Recruiters today are expected to be equal parts hunter and gatherer — to find unfindable talent and bring them “home” to an organization that fits.
While much of modern recruiting still happens in more traditional ways (calling, emailing, and other forms of personal outreach). Independent and agile recruiters are finding new ways to use technology to source candidates where they hang out online, track their communications, and vet potential hires.
We know the struggle recruiters are up against in a vast tech landscape filled with promises and pitches — each tool can start to sound better than the last.
That’s why we asked recruiters we trust — from influencers and thought leaders to experienced professionals in the independent recruiting trenches to offer their recommendations of affordable, lightweight, and effective tools that have become essential to the way they recruit.
Sourcing candidates can be done with shocking efficiency online. With the right tools, you can save time by automating a lot of the sourcing process. And while sourcing active candidates is a common practice, sourcing for passive candidates is a newer art.
Here’s a list of tools recommended by our top recruiters to source candidates:
Active Candidates
The standard job listing still works for some roles. If you decide to post to the popular job boards, increase efficiency by using a tool that will give you access to hundreds of job boards with a single click.
ZipRecruiter – $99/month
ZipRecruiter is a job board distribution service which enables you to post a job to more than 100 leading job boards and social networks with a single submission. By providing a central location for finding, screening, and tracking applicants, ZipRecruiter empowers employers to make the best hiring decisions quickly and at a fraction of the cost of traditional job boards.
(Job seekers can also use ZipRecruiter to search for and apply to millions of jobs online. Uploading a resume is a simple process, while searching and applying to jobs—as well as subscribing to job alerts – is always free).
Breezy HR – FREE
JobAdder – $99/month
JobAdder manages and organises the recruitment process for anyone who hires people, offering simplicity, mobility and superior support. JobAdder’s comprehensive, cloud based recruitment management platform is affordable and used by thousands of recruitment professionals every day. Learn more and request a free demo at www.JobAdder.com.
- Manage job orders, manage your candidate workflow effectively, advertise to more than 200 job boards and recruit in more than 20 countries.
- Build customizable careers websites and integrate job advertisements with social media.
SmartRecruiters – $ 100/month
SmartRecruiters transforms recruiting for leading companies in today’s Talent Economy and the candidates they seek to hire. Atlassian, Ancestry.com, Marc Jacobs, Skechers, Equinox and IBM are among the tech, retail, hospitality and entertainment leaders using the SmartRecruiters Talent Acquisition Platform to run recruiting like a sales and marketing machine.
Its modern platform delivers an unparalleled mobile and social candidate experience, engages hiring managers along the way, integrates quickly and seamlessly with HRIS, and supercharges recruiter productivity.
Easily post to any job board as well as the company career website or Facebook page, perform assessments and track applicants.
The Ladders – FREE
With more than 6 million members, TheLadders is the premier online job-matching service committed to finding the right person for the right job.
Its groundbreaking iPhone app generated more than 100,000 downloads in its first week. Originally recognized as the leading job-matching site for high-earning professionals, TheLadders expanded its services to all career-driven professionals.
In doing so, the more than 43,000 employers and recruiters that use TheLadders to source qualified candidates now have access to professionals at all levels, free of charge.
- Search potential candidate matches and get access to full candidate profiles including contact information and salary information.
- Post jobs to more than 6 million active candidates.
Passive Candidates
In the 2015 LinkedIn Talent Trends report, 75 percent of 18,000 full-time employees surveyed considered themselves passive candidates, however, only 61 percent of companies focus on recruiting passive candidates. 85 percent of employees surveyed said they would be willing to talk with a recruiter. If you’re not looking for passive candidate unicorns, now may be the time to start, and if you’re already looking, here are some tools to support you in your search.
HiringSolved – $50/month
HiringSolved is “Google for talent” making it easy to find people to hire. You can find and combine data from many sources including resumes, web sites, social profiles, forum posts, and contact information to create a HiringSolved profile. Their mission is to make it possible to find everyone and make the information easy to search in a fast, easy to use search interface.
- The only global Talent Search Engine that works in all languages, for all skill sets, in all locations, worldwide.
- Search and source globally, clone your perfect candidate, find talent in any field, and keep track of top candidates while you collaborate together.
Connectifier
Connectifier is changing the way recruiting is done today. Their engineering team from Google, Microsoft Research, Berkeley National Lab, Carnegie Mellon, and Stanford built large scale data analysis software that processes professional profiles from all around the web. By analyzing code repos, blogs, and social profiles Connectifier helps recruiters and hiring managers connect more efficiently with the candidates best for their openings.
Note: Connectifier was recently acquired by LinkedIn!
Stack Overflow – FREE
Stack Overflow is a question and answer website for professional and enthusiastic programmers. It is a fast-growing network of over 100 question and answer sites on diverse topics from software programming to cooking, photography, and gaming.
Stack Overflow receives more than 26 million unique visitors every month and helps developers find answers to any programming question. It also hosts a hiring platform, Stack Overflow Careers which helps its users connect with top employers all around the world to find new programming opportunities.
- Find top developers around specific topics of expertise in a leaderboard-based system that ranks potential candidates by skill level and participation.
- For a great resource on how to source candidates on StackOverflow, check out this blog post guide from SourceCon
GitHub – FREE
GitHub is a web-based Git repository hosting service offering distributed revision control and source code management functionality of Git as well as adding its own features. Over 4 million people use it to share code. It is the place to share code with friends, co-workers, classmates, and complete strangers.
The collaborative features of the GitHub platform, its desktop apps, and GitHub Enterprise make it easier for individuals and teams to write better code. GitHub is one of the world’s largest code hosts that simplify sharing code.
- Search and find developers by skill set using the built-in advanced search tool, trending repositories, or Boolean search.
- For a great resource on how to source candidates on GitHub, check out this blog post guide from SourceCon.
Data.com – FREE
Whether you’re a sales rep on the go, in sales ops, or in IT, you have the most up-to-date information you need to find more leads and close deals faster. You will get access to millions of candidates and company lists when you “give one contact, get one contact” with title, direct phone number, and email.
Data.com is my go-to tool when I want to look up a company in a particular industry or candidates for a position based on title. It’s a great tool for sourcing candidates or building a new call list.
Danny Powell, RecruitLoop Recruiter: @powelldannyc
Candidate.Express – 50 verified candidate profiles for just $299, overnight
That’s the Candidate.Express promise.
Are you looking to fill your recruitment funnel with more quality candidates faster? You can get started with Candidate.Express any time.
It’s Not All About the Tools
Modern recruiters are up against a lot and the expectations are higher than ever for rapid placements that fit the culture and can quickly become top performers within the organization.
After the tech recommendations we have outlined above, it may seem odd to say tools don’t make or break the recruiter.
This list is full of tools that are affordable, can increase your efficiency, and give you an edge in recruitment, but ultimately, they don’t do your work for you. Guard your time and ease into new tools to see how they support your workflow.
Have a recommendation for a tool that wasn’t included in this blog post? We would love to hear it. Tweet @RecruitLoop with your recommendation with the tool(s) you think should be on the list.
Author
Paul Slezak
With over two decades of experience in the recruitment and human capital industry, Paul Slezak has established himself as a transformative force in the realm of leadership and career coaching, group facilitation, and talent acquisition. His unique perspective, drawn from his early career as a leader in global recruitment firms and his entrepreneurial success with his own start-up, has enabled him to make a significant impact on leaders, teams, and organizations across the world. Paul's passion for helping others achieve success and high performance is evident in his commitment to transforming leaders and their teams at local, national, and international levels. He specializes in promoting the importance of human-centered intelligence, focusing on soft skills such as authenticity, transparency, and trust to complement business-centered acumen and drive better workplace outcomes. As an impartial facilitator, Paul brings his expertise to team offsites and strategy days, ensuring alignment on goals, values, and culture while keeping participants on task. His engaging and energetic presence, coupled with his unique "entertraining" and "edutaining" delivery style, enables him to connect with audiences both large and intimate, sharing personal and professional anecdotes that inspire and energize.
