statements in the right order), then, the hiring manager sets up an interview loop working with the recruiter, for a series of in-person interviews to examine the candidate’s skillset, look for holes, but most importantly just see can they solve problems in a level-appropriate fashion without freaking out, getting angry, or getting stuck. That is — can they collaborate on getting an answer. (As well as more digging into what they presented in their resume).
Depending on how they do compared to other candidates, and if everyone they interviewed with on the team agrees that they’re able to perform the job, they’re given a job offer. If they accept, they have the hiring manager somewhere above them in their hiring chain — either as their direct manager, or their manager’s manager.
