What's the difference between a recruiter and a hiring manager?

The key thing is that recruiters are finding people to apply, while hiring managers are the ones who actually decide who gets the job. These are two totally different roles in the hiring process, and understanding which person you're talking to matters for how you approach them.

Recruiters are basically the talent hunters. They're looking at job boards, LinkedIn, referrals, and anywhere else they can find candidates who might fit what the company needs. They screen resumes, do initial phone calls to see if you're even close to what they're looking for, and then pass the decent candidates along to the actual decision makers. Recruiters filter things down so the hiring manager doesn't get buried in a thousand applications. They might be internal (working for the company) or external (working for a recruiting firm), but either way they're in the sourcing and filtering phase.

Hiring managers are the people who actually own the job opening and will be working with whoever gets hired. They're typically the department head or team lead. They interview candidates who made it past the recruiter, they know exactly what skills and personality fit their team, and they make the final call on who gets the offer. When you're talking to the hiring manager, you're talking to the person who has real power and who needs to believe you can do the work. With a recruiter, you're just trying to prove you're worth their time to pass along; with a hiring manager, you're trying to prove you're the right person for the actual job.