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11 Best Candidate Sourcing Software and Tools for Recruiters

We tested each candidate sourcing tool and weighed them against our deciding criteria. Here are the best tools for sourcing candidates.

Anh Nguyen
Written by
Anh Nguyen
No ads, just real software reviews. An independent writer and a bad BUT wholeheartedly enthusiastic dancer
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Last Updated: Feb 29, 2024
TOP
Best low-budget recruitment sourcing too
Manatal
4.5
Popularity Score
4.8
User Score
4.9
Product  Score
Visit Website
TOP
Best low-budget recruitment sourcing too
Manatal
4.5
Popularity Score
4.8
User Score
4.9
Product  Score
Learn More
TOP
Best sourcing tool for quality sourcing automation
Fetcher
4.6
Popularity Score
4.6
User Score
4.7
Product  Score
Visit Website
TOP
Best sourcing tool for quality sourcing automation
Fetcher
4.6
Popularity Score
4.6
User Score
4.7
Product  Score
Learn More
TOP
AI talent sourcing tool taking on candidate outreach entirely for clients
Rolebot
4.1
Popularity Score
3.9
User Score
4.0
Product  Score
Visit Website
TOP
AI talent sourcing tool taking on candidate outreach entirely for clients
Rolebot
4.1
Popularity Score
3.9
User Score
4.0
Product  Score
Learn More
Over 3 million HR leaders trust our advice

Introduction to Candidate Sourcing Tools

Effective candidate sourcing software enables employers to tap into a wide pool of talent who might not be actively job-hunting but could be perfect for the roles they’re hiring for.

But what is the best sourcing tool for recruiters? How much does it cost? And what exactly can it do? We’ve done dozens of demos and talked to some of the most successful recruitment teams who swear by these tools for their daily sourcing quest. Here’s our list of the best options, plus all the other info you should know before picking one.

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Top Candidate Sourcing Tools

Manatal

: Best low-budget recruitment sourcing too

Fetcher

: Best sourcing tool for quality sourcing automation

Rolebot

: AI talent sourcing tool taking on candidate outreach entirely for clients

AmazingHiring

: Best IT sourcing tool for growing tech companies

Arya by Leoforce

: Very user-friendly AI talent sourcing tool

hireEZ

: Best AI sourcing software with vast talent database

Underdog.io

: Best sourcing tool for NYC & San Francisco-based startups

SeekOut

: Best tool for sourcing US & Canada-based candidates

Entelo

: Enterprise-focused tool for sourcing underrepresented talent

Gem

: Great sourcing tool for both corporates and staffing agencies

Loxo

: AI sourcing tool with excellent customer service

Our Criteria: Here's How We Chose The Top Candidate Sourcing Tools

While we have looked into numerous factors to select the best candidate sourcing tool, the ones that stood out to us are search capability, database size and quality, AI-powered sourcing, and candidate engagement features. Our evaluation process involves hands-on demos, insights from HR tech experts, rigorous software testing, and feedback from actual users to assess how the tool performs in real life.

  • Search Capability: The tool must offer advanced and targeted search options to assist recruiters in finding qualified candidates quickly. We picked those with search filters like location, skills, experience, and keywords to ensure they’re helpful in streamlining the sourcing process.
  • Database Size and Quality: We looked for both the size and the accuracy of the database a sourcing tool offers over time. The best sourcing tools have extensive databases and regularly update them for reliable candidate information.
  • AI-Powered Sourcing: Modern tools leverage AI-driven features to assist recruiters in analyzing candidate data, identifying patterns, and recommending the best matches for specific roles. We also paid attention to the methodologies behind the AI to ensure all of the AI help is accurate and compliant.
  • Candidate Engagement Features: Engaging with candidates is as essential as finding them. We went for tools that include personalized messaging and automated follow-ups for a positive candidate experience.

Want to learn more about our evaluation process? Check out this comprehensive article on How We Evaluate HR Software Vendors.

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Compare the Top Candidate Sourcing Tools

Popularity Score
Best for
Key Differentiator
Pricing
Free Trial
Customers
Users Score
Product Score

Manatal

Most Popular
4.5
SMBs seeking an ATS with smart internal candidate sourcing
Offers plenty of recruiting features at a decent price
Starts at $15/mo
Yes
10,000+ companies
4.8
4.9

Fetcher

Most Popular
4.6
Outbound sourcing and diverse recruitment at SMBs
AI-powered candidate sourcing with expert spot-checking
Starts at $149/mo
Yes
500+ companies
4.6
4.7

Rolebot

Most Popular
4.1
Enterprises with white-collar, hard-to-fill roles
Handle outreach entirely for clients, no seat restrictions
Pricing: Starts at $3,000/mo
No
50+ companies
3.9
4.0

AmazingHiring

Most Popular
4.0
IT recruiters to source and engage technical talents
Advanced AI screening for 600M+ global engineering talent
Starts at $400/mo
No
10,000+ companies
4.7
4.2

Arya by Leoforce

Most Popular
4.1
Large enterprises and staffing agencies in North America
Well-developed AI sourcing, flexible pricing plans
Custom Pricing
No
90,000+ companies
4.0
4.1

hireEZ

Most Popular
4.1
Enterprise-scale teams to power up their candidate sourcing
Strong AI tools for candidate recommendation and rediscovery
Custom Pricing
No
600+ companies
4.6
4.4

Underdog.io

Most Popular
4.1
Tech startups and companies in New York and San Francisco
Quality mid-to-senior tech talent with startup exp
Custom Pricing
No
100+ companies
5.0
4.3

SeekOut

Most Popular
4.0
Big teams to sourcing tech and healthcare professionals
Advanced search filters for niche talent recruitment
Custom Pricing
Yes
1,000+ companies
4.5
4.0

Entelo

Most Popular
4.0
Enterprises to source underrepresented candidates
Great diversity sourcing and top-of-funnel engagement tools
Starts at $149/mo
Yes
700+ companies
4.1
4.2

Gem

Most Popular
4.0
Early-stage companies, high-volume recruitment teams
Collaborative outbound and inbound sourcing tool
Custom Pricing
Yes
1,200+ companies
4.8
4.6

Loxo

Most Popular
4.0
Mid-sized companies and staffing agencies
Massive database of 1.2+ billion candidates to source from
Starts at $299/mo
Yes
13,000+ companies
4.6
4.0
Phil Strazzulla
HR Tech Expert, Harvard MBA, Software Enthusiast

Need Help? Get Custom Recommendations for Top Candidate Sourcing Tools

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Detailed Reviews of the Best Candidate Sourcing Tools

Manatal

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Manatal
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Popularity Score
4.5 / 5
User Score
4.8 / 5
Product Score
4.9 / 5

Why we picked Manatal

Manatal’s sourcing capabilities are superior to most. Besides budget-friendly ATS features, the platform offers a LinkedIn extension and AI-powered sourcing for advanced candidate recommendations and filtering—at an unbeatable price.

PROS

  • Budget-friendly ATS option with AI-powered sourcing tools.
  • 14-day free trial for exploration.
  • User-friendly interface with drag-and-drop pipelines.
  • AI-based recommendations save time in candidate screening.
  • Web-based platform for seamless access.
  • Free data migration from existing hiring software.
  • Transparent and flexible pricing options.
  • Chrome extension allows users to import candidate profiles directly from LinkedIn and LinkedIn Recruiter to Manatal.
  • Manatal is quite affordable and offers a 15-day free trial for users to test it out before making commitments.
  • Manatal is fairly easy to use. It features drag-and-drop enabled pipelines for candidate organization.
  • Manatal’s AI-based recommendations feature can save hiring managers quite a bit of time. It’s able to scan job descriptions then search a users talent pool and bring up candidates most suited for the job.

CONS

  • Core products are available in English and Spanish only.
  • No free plan is available.
  • API integrations can be technologically complex and are only available on top-tier plans.
  • Boolean search and advanced search cannot be used simultaneously.
  • The AI recommendations feature works best with resumes that are in English, and doesn’t work as accurately with other languages according to several users’ feedback. Several users have also complained about Manatal’s interface only being available in English and that career pages cannot be published in languages other than English and Spanish. 
  • Manatal doesn’t offer a free plan. We mention this as a con as several SMB-geared ATSs do offer a free-forever verison, and that puts Manatal slightly behind competition. 
  • Manatal doesn’t offer prebuilt integration modules. They do have an open API that allows users to plug in third-party products and custom tools, but that required a bit more time and technical knowledge to accomplish. It’s also worth mentioning that only Custom plan customers can access Manatal’s API and Zapier integration. Customers on the Professional and Enterprise plan cannot.
  • Users can search for candidates via Boolean Search or Advanced Search, but cannot combine the two search methods together. E.g users cannot use the Boolean search operators (AND, OR and NOT) within Manatal’s Advanced Search tab.
Manatal dashboard - one of the best sourcing tool for recruiters

Manatal Review

If you’ve researched ATS, you've likely come across Manatal. The tool is renowned among SMBs for its wealth of features, boasting connectivity with 2500+ job board integrations, a branded career page, a LinkedIn extension, and a referral program—all at a surprisingly low cost. But rather than resting on its laurels in the ATS domain, Manatal keeps its feet on the ground and offers a handful of features for sourcing within the user’s existing candidate database.

We were initially drawn to Manatal's AI-powered recommendation engine. The AI made no mistakes as we challenged it with our Sales Executive job descriptions (JD): It scanned the JD, dug into our candidate database, and presented us with a list of candidates matching in quality and skills—all within a few seconds without any glitches. We can imagine how helpful this tool will be for teams with a large existing talent pool, especially staffing agencies, to make the most of their own resources.

One of the troubles of maintaining a self-built talent database is that you have to ensure all the info is up-to-date over time by yourself. That's why we were thrilled to find out that Manatal can auto-enrich candidate profiles with data from social media accounts. Yes, auto-enrichment!

But let’s be honest: limiting the candidate search within the existing database means you won’t find the talent you’ve never engaged unless you pair Manatal with a sourcing tool like Fetcher or HireEZ. This sort of integration likely won’t come cheap either, as such sourcing tools aren’t within Manatal’s pre-built integrations and, to access its API and Zapier integrations, you have to opt for its highest-tier plan.

We also should warn you that while Manatal’s AI recommendation tool works with English resumes, it doesn’t work as well with resumes in other supported languages.

Manatal Customers

10,000+ organizations, including Unilever, Coca-Cola, Panasonic, Ogilvy, and Toyota.

Manatal Pricing

Manatal has three plans. Here is their pricing when billed annually:

  • Professional plan: $15/user/month for up to 15 jobs and 10,000 candidates, with unlimited guests.
  • Enterprise plan: $35/user/month for unlimited jobs, candidates, and guests.
  • Custom plan: Includes all Enterprise features plus custom features, integrations, and support.

Best For

Manatal is the ideal choice for budget-conscious organizations in need of an intuitive ATS with powerful AI sourcing capabilities.

Manatal in action
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Fetcher

Visit Website
Fetcher
Learn More
Popularity Score
4.6 / 5
User Score
4.6 / 5
Product Score
4.7 / 5

Why we picked Fetcher

Fetcher rocks the candidate sourcing game with its 3-step vetting approach—AI searches, team spot-checks, and user feedback on pre-vetted profiles so the system can refine its search results. Good news for SMBs: Fetcher now comes with a free plan and a free trial you can easily opt for on their website.

PROS

  • Clean user interface that is easy to navigate.
  • Great customer support.
  • LinkedIn sourcing plugin available for all users.
  • Excellent sourcing tool for accessing candidates with specialized skills.
  • Automated outreach for personalized messaging and cold email campaigns.
  • Transparent pricing, including monthly payments, free plan, and trial.
  • Native interview scheduling tool available for all paid users.
  • Fetcher is highly rated by customers for its clean interface, ease of use, and customer support.
  • According to most users, Fetcher's sourcing tool is one of the best in the business, providing them access to the best candidates with specialized skills and backgrounds.
  • Customers find Fetcher's automated outreach feature extremely useful for sending cold emails and personalized messages to potential candidates.

CONS

  • Fetcher talent sourcers limited to higher-tier plans.
  • No ATS integrations for the free plan.
  • Occasional glitches when sourcing and requesting profile refreshes.
  • Sourcing algorithms may show over/under-qualified candidates initially.
  • Some users report experiencing bugs and glitches while using the software.
  • In rare cases, Fetcher may source either over-qualified or under-qualified candidates for a particular role. However, according to users, their team is quick to correct and refine the search criteria in such scenarios.
Fetcher-candidate-sourcing-tool-dashboard

Fetcher Review

Algorithms and humans share the spotlight in recruitment these days and finding that sweet spot between them isn't easy. Our ‘tour’ with Fetcher showed that the tool strikes that balance flawlessly.

Unlike Rolebot, which is fixated on giving 15 candidate profiles daily, Fetcher lets us decide how many profiles we want per week, meaning we can tweak this number anytime to meet our recruitment goals.

Fetcher promises 1-2 business days for the first batch of profiles, and it delivers: We submitted requirements on one day and received our profiles the next afternoon. Our favorite part, though, was that we got to provide feedback on these profiles—whether they’re qualified or not—within the system or by contacting Fetcher staff. Well, we actually did both and Fetcher didn’t let us down with the next batch: it arrived the following day with notably improved candidate quality.

For those knee-deep in sourcing day in, day out, you know the time it swallows! 20 profiles every 1-2 days is a can-do number with traditional, manual sourcing approaches, but being able to deliver that with better results over time requires a great deal of time and effort, not to mention what to do next with these leads—how to approach, nurture, and convert them—is not easy. Fetcher's ability to harness AI for these soul-destroying tasks while preserving a human touch makes it unbeatable in the sourcing tech domain.

We were also happy to find that Fetcher is very accessible for startups and SMBs: It now offers a free plan, a free trial, and clear pricing on the website. However, the free plan may only prove helpful for teams hiring 1-2 people per year, as it caps the viewable profiles at 50 per month and provides no integration support at all. As much as we love Fetcher's constant improvements, glitches and bugs still affect our system once in a while, especially when we source candidates from its database or request profile refreshes.

Fetcher Customers

Fetcher is used by over 500 businesses worldwide, including Andela, Frame.io, Magnite, Foursquare, and CarGurus.

Fetcher Pricing

Fetcher has four plans:

  • Starter is free and lets users access 50 profiles per month.
  • Growth costs $149/user/month and provides integrations and access to 4,000 profiles per year.
  • Amplify costs $549/user/month and includes everything in Growth, plus talent sourcers, a US-based success team, and 1,000 human-sourced profiles.
  • Custom pricing for large companies and staffing agencies.

Best For

Fetcher is best for growing startups and SMBs seeking to enhance their sourcing and candidate outreach processes through a well-balanced combination of automation and human support.

Fetcher in action
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Rolebot

Visit Website
Rolebot
Learn More
Popularity Score
4.1 / 5
User Score
3.9 / 5
Product Score
4 / 5

Why we picked Rolebot

Rolebot's a newbie in the game but steps up boldly in AI-driven candidate sourcing. The software takes on the time-consuming task of open-ended searches and candidate outreach entirely for clients. Plus, their monthly billing and unlimited seats bring that flexibility we love.

PROS

  • AI-backed sourcing with human spot-checks.
  • AI feedback loop for continuous quality match improvement.
  • 24-hour turnaround for every 15 system-sourced candidates.
  • Interview coordination within the platform.
  • Advanced filtering for hard-to-fill roles such as engineering, healthcare & fintech.
  • Solid track record of candidate outreach success (30% response rate).
  • Support includes a dedicated CSM and embedded platform videos.
  • Transparent, unlimited-seat pricing.

  • AI-backed sourcing with human spot-checks.
  • AI feedback loop for continuous quality match improvement.
  • 24-hour turnaround for every 15 system-sourced candidates.
  • Interview coordination within the platform.
  • Advanced filtering for hard-to-fill roles such as engineering, healthcare & fintech.
  • Solid track record of candidate outreach success (30% response rate).
  • Support includes a dedicated CSM and embedded platform videos.
  • Transparent, unlimited-seat pricing.

CONS

  • The number of received candidates per day is fixed to 15. No options to adjust it.
  • No free trials. Pricing on the higher side.
  • No built-in candidate engagement tools available if users want to do their own outreach.
  • Limited integration options.

  • The number of received candidates per day is fixed to 15. No options to adjust it.
  • No free trials. Pricing on the higher side.
  • No built-in candidate engagement tools available if users want to do their own outreach.
  • Limited integration options.

Rolebot-candidate-sourcing-screenshot

Rolebot Review

If you'd met Rolebot pre-2022, you'd see how much it's grown since then. It barely scratched the surface at the time—only U.S. searches, basic filters. Now it rivals, if not surpasses, LinkedIn Recruiter in certain areas. Global talent discovery, company-specific targeting, the ability to sidestep unwanted company profiles, nifty filters for tech roles, and a wealth of diverse data sources, it's all there.

The way Rolebot harmonizes AI and human expertise in candidate sourcing might remind you of vendors like Fetcher—rooted in passive recruiting, where AI lays the groundwork and humans add the finishing touches. But the software sets itself apart by taking on outreach entirely and delivering an average response rate of 30% compared to LinkedIn InMail’s 18-25%.

Rolebot handles the open-ended searches by crawling structured and unstructured data from public sources like blog posts, social media profile updates, conference attendee lists, press releases, and media mentions, to curate candidate profiles resembling mini-resumes and social links. Every 24 hours, you get a fresh batch of 15 candidates based on your filters. Thumbs up or down lets you signal your preferences. Rolebot uses this feedback to sharpen its AI, similar to what we’ve seen in Fetcher.

When it comes to outreach management, Rolebot takes full ownership. The vendor has an in-house dedicated TA team that spends a good two to three weeks engaging preferred candidates for initial client interviews. It's a win-win in many respects—Rolebot lifts the outbound recruiting off clients' shoulders. Yet, this hands-off approach might not suit those seeking complete control. Due to the system’s design, opting for DIY outreach means you won’t get any built-in features like the custom drip campaigns usually found in vendors like HireEZ or SeekOut.

While we appreciate Rolebot's efforts to expand its integrations over time, the available options still lag behind competitors like Loxo or SeekOut. You can only find a few prominent ATSs: Greenhouse, Lever, SAP, and iCIMS, meaning you must either use Rolebot as a standalone tool or manually import candidate data from the platform in Excel and then upload it to your HR systems. Additionally, though the vendor suggests that 15 candidates per day are optimal based on their testing, we empathize with those feeling constrained, as there are no available options to adjust this number. Unreviewed candidates from a day won’t vanish, but without review, the AI won’t have enough data to learn and improve future results. Thankfully, Rolebot—both the system and CSM—has a knack for sending timely reminders to ensure users finish their homework.

Rolebot Customers

50+ organizations, including Snowflake, Cornerstone, and Dentsu.

Rolebot Pricing

Rolebot's enterprise plan starts at $3,000/month for 5 roles, with unlimited users, a dedicated customer success manager, and monthly billing. Free trials are not yet available. Additionally, those with multiple team members involved in hiring will find Rolebot’s unlimited seats offering a true gem, as whether you need one seat or twenty, you get the same bill.

Best For

Rolebot is best for enterprises (500+ employees) looking to free up their recruiters from candidate sourcing and initial engagement so they can focus on higher-value activities such as interviewing and skills evaluation.

Rolebot in action
Reviewer's Rating
10/10

We use Rolebot as part of our sourcing process. On a daily basis, we have hiring managers review potential passive candidates for Rolebot to reach out regarding interest. We manage our process via our ATS and Rolebot seamlessly ties into it. Rolebot adds quality candidates to our process.

What do you like about this tool?

High quality candidates, especially for unique roles. It costs significantly less than Linkedin. Great use of current technology to improve recruitment.

Why did your organization buy this tool, and how long have you used it for?

When I joined AudienceX, it took 2-3 months to find quality candidates to fill open roles. We were looking for a tool that could align with our new speedy hiring process. Furthermore, we did not want to overspend for external recruiters and, at the same time, speed up a time-consuming portion of recruitment, which is sourcing.

What do you dislike about this tool?

There is nothing I dislike about it. Easy to use for our managers, gets us what we need. For now, they are a must-have for us.

How is this tool different than their competitors?

I tried others or rather competitors. They overcomplicate the process, Rolebot keeps it simple. I know what I am getting.

What Instructions should people think about when buying this type of tool?

Cost of an external recruiter per role, it's between 20-30% of the base salary per role. If you hire 3 roles per year, this tool pays for itself.

How has this tool changed or evolved over time to meet users needs?

Little changes or recommendations we make eventually make it to improvements. Sometimes we like candidates, but they are not ideal for our role, and we wanted to have the option to skip or move candidates to other roles, now we can do it with Rolebot.

What specific type of user or organization is this tool very good for?

Amazing for hiring managers, recruiters, and VPs!

What specific type of user or organization would this tool not be a good fit for?

Teams who recruit less than 4 people per year.

AmazingHiring

Visit Website
AmazingHiring
Learn More
Popularity Score
4 / 5
User Score
4.7 / 5
Product Score
4.2 / 5

Why we picked AmazingHiring

AmazingHiring is hyper-focused on technical candidate sourcing. The sourcing platform comes with advanced technology that supplies a database of 600M+ engineering talent profiles, a free Chrome extension, and a robust data enrichment tool that gives away 150 first credits.

PROS

  • Frequently rolls out new feature enhancements.
  • Effective for technical recruitment.
  • Two-way integration with SmartRecruiters.
  • The data enrichment feature comes with 150 free credits.
  • Offers a free and a paid Chrome extension.

  • Frequently rolls out new feature enhancements.
  • Effective for technical recruitment.
  • Two-way integration with SmartRecruiters.
  • The data enrichment feature comes with 150 free credits.
  • Offers a free and a paid Chrome extension.

CONS

  • The UI looks rather outdated.
  • No free trial. Pricing isn’t disclosed upfront.
  • Can connect with only a few HR tools, most are one-way integration.

  • The UI looks rather outdated.
  • No free trial. Pricing isn’t disclosed upfront.
  • Can connect with only a few HR tools, most are one-way integration.

AmazingHiring candidate sourcing tool screenshot

AmazingHiring Review

AmazingHiring has made a good impression on us since we began using it for tech recruiting a few years back. But seeing it today makes us realize how far the sourcing tool has come.

Like almost any other sourcing tool, AmazingHiring offers options for manual or AI-assisted sourcing. Technically, its filters are quite similar to what we’ve seen on LinkedIn but are visualized with histograms and bar graphs, which definitely makes the whole dry, complex filtering look more interesting. What really impressed us, though, was the real-time market insights it provides here for each search. Unlike LinkedIn, which only offers profile counts per parameter set, AmazingHiring gives users a downloadable report that breaks down the talent pool size by location, experience, seniority, company size, and six categories more.

If you have multiple sourcers or recruiters doing the searches simultaneously, you’re also going to love the LinkedIn views feature. It enables users to exclude or include LinkedIn profiles that have been viewed in the last 30 days.

Automated candidate recommendations aren’t new in this space, and compared to competitors, AmazingHiring was quite slow when rolling out this feature in summer 2023. However, the way recommendations get updated every time a new candidate is added and look-alike pipelines are auto-built based on user preferences compensates for this delayed release.

For those with candidate databases that haven’t been updated for a while, AmazingHiring’s Data Enrichment is worth considering. This feature requires a separate purchase but contacting the vendor’s sales rep can fetch you 150 free credits.

This sourcing platform is also one of the very few we’ve reviewed that provides a free extension non-users can opt for. It’s not as powerful as the paid one but this freebie gathers all links to candidates’ Github and StackOverflow, which can be pretty helpful for researching examples of their code and ranking on these sites.

When it comes to AmazingHiring’s integration, we were a bit put off. The sourcing tool has a limited list of ATSs and recruiting software it can connect with. Except for its integration with SmartRecruiters, the rest is one-way. For example, the system can’t auto-update profiles in Workable, and Teamtailor integration doesn’t allow candidate resumes to be exported.

AmazingHiring Customers

10,000+ companies, including EPAM, Akamai Technologies, Alexander Mann Solutions, Dell, and ABBYY.

AmazingHiring Pricing

AmazingHiring pricing is undisclosed on its website. Our research indicates that all AmazingHiring’s contracts are annual and start at $4,800 per seat. Enriching contacts is charged separately if you want to take advantage of that feature. The vendor also offers custom pricing for individual freelancers who want to use the platform.

Best For

AmazingHiring is best for large staffing agencies, enterprises, and growing teams to source technical talent.

AmazingHiring in action
Reviewer's Rating
9/10

It is good for daily use, for either of these reasons:

  1. When reviewing candidates’ resumes: AmazingHiring automatically connects many online social profiles of each person (Linkedin, Xing, Github, Stackoverflow…)
  2.  Sourcing with advanced search filters: it provides a lot more information about an experience, as “search hints” that are highlighting the source for every criteria
  3. When there is a lack of candidate replies on Linkedin - AmazingHiring will discover their email address

Every few months can be useful to get market research insights about the companies and competition: how many employees are there, top 5 companies employees came from or leave for, how many years per role they stay there on average, etc.

What do you like about this tool?

AmazingHiring creates a candidate’s profile magnifying the best skills, based on 50+ connected profiles from different social networks.

  • That is a tremendous relief when an IT recruiter wonders “what is the skill set of this almost empty LinkedIn profile with the title Software Engineer…"
  • Also, its Talent Mapping is quite a rare feature, showing which programming languages are the most common among professionals in almost every country in the world.
  • And not to forget the AI sourcing option, which suggests mostly suitable profiles, and changes results from every 4-6 weeks (re-indexing). Nice that it follows if somebody updates his/her profiles.
Why did your organization buy this tool, and how long have you used it for?

Technical sourcing was the main and constant challenge that my organization was facing. While looking for very specific skill sets, there were never enough suitable and interested candidates on Linkedin. In order to improve the sourcing results, I tested AmazingHiring. It provides many more software engineer profiles in the search - even when they don’t have a LinkedIn profile! I’m a passionate user for almost three years.

What do you dislike about this tool?
  • Bear in mind that it shows more results than Linkedin only for IT professionals, for non-IT profiles it provides way fewer results.
  • There are some filters on LinkedIn that are not available on AmazingHiring (language level, fields of study...)
  • Though it helps by adding synonyms to your Boolean search, double check it because they are not completely suitable for every skill or role.

How is this tool different than their competitors?

AmazingHiring is way better (both by quantity and quality of the search) to be used for technical sourcing than LinkedIn. However, LinkedIn is probably irreplaceable for all non-technical roles.

What Instructions should people think about when buying this type of tool?

 If your talent acquisition team is regularly looking for IT candidates, this tool could for sure bring some more than if you stick only to LinkedIn. To make it happen, of course, improving reaching out messages is another segment that should be worked on.

How has this tool changed or evolved over time to meet users needs?

In order to help their customers to improve DEI, AmazingHiring offered an optional Diversity filter - that should be requested personally.

As well, the sourcing platform AmazingHiring became closer to ATS (creating folders and talent pipelines), and it can be integrated with Gmail for messaging.

What specific type of user or organization is this tool very good for?

It's great for IT companies that are often looking for unicorn top tech talent.

What specific type of user or organization would this tool not be a good fit for?

For organizations that are not regularly employing technical talent.

Arya by Leoforce

Visit Website
Arya by Leoforce
Learn More
Popularity Score
4.1 / 5
User Score
4 / 5
Product Score
4.1 / 5

Why we picked Arya by Leoforce

Arya is developed by Leoforce, an AI recruiting company with a focus on talent sourcing, and has constantly gotten better over time with new features being introduced almost every quarter.

PROS

  • Talent database of 850M+ sourced from 70+ platforms.
  • AI’s ability to produce fast and accurate candidate recommendations.
  • Candidate communications include chatbot, email, text, and direct dial.
  • Loads of useful features like Scouting Agent, Candidate 360, and Score Details.

  • Talent database of 850M+ sourced from 70+ platforms.
  • AI’s ability to produce fast and accurate candidate recommendations.
  • Candidate communications include chatbot, email, text, and direct dial.
  • Loads of useful features like Scouting Agent, Candidate 360, and Score Details.

CONS

  • Pricing no longer disclosed. No free trial either.
  • Workflows lack customization.
  • No Chrome extension.
  • A significant drop in the number of sourceable candidates outside of North America.

  • Pricing no longer disclosed. No free trial either.
  • Workflows lack customization.
  • No Chrome extension.
  • A significant drop in the number of sourceable candidates outside of North America.

Arya by Leoforce sourcing tool screenshot

Arya by Leoforce Review

Arya by Leoforce is excellent for many reasons, including its AI candidate matching, open web and user ATS/CRM sourcing, a multi-channel candidate engagement suite, and a chatbot that can ask candidates screening questions and schedule calls with qualified ones. However, for us, regular product advancement is its strongest USP. If we compare Leoforce's investment in developing new features with other sourcing platforms we’ve tested, there are very few that match this tool.

The latest enhancement to Arya’s capabilities is the Scouting Agent—an AI-assisted search agent introduced in December 2023. What makes this feature exceptional is its ability to search for new candidate profiles added or updated within the previous 24 hours in the user’s selected sourcing channels or integrated job portals with Arya.

Users can create not just one but multiple Scouting Agents per job description, each using different search parameters to broaden the candidate pool. We only need to set these agents up once, and in return, the AI makes sure the searches will be automated and ongoing—no new profiles will go missing.

Given the quality of Arya’s new Scouting Agent, we expected nothing less from other fresh features like the Score Details tab within the Candidate 360 view. And it didn’t disappoint.

On this tab (head to a candidate profile, then the Score Detail tab, click the link ‘Why this rating?’, and you’ll get there), the system displays a detailed breakdown of how and why a candidate received a particular score relative to the role. There is also a graphic alongside showing what the candidate has to offer compared to the job description and other relevant candidates.

We think this level of transparency and visibility will be loved by recruiters and hiring managers alike: They get the data needed to make informed shortlisting decisions and have good materials for personalizing candidate outreach.

However, we don’t think teams prioritizing great flexibility and customization will be fond of Arya. The sourcing tool’s workflows are fixed in a set order—they cannot adapt to your workflows, so you have to adapt to theirs, unfortunately.

Another trade-off for Arya’s advanced AI features is that the vendor no longer discloses its pricing and has also discontinued its free trial. They only accept annual subscriptions, and pricing can be around $3,000—not very exciting news for SMBs, eh?

Arya by Leoforce Customers

Lenovo, American Century Investments, PeopleScout, Ecotalent, Polaris Alpha

Arya by Leoforce Pricing

Arya by Leoforce has four custom-priced products: Arya Quantum, Arya Fusion, Arya Concierge, and Arya Applicants on Demand. No free trial is available.

Best For

Arya by Leoforce is best for corporates and staffing firms of medium-to-large sizes and in North America.

Arya by Leoforce in action
Reviewer's Rating
6/10

We use it to source candidates and to send emails to shortlisted candidates. We use it almost daily.

What do you like about this tool?

The market research tool is a plus. The user experience is very good and it is very easy to navigate. The ability to email candidates from within the tool is great.

Why did your organization buy this tool, and how long have you used it for?

We were looking for a new AI sourcing tool. We like that it works to continually source possible candidates for us to review. The onboarding training is very good.  You have an assigned Customer Success Rep to ensure that the users are comfortable with navigating the tool.  It's been about six months that we've been using it.

What do you dislike about this tool?

I don't like that it asks for information about competitor/target companies but doesn't seem to use it to source candidates. The boolean search function doesn't work that well.  Unfortunately, using only the AI search functionality based on a job description brings back a lot of irrelevant results.

How is this tool different than their competitors?

We've only used one other tool that was similar but all it did was pull LinkedIn results. Arya goes beyond LinkedIn.

What Instructions should people think about when buying this type of tool?

People should think about all the functionalities they get for the price. It's an annual subscription, not monthly, so if you don't like it that much you're stuck for a year.

How has this tool changed or evolved over time to meet users needs?

We've only been using it for a few months so it hasn't changed in that time.

What specific type of user or organization is this tool very good for?

Any - corporate or agency

What specific type of user or organization would this tool not be a good fit for?

Can't think of one.

hireEZ

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hireEZ
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Popularity Score
4.1 / 5
User Score
4.6 / 5
Product Score
4.4 / 5

Why we picked hireEZ

hireEZ stands out for engagement, analytics, and collaboration features. The platform is built for enterprise-scale teams looking to increase efficiency in candidate sourcing..

PROS

  • Simple and easy-to-navigate UI.
  • Boolean Builder provides users with options to make and use boolean strings for their sourcing.
  • Search across 800M+ candidate profiles from 45+ online platforms.
  • Daily emails delivered to TA teams offer AI-backed candidate recommendations.
  • Automated, unlimited email sequences to candidates.
  • 30+ advanced AI filters, including gender, race, and ethnicity.
  • Native tool for rediscovering talent within users’ ATS.
  • Chrome extension can search on 45+ platforms.
  • 30+ ATS integrations.
  • Great customer support.
  • Intuitive, modern, and continuously evolving UX.
  • Quick and unique sourcing capabilities. Many users indicate they get compelling candidates they hadn’t seen with other sourcing methods, some of which lead to good hires. Often, this happens in less time than the methods they were trying before.
  • Unlimited follow-ups with each contact you pay for. This demonstrates how self-assured hireEZ is with the quality of their sourcing. They are confident about people not abusing this feature and stop contact when it’s clear a candidate is not interested— or simply because they found the right ones and stopped their search.

CONS

  • Some candidate contact info is incorrect or out of date.
  • Integration with LinkedIn isn’t seamless.
  • No option for monthly pricing.
  • No free trial.
  • Since it’s always changing, parts of the platform may be buggy at times, which tends to be a minor nuisance we hear often from the mouths of recruiters. However, these bugs tend to get fixed quickly.
  • Some recruiters have also pointed out a small whole issue performing searches: the tags for job titles are often too narrow, and sometimes the search function won’t include specific titles that they consider essential in their practice.
  • While it has a growing list of integrations, it does not integrate with popular job sites like Wellfound. Furthermore, the LinkedIn integration could be expanded, and it only connects with ATS/CRM, calendars, and video interview software.
hireEZ sourcing tool for recruiters dashboard screenshot

hireEZ Review

We’ve tested dozens of sourcing options: hireEZ is one of the few vendors offering both the traditional Boolean search and well-built AI sourcing tools (rather than just the AI).

Using Boolean in hireEZ is just as easy as LinkedIn, and the candidate results are just as good, if not better, with much more detail on candidate profiles. For those aiming to take their searches further, hireEZ’s AI searching tools offer over twenty filters with intelligent learning and contextual search capabilities.

While both LinkedIn Recruiter and hireEZ let you find candidates with specific sourcing criteria like past and current job titles, companies, and years of experience, only hireEZ has capabilities for diversity sourcing and rediscovering potential talent within users’ ATS database.

Like SeekOut and Fetcher, candidate profiles sourced through hireEZ equip recruiters with insights on the candidate’s job availability scores, average market values, technical repositories, and social media links—ranked by relevance to their search queries. The sourcing tool’s advanced AI filters also make searching for talent in tech, healthcare, clearance, and academia easy.

hireEZ’s engagement features are on par with peers like Fetcher and Gem. It only took us a few minutes to get an email sequence ready and we can imagine how efficient it would be for recruiters to reach out to hundreds of candidates at once with the pre-built email templates and the bulk actions provided.

Our biggest concern with hireEZ is the lack of human oversight. There are modern AI sourcing and recruiters’ beloved Boolean strings. But is there human spot-checking of the results produced by hireEZ’s algorithms? Not that we could see. Moreover, some GPT features, such as the email generator, frankly speaking, weren’t particularly strong. It basically produces the same results you could find by giving ChatGPT the same prompts.

It shouldn’t be necessary to onboard both hireEZ and LinkedIn Recruiter for candidate sourcing, but, if you plan on doing so, prepare for some hiccups. While hireEZ showed no flaws when we connected with different ATSs and CRMs like Greenhouse, Lever, or JazzHR, it performed rather poorly when paired with its rival LinkedIn.

hireEZ Customers

Over 600 companies have used hireEZ. Examples include Nike, Continental, Wayfair, Intel, Ceridian, and Novo Nordisk.

hireEZ Pricing

hireEZ doesn’t disclose its pricing. You need to contact them for an exact quote.

Best For

hireEZ is an excellent help for corporates and agencies looking to fill from a hundred to a few thousand positions per year.

hireEZ in action
Reviewer's Rating
10/10

I would use HireEZ every single day in my role as an executive recruiter. We use it to source candidates, as well as send bulk emails to candidates for outreach.

What do you like about this tool?
  • It provides email addresses for candidates.
  • It includes a hyperlink to the candidates linkedin profile.
  • It allows for bulk email messages for candidate outreach.
  • Exporting sourcing lists to excel is much easier than with Linkedin.
Why did your organization buy this tool, and how long have you used it for?

Linkedin Recruiter accounts were becoming way too expensive so we were looking for an alternative sourcing tool. The benefits of HireEz is that they provide an email address of contacts which is helpful. They also provide a search function with categories that are similar to Linkedin Recruiter.

What do you dislike about this tool?

The platform should add an integration with Crelate. You also need to have access to all of the search categories by paying for them to make it a useful tool. Email addresses are not always 100% in the software.

How is this tool different than their competitors?

HireEz is the only competitor to LinkedIn and I find it to be much better, faster loading and just an easier user experience overall.

What Instructions should people think about when buying this type of tool?

Do you need an alternative to Linkedin Recruiter or Recruiter lite? Pricing is better than Linkedin. Would you like access to candidate emails? If yes, HireEZ is worth checking out.

How has this tool changed or evolved over time to meet users needs?

Upgraded features are constantly being added. You can also send feedback to their developers.

What specific type of user or organization is this tool very good for?

Recruiters and agencies

What specific type of user or organization would this tool not be a good fit for?

Anyone who is not a recruiter.

Underdog.io

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Underdog.io
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Popularity Score
4.1 / 5
User Score
5 / 5
Product Score
4.3 / 5

Why we picked Underdog.io

Underdog.io is a niche job marketplace that connects tech candidates with hiring managers in top startups in NYC and San Francisco. Notably, all candidates accepted into the Underdog network are pre-screened by humans and are guaranteed active candidates.

PROS

  • All candidates are pre-screened and guaranteed active candidates.
  • Quality mid- and senior-level candidates with substantial startup experience.
  • Easy to use. Responsive customer support.
  • Option to choose pay-per-hire or subscription pricing.
  • Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) services available in Q1 2024.

CONS

  • Only serves corporate hiring, no services available for recruiting agencies.
  • Takes a week to deliver matching candidates (Fetcher takes 24-48 hours).
  • Undisclosed pricing. No free trial.
  • Has only 5 native integrations available.

Underdog.io Review

You might have noticed that most candidate sourcing tools focus on passive talent recruitment. So, it’s refreshing to see Underdog taking a different approach—assisting U.S.-based tech companies in finding in-demand talent who boast years of experience in startups and are actively looking for jobs.

One recurring issue with sourcing from major job boards like Monster, Indeed, and LinkedIn is that job seekers tend to apply to everything and anything. This makes niche sites like Underdog more valuable. Signing up to join this network takes only 1-2 minutes, but they aren’t guaranteed to get in. All applicants within Underdog’s community undergo human vetting by the founders and an HR rep. The qualified ones must be seeking full-time positions and either already reside in the U.S. or possess transferable visas. The platform also looks into the job seeker’s background and work experience to match client needs. While this whole process takes a week, and the number of supplied applicants is smaller, those received applicants are usually much closer fits.

It’s also nice to see that after pre-screening, Underdog makes sure clients get full control over how they further vet and select talent. Recruiters can access applicant profiles and message potential candidates directly on the tool’s dashboard or via email. Since Underdog’s proposed candidates are active job seekers, they tend to be much more responsive to recruiter outreach.

Underdog’s founder recently announced they will launch Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) services and Delightful—a curated job board connecting tech job seekers with startups. It's too early to comment on these tools, but we’ll be sure to give them a thorough test and keep you posted.

Despite Underdog's pre-screening capabilities, we totally relate to those feeling that waiting a week for a new talent batch is too long, especially compared with other tools: Rolebot takes one day, Fetcher two days at most. We also hope that improving integration is on Underdog’s to-do list as, for now, it can only connect with 4 ATSs—quite disappointing, isn’t it?

On another note, Underdog makes it clear that it’s not for staffing firms. If that’s your field, you’re better off with alternatives like hireEZ, Fetcher, SeekOut, or Loxo.

Underdog.io Customers

Over one hundred companies, most of which are startups, have used Underdog to hire tech talent. Lattice, Airtable, Aircall, Teachers Pay Teachers, and Foursquare are some of them.

Underdog.io Pricing

Underdog.io allows users to choose whether to go with pay-per-hire or subscription pricing.

Best For

Privately held, venture-backed startups looking for a curated marketplace for tech talent based in the U.S. will likely benefit most from Underdog.

Underdog.io in action
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SeekOut

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SeekOut
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Popularity Score
4 / 5
User Score
4.5 / 5
Product Score
4 / 5

Why we picked SeekOut

SeekOut has one of the most powerful search capabilities of any candidate sourcing platform. It not only boasts a massive talent pool, with over 800M candidate profiles, but also a set of advanced filters that you can use to find talent from specific time zones, in niche industries, and with certain patents or work licenses.

PROS

  • User-friendly UI.
  • Downloadable People Insights for a bird's-eye view of your search results.
  • Dedicated talent pools and advanced filters for tech and healthcare searches.
  • Native tools for hard-to-find talent sourcing, DEI, internal mobility, and redeployment.
  • Support includes live chat, email support, and dedicated CMS for selective users.
  • Ability to choose recipient email address types (personal or work) for engagement campaigns.
  • New features released regularly.

  • Sources from tons of external databases; over 780M candidate profiles and growing
  • Can find talent also among your existing team.
  • Truly tech-powered and search engine-like platform.
  • Presents very complete candidate profiles, sometimes going through their code contributions, participation in conferences, academic papers, and more, in order to present top experts for certain skills or topics.

CONS

  • Fewer candidate options outside the United States.
  • Engagement tool available via email campaigns only.
  • Doesn’t disclose pricing.
  • Could take a few hours to sync info to integrated ATS.
  • Some phone numbers and emails were outdated.

  • While they're always expanding their candidate list, they have been mainly oriented towards the US and Canada for years. Hence, companies outside those geographies might find that their searches are still somewhat limited when it comes to local talent. Such is the case of some users writing from Europe, for instance.
  • Several users have complained about lags or glitches between the candidate’s info from the source and how/when it appears within the platform.
SeekOut sourcing tool screenshot

SeekOut Review

We think SeekOut is one of the finest candidate sourcing tools out there—its search capabilities in particular are just ridiculously good.

Let's kick off with one of its latest features—SeekOut Assist. While many platforms offer AI-powered sourcing (hireEZ, Rolebot, and Arya, to name a few), SeekOut Assist strikes a pleasing balance between powerful algorithms and human touch.

We fed in our job description (JD), and the AI instantly broke it down into search criteria like job title, required skills, and preferred skills. Then, it started screening profiles in its talent database based on customizable criteria. That flexibility extends to email engagement, too. The AI crafts personalized outreach messages based on each candidate’s profile and JD while giving users options to tweak them further as they wish.

Advanced filters for niche talent sourcing also make this tool hard to beat. For example, you can search healthcare professionals by license type and status and look into expert talent’s publications and patents. You can also filter profiles based on whether you have viewed or reached out to them or if they are already in your ATS. You can even use Smart Match pre-built filters for quick searches.

Another new feature SeekOut just released is Pipeline Insights. AmazingHiring offers a similar tool, yet SeekOut’s version impresses us more for both appearance and functionality. Insights provides critical data on the talent pool size per filter set and real-time talent pipeline performance. These insights are downloadable and tailored to users’ roles (hiring managers and recruiters).

However, if your primary talent search isn't focused on the U.S., picking SeekOut might lead to disappointment. We noticed fewer profiles and less accurate contact info when searching for Europe-based candidates. SeekOut seems aware of this, though, and has added an option for users to report incorrect contact data.

We also feel that SeekOut doesn’t shine when it comes to engagement tools. We don’t expect live chat services like Entelo has, but basic channels like SMS or InMail outreach should be available.

The biggest problem with this sourcing tool is that its reply tracking system can sometimes mess up and send scheduled emails even after the candidate has replied. We found ourselves in this awkward position once during testing.

SeekOut Customers

1,000+ companies, including VMware, Salesforce, Merck, UiPath, and Anaplan.

SeekOut Pricing

How much does SeekOut cost? SeekOut has three plans (Premium, Premium Tech, and SeekOut Expert) that have undisclosed pricing. Our research suggests plans start at around $3,500 per year, and only annual payments are accepted.

Does SeekOut have a free trial? Yes, it does.

Best For

SeekOut is a good choice for mid-sized and large companies sourcing niche talent (tech, healthcare, etc.) in the U.S.

SeekOut in action
Reviewer's Rating
9/10

We used SeekOut to source candidates. Even though we were a small team that shared licenses, we were able to create proper candidate reach outs and sequences. Additionally, we used SeekOut as part of our diversity-sourcing strategy. The blind sourcing functionality helped us overcome many biases that our hiring managers had about talent.

What do you like about this tool?
  1. Blind/anonymized sourcing - This meant information that could elicit bias (like names, university) were removed
  2. Ease of use - It was incredibly straightforward and easy to pick up
  3. Clean UI/UX - Everything is exactly where you would think it would be
  4. Integrations
Why did your organization buy this tool, and how long have you used it for?

We were a tech-based startup that wanted to source software engineers and other roles. SeekOut provides an easy to use platform that made sourcing easy and it integrated nicely with our ATS (Greenhouse) and LinkedIn license. With SeekOut we were able to build excellent projects and do partner sourcing with our hiring managers.

What do you dislike about this tool?
  1.  Latency of syncing information - On a couple of occasions it took a few hours for candidates to port into our Greenhouse instance
  2. User access structure - It was difficult to understand the permissions
  3. Sequences - It took a few training sessions to really understand the process flow of their message sequencing (but their CSM team is fantastic and once they teach you, you never forget it)
  4. Reporting - The analytics were slightly lackluster but they were getting much better
How is this tool different than their competitors?

As a sourcing tool SeekOut is fantastic. When compared to something like Gem, it feels more natural and visually easier to use.

What Instructions should people think about when buying this type of tool?
  1. How much sourcing/hiring will you be doing?
  2. How many people will you want to have access to SeekOut and what will you want their permissions to be?
  3. Will you be connecting it to LinkedIn Recruiter?
How has this tool changed or evolved over time to meet users needs?

It has been a year or so since I've used it but in that time SeekOut has put out more thought leadership that their users care about. They were always good about taking product feedback.

What specific type of user or organization is this tool very good for?
  1. Recruiters
  2. Hiring Managers
  3. Sourcers
  4. RecOps
What specific type of user or organization would this tool not be a good fit for?

People not involved in the hiring process

Entelo

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Entelo
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Popularity Score
4 / 5
User Score
4.1 / 5
Product Score
4.2 / 5

Why we picked Entelo

Entelo packs a host of cool diversity-sourcing features: The unbiased sourcing mode that masks candidates’ pictures and genders, the inclusive language alerts that nest in your engagement features, and the candidate highlights that quickly present you with matching talent from underrepresented groups.

PROS

  • Comprehensive diversity features.
  • Native scheduling capability
  • Video interview tools support both live and one-way video interviews.
  • Multi-channel candidate communication options include SMS, email campaigns, and live chat.
  • Send time optimization for better outreach performance.
  • User-friendly Chrome extension.

CONS

  • Some candidate profiles are outdated.
  • Still requires candidates to download mobile apps to join interviews.
  • Hasn’t rolled out new features since it became a part of Rival (formerly SilkRoad Technology).

Entelo's candidate sourcing platform dashboard

Entelo Review

Entelo’s candidate database, with 550 million candidate profiles, might not stand out compared to Fetcher’s 800M+, hireEZ’s 800M+, and Loxo's 1.2B+. However, this sourcing software is top of the class when it comes to diversity sourcing capabilities.

Many tools in this space offer some form of diversity elements, whether in filtering or reporting but none we've seen come close to Entelo’s Unbiased Sourcing Mode. This feature mirrors what we’ve found in leading ATSs such as Pinpoint, Teamtailor, and Lever. It allows masking and anonymizing candidate data linked to various biases (like headshots, names, and genders) before conducting searches or sharing review queues with hiring managers.

Entelo’s Inclusive Language Alerts for email communications reminded us of Textio—a diversity recruitment tool that has a knack for providing inclusive language guidance to talent acquisition and retention. As we crafted an outreach email, the system automatically highlighted non-inclusive language and offered suggestions for improvement, making it easy to work with.

Outreach is a breeze, too. When we were about to schedule a campaign, Entelo gave us a hint on which send times are likely to yield the highest open rate for our recipients. You may be wondering, how accurate are such estimates? We did too, so we ran an AB test. Following Entelo’s scheduling advice, we saw a 15% increase in open rate which we must say, was pretty cool.

Entelo’s candidate self-scheduling and video interviewing capabilities are also high quality. Unlike Gem’s rather basic scheduler, Entelo’s works for round-robin, group, and sequential interviews as well as 1:1s. The system supports both on-demand and live video interviews and covers all the essentials, from branding to multiple customizable interview formats and collaborative interview assessments.

The only thing we dislike about this feature is that it requires an app download from candidates to take the interviews. Considering how most modern interview video solutions today have already gone browser-based/app-less, we think users are in the right to complain about this.

We wouldn’t recommend Entelo for teams seeking talent sourcing tools with continued improvements. Since joining the talent acquisition suite Rival (formerly SilkRoad Technology), there has been no progress in terms of its feature enhancements, let alone new feature updates. Entelo’s website footer also still says 2022 while its latest blog post was from December of the same year. It could really use some updates.

Entelo Customers

Entelo customers include Wayfair, Sony, Lyft, Asana, and Comerica Bank.

Entelo Pricing

The pricing of Entelo’s plans and services isn’t disclosed on their website. Contact their sales team for a quote.

Best For

Recruiting teams and agencies looking for a sourcing platform with great diversity recruitment and video interview capabilities.

Entelo in action
Reviewer's Rating
8/10

I incorporated Entelo into my regular sourcing routine, using it 2-3 times a week as a reliable supplement to our ATS and LinkedIn. What set Entelo apart for me was its filtering capabilities that allowed targeted sourcing of candidates from specific underrepresented backgrounds. This feature enabled me to focus on top-of-funnel sourcing for our diversity efforts with precision. Not only did Entelo provide an alternative to traditional sourcing platforms, but it also became my go-to tool when championing inclusive hiring. Its capabilities allowed me to target my diversity efforts when ensuring that a diverse interview slate was presented to hiring managers.

What do you like about this tool?
  • Entelo's filtering capabilities specifically cater to sourcing candidates from underrepresented backgrounds which is a great resource to boost diversity at the top of the funnel.
  • Entelo provides accurate contact information for candidates which allows for a better response rate and funnel velocity.
  • The candidate tracking feature offers an end-to-end view of the engagement journey,which allows for effective candidate management and recruitment strategies.
Why did your organization buy this tool, and how long have you used it for?

My organization purchased Entelo primarily to address the challenges we were facing in increasing the velocity of our top-of-funnel diversity efforts. We recognized the imperative of building a more diverse workforce, but traditional methods weren't delivering results fast enough. Additionally, we were frequently encountering hurdles in obtaining accurate contact information, which hampered our outreach campaigns. Entelo provided us with the tools and resources to efficiently target and contact diverse candidates, making our hiring processes both more inclusive and efficient. I personally have been using Entelo for 5 years now.

What do you dislike about this tool?
  • Entelo's Envoy feature did not provide suitable candidates for the technical roles I was sourcing for.
  • Candidate duplicates became a source of frustration for the team, a merge feature would be very helpful.
  • The reporting tool in Entelo lacks customization options, and exporting desired reports can be time-consuming
How is this tool different than their competitors?

Entelo is a tool that can be used as a supplement to an ATS but its average UI, amount of outdated profile and lack of reporting limits its overall capabilities. When used for a sourcing tool, Entelo is one of my favorite for diversity sourcing and top of funnel engagement

What Instructions should people think about when buying this type of tool?

People should consider its overall goal when purchasing Entelo. In addition they should consider which tools they already have in place that can supplement some of Entelo's deficiencies.

How has this tool changed or evolved over time to meet users needs?

Entelo has improved its user experience, added predictive analytics and enhanced its filters to help meet users needs.

What specific type of user or organization is this tool very good for?

Entelo is good for users who will be focusing on top of funnel and interested in sourcing for niche specific skill sets.

What specific type of user or organization would this tool not be a good fit for?

Entelo is not a good fit for an organization with an existing ATS or active Linkedin Recruiter license.

Gem

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Gem
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Popularity Score
4 / 5
User Score
4.8 / 5
Product Score
4.6 / 5

Why we picked Gem

Gem can be used as a standalone tool for outbound sourcing or as a great compliment to your existing ATS. It excels in helping you find and engage passive candidates at scale while also acting as a central hub for all your recruiting efforts.

PROS

  • Likely to Move filter analyzes signals on candidates’ profiles to pinpoint those more likely to switch jobs.
  • Analytics is easy to use and provides great insights into recruitment pipelines.
  • Suggests similar profiles to the ones recruiters are looking for.
  • Auto adds potential candidates who meet users’ saved search.
  • Option to automate sequences to engage newly added prospects.
  • Customizable drip campaigns and A/B testing for active and passive candidates.
  • Customer support is available via live chat, a help center, and email. Also provides a dedicated customer success manager.
  • Has a free trial. Free for startups under 15 employees, incorporated less than 3 years ago, and raised less than $5MM (USD) in funding.
  • Gem helps you discover qualified candidates across multiple channels, send personalized messages, visualize your recruitment pipeline, and stay on top of crucial hiring metrics
  • Gem's integration with LinkedIn and various ATS means that all candidate data is stored in a centralized location. Users find this feature extremely useful.
  • According to users, one of Gem's finest features is the ability to create automated drip campaigns to engage with both active and passive candidates

CONS

  • Some users have experienced slow load times and lag while using the search function.
  • Outreach campaign limited to email sequences and InMail only.
  • Lacks pricing transparency. No option to pay monthly.
  • No mobile app.
  • Some users have experienced slow load times and lags while using the application
  • In rare cases, the contact information, such as the email address or phone number of a sourced candidate, might be wrong
  • While Gem currently integrates with LinkedIn, it does not provide the option to automate messages via LinkedIn InMail
Gem candidate sourcing tool screenshot

Gem Review

Gem stands shoulder-to-shoulder with peers with the automation, personalization, and AI it brings to the table. One feature that stood out, though, was the reminder embedded in Gem’s Chrome extension. This handy tool lets users set reminders for specific dates and leave a note for context, ensuring you won’t miss a follow-up.

Gem’s Canned Response is another gem! This feature allows you to save frequently used responses as templates. Better yet, these canned responses are easy to personalize thanks to the included variables. We tried it and totally loved it. When a candidate replied to our outreach saying they wanted to chat, a simple click on our saved screening canned response prepared an email reply ready to go.

Collaborative teams will love Gem’s Resume Review. It lets recruiters send candidate batches to hiring managers with additional context while managers can rate candidates and leave notes in Gem's review section. Once reviews are complete, Gem takes care of logistics by auto-emailing the recruiter with ratings and notes.

Gem’s deep ATS integration is tough to beat. Users can cross-check, import candidates from Gem to an ATS and vice versa, and even utilize the sequence feature to engage candidates directly within a plugged-in ATS.

However, unlike Loxo, Gem provides no SMS or voice calling outreach options. It primarily focuses on email and InMail. We also noticed a decline in Gem's ability to find email contacts for non-U.S. candidates compared to U.S. ones. Speaking of which, while it's normal for sourcing systems to find a candidate’s work email, it would be nice if Gem enabled users to filter out all work emails when they do outreach.

We had high hopes for Gem’s native scheduler. Unfortunately, it failed to communicate well with our ATS, causing our system to not auto-update booked calls. If you also travel frequently, be aware! This scheduler won’t auto-adjust to your time zone. You’ll have to go into settings and manually fix it.

Gem Customers

1,200+ companies, including Coinbase, Slack, Asana, Dropbox, Lyft, Indeed, Pinterest, and Doordash.

Gem Pricing

Gem’s pricing is undisclosed. You need to reach out to their sales team for a quote.

Best For

Gem is a great sourcing tool for recruitment teams in large organizations and staffing agencies looking for a collaborative sourcing tool that can handle both inbound and outbound recruitment. Businesses in industries like financial services, life sciences, and manufacturing are especially well-served by this tool.

Gem in action
Reviewer's Rating
7/10

As a recruiter, I use Gem on a daily basis to manage all aspects of the candidate lifecycle. One of the key workflows that I use it for is candidate sourcing, where I can easily import and organize candidate data from various sources, such as job boards, LinkedIn, and our website. I can also use the platform's advanced search and filtering features to quickly find relevant candidates that match specific job requirements.

Once I have identified potential candidates, I use Gem to manage the screening and interviewing process. This involves tracking each candidate's progress through various stages of the hiring process, scheduling interviews, and collaborating with hiring managers and team members. I also use the platform's integrations with other tools, such as Zoom and Google Calendar, to streamline the interview process and ensure a smooth candidate experience.

In addition to these core workflows, I also use Gem for candidate relationship management and communication. This includes keeping candidates engaged throughout the hiring process, providing personalized feedback, and answering any questions they may have. I also use Gem to analyze and track recruitment metrics, such as time-to-hire and source of hire, which helps me to optimize and improve our recruitment processes over time.

Overall, Gem has become an essential tool in my daily workflow as a recruiter, allowing me to streamline and automate many aspects of the recruitment process and provide a better candidate experience.

What do you like about this tool?

have found Gem to be an incredibly useful tool for managing candidates throughout the recruitment process. Here are three key reasons why I like Gem:

User-friendly interface: The platform's interface is easy to use and intuitive, which makes it simple to navigate through the candidate management process.

Advanced search capabilities: Gem's advanced search capabilities are a huge asset, allowing me to quickly and easily find candidates that meet specific job requirements.

Collaborative capabilities: Gem's collaborative features are another standout feature. The platform allows me to easily communicate and collaborate with other members of my team, streamlining the hiring process and ensuring that everyone is on the same page.

Why did your organization buy this tool, and how long have you used it for?

Our organization purchased Gem ATS as a solution to some of the challenges we were facing in managing our recruitment processes. Before using Gem, we had been relying on manual processes and spreadsheets, which made it difficult to efficiently track and manage candidates throughout the hiring process. We also found it challenging to collaborate effectively as a team and communicate with candidates in a timely and personalized way.

Since implementing Gem, we have experienced a number of benefits. One of the key benefits has been the ability to automate many of our recruiting processes, such as resume screening and interview scheduling, which has saved us a significant amount of time and resources. Additionally, the platform has enabled us to collaborate more effectively as a team, with features such as centralized candidate profiles, real-time communication, and shared feedback.

Personally, I have been using Gem for over a year and have found it to be an essential tool for my work as a recruiter. It has enabled me to streamline my workflow, track candidates more effectively, and provide a more personalized experience for both candidates and my team. Overall, Gem has been an incredibly valuable addition to our recruitment toolkit, and we plan to continue using it to support our hiring efforts going forward.

What do you dislike about this tool?

While I find Gem to be a highly effective tool for candidate management, there are a few areas where I think it could be improved. Here are three potential drawbacks to using Gem:

Limited customization: While Gem offers a range of useful features, the platform doesn't allow for a great deal of customization. I wish that there were more options for tailoring the tool to my specific needs.

Slow loading times: At times, I have found that Gem can be slow to load, which can be frustrating when trying to quickly access candidate information.

Price point: While I believe that Gem is a valuable tool, it is on the pricier side compared to some other ATS options. For smaller organizations or those with tighter budgets, this could be a potential drawback.

How is this tool different than their competitors?

I can say that Gem stands out from its competitors in a few ways. First, its user interface is clean and intuitive, making it easy to navigate and use. Second, Gem's AI-powered features, such as automated sourcing and candidate engagement, help save time and increase efficiency. Third, Gem integrates seamlessly with other tools in the recruiting tech stack, such as LinkedIn and Slack, which streamlines the recruitment process.

Compared to other similar tools I've used, I prefer Gem because of its user-friendly interface and AI-powered features. The automated sourcing and candidate engagement have helped me save a lot of time and increased the number of qualified candidates in my pipeline. Additionally, the ability to integrate with other tools has made my workflow much more streamlined. Overall, I highly recommend Gem ATS for any recruiter looking to increase their efficiency and productivity.

What Instructions should people think about when buying this type of tool?

I would recommend that when considering a candidate management tool like this, there are a few key criteria to keep in mind.

First, it's important to evaluate the user interface and ease of use. A tool with a clean, intuitive interface will save time and reduce frustration. Consider the integrations offered by the tool, as seamless integration with other recruitment tech tools can streamline the hiring process. Also, the level of automation and AI features should be assessed, as these can greatly improve productivity and increase efficiency.

In addition, it's important to look at the pricing structure and understand any additional costs associated with add-ons or upgrades. Finally, take advantage of free trials to test out the tool and see if it meets your specific recruitment needs. Overall, by considering these key criteria, you can make an informed decision on which candidate management tool is right for your recruiting needs.

How has this tool changed or evolved over time to meet users needs?
  • I can attest that Gem has evolved significantly over time to meet users' needs. Since its launch, Gem has consistently released updates and new features based on user feedback, making it a much more powerful and efficient tool for candidate management.
  • One of the key ways Gem has evolved is through the addition of AI-powered automation features. For example, the "Sequences" feature allows recruiters to automate personalized outreach and follow-ups to candidates, reducing the amount of manual work needed for candidate engagement.
  • Gem has also expanded its integrations with other tools in the recruitment tech stack, such as LinkedIn and Slack, which has helped to streamline the recruitment process even further.
  • Gem has continued to innovate and evolve over time to meet the ever-changing needs of its users. As a result, it has become a go-to tool for many recruiters looking to increase their efficiency and productivity.
What specific type of user or organization is this tool very good for?

I believe that Gem is very good for a variety of users and organizations. Gem is an excellent tool for companies of all sizes, from small startups to large enterprises, and for recruiters who handle high-volume hiring needs.

In particular, Gem is well-suited for recruiters who prioritize efficiency and productivity in their hiring process. The tool's AI-powered automation features, such as the ability to automate outreach and follow-up, save recruiters a significant amount of time and increase their productivity. Additionally, Gem's ability to integrate with other recruitment tech tools, such as LinkedIn and Slack, makes it an ideal tool for those who use these tools in their daily work.

Furthermore, Gem's easy-to-use interface and seamless user experience make it an excellent tool for all levels of experience, from seasoned recruiters to those who are new to the profession. Overall, Gem is a great tool for any recruiter or organization looking to increase their efficiency, productivity, and success in candidate management.

What specific type of user or organization would this tool not be a good fit for?

For instance, companies that have unique or complex hiring processes may find that Gem's more streamlined and automated approach may not be well-suited to their specific needs. Similarly, recruiters who prioritize a more personal touch in their candidate management, rather than relying heavily on automation, may not find Gem to be the best fit for their work style.

Also, companies that have strict data security or compliance requirements may need to carefully evaluate Gem's data protection policies and procedures to ensure they align with their specific requirements.

While Gem is a highly effective candidate management tool for many recruiters and organizations, it's important to carefully evaluate your specific needs and requirements to determine whether it's the right fit for your recruitment needs.

Loxo

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Loxo
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Popularity Score
4 / 5
User Score
4.6 / 5
Product Score
4 / 5

Why we picked Loxo

Loxo has a massive proprietary talent database, with over 1.2 billion candidates to source from. But probably the best part about this platform is that it’s one of the few sourcing tools that can do both inbound and outbound recruitment—and it does them well.

PROS

  • 1.2+ billion professional profiles from 100+ data sources.
  • 250M+ talent profiles in niche industries including software engineers, tech, healthcare professionals, and life sciences.
  • Built-in multi-channel campaigns include emails, SMS texts, voice calls, and InMails.
  • The free plan includes unlimited user seats and jobs.
  • Consolidates AI sourcing, engagement, ATS, and recruiting CRM that can enrich candidate data automatically on a regular basis.
  • Outreach GPT assists users in crafting personalized candidate engagement.
  • Highly praised customer service.
  • Chrome extension aids in personalizing templates, sending inMails, viewing notes, and finding contact information.
  • Excellent customer service with a strong record of fast response times.
  • User-friendly resume parsing.
  • Friendly and visually appealing user interface.
  • Offers a convenient Chrome extension.
  • Allows client involvement in projects with direct interaction.
  • Regularly releases new product updates.
  • Includes a free plan.

CONS

  • Installing Chrome extension is a must-do to finish the software sign-up process.
  • Lacks Android app. Latest iOS app performs poorly.
  • So many add-ons, making pricing rather complicated.
  • AI sourcing can be slow at times.
  • Slightly higher pricing compared to similar tools.
  • Lack of an option to auto-anonymize resumes for blind screening.
  • Reporting is not particularly useful with certain useful metrics not tracked.
  • No Android app. Limited features and occasional performance issues on the iOS app.

Loxo sourcing tool screenshot

Loxo Review

If we line up the number of candidates accessible through some leading sourcing databases: Loxo: 1.2B +, SeekOut 800M+, and hireEZ 800M+, it becomes apparent: Loxo's talent database is vast!

Loxo doesn’t offer human spot-checking after AI sourcing as Fetcher does, but it provides matching candidate profiles much faster—within seconds vs. 24-48 hours. Two things stood out to us when checking out Loxo Source. First: The filters are remarkably precise. It even includes niche filters for talent in hard-to-fill sectors like tech and healthcare. Second: The AI now functions with job descriptions (JDs) regardless of their length (previously, it was picky about minimum word requirements for a JD).

Loxo Outreach lived up to expectations with its multichannel engagement campaigns. You can email, SMS text, InMail, and even voice call candidates—at scale. Another cool touch is the auto-fetch contact information: it lets users specify when the system should automatically retrieve candidate contact details, which could save recruiters from another round of tedious tasks.

Loxo provides users with the option to auto-fetch candidate contact info in one click
Loxo provides users with the option to auto-fetch candidate contact info in one click

The Outreach GPT feature left a strong impression on us. Besides offering pre-built templates for engagement campaigns, users can request the AI to generate content for them. We tested it out, and wow! Within seconds, the AI produced email content and sequences for us to review and edit.

Loxo Boost, introduced in May 2023, can auto-define the best job boards for specific roles. After you set a budget and hit Start, it automatically posts your job to relevant boards based on the job's criteria. Getting five matching applicants for $150 spent on our test wasn’t bad at all, but what impressed us more was the option to set a monthly allowance across all jobs—a blessing for those who like to stay safely within budget.

Unfortunately, Loxo’s mobile app is not so impressive—we had a hard time searching for candidates through our people database on the iOS app. Navigation was cumbersome and hiccups kept happening as we tried to edit candidate profiles.

While we appreciate Loxo’s pricing transparency, we feel that its breakdown of offerings into several add-ons can make things unnecessarily complicated.

Loxo Customers

13,000+ companies, such as Amazon, Randstad, Cigna, Lockton, and CT Assist have used Loxo for their candidate sourcing.

Loxo Pricing

  • Free lets you access Loxo’s ATS, recruiting CRM, and Chrome extension. It allows for an unlimited number of seats and jobs. However, additional add-ons are not included in this plan and must be purchased separately.‍
  • Basic has two sub-plans—Basic Limited costs $119 and Basic Unlimited costs $169 per seat per month when billed annually.
  • Professional and Enterprise have custom quotes.

Best For

Companies of all sizes can benefit from Loxo’s talent sourcing and outreach platform, though mid-sized corporations and agencies are likely to get the most out of it.

Loxo in action
Reviewer's Rating
7/10

We used Loxo when we started retained searches. It is also used by our firm as a CRM for opportunistic candidates and searches. It is used from candidate sourcing through candidate hire and for tracking everything in between. Our clients use it to view candidate profiles and status as well. The system is used by everyone in the company on a daily basis. The system is regularly running automated campaigns for candidate outreach.

What do you like about this tool?
  • User interface - great looking and intuitive user interface.
  • User experience - easy to move candidates through job status and get candidates into the system from sources like LinkedIn.
  • Automated outreach - simple to use automated campaigns that allow you to do bulk outreach with one click.
Why did your organization buy this tool, and how long have you used it for?

We originally purchased Loxo due to the user interface and AI/Sourcing functionality. Tools we used in the past were archaic and lacked a good user experience. Loxo offers integrations with LinkedIn and a Sourcing function that wow'd us during the demo. We have been using Loxo for approximately 4 months.

What do you dislike about this tool?
  • The CRM is lacking and seems to operate separately from the ATS.
  • The automated campaigns are great but the emails do not look as clean/polished as if they came straight from Outlook or GSuite.
  • AI Sourcing looks great in the demo but is quite buggy during regular use.
How is this tool different than their competitors?

Simple, streamlined, easy to navigate. Loxo makes it easy to do the basics in recruiting.

What Instructions should people think about when buying this type of tool?

How big is your team and what type of tool/reporting do you need to scale? - Loxo is good for the basics but the more complex/sophisticated your operation is, the more likely Loxo is not the right solution for you.

Search vs. Corporate - Loxo seems like it would be better for corporate users vs. agency recruiters.

How has this tool changed or evolved over time to meet users needs?

Loxo seems to regularly update the solution and add new features. During the short 4 months, they have already added a ChatGPT functionality.

What specific type of user or organization is this tool very good for?

Loxo is a good solution for start-ups or small agencies that do not have plans to scale and keep their processes simple.

What specific type of user or organization would this tool not be a good fit for?

Loxo is not great for large agencies that offer multiple types of search solutions as the reporting functionality is not built for it.

What Candidate Sourcing Tools Can Do for Your Recruitment Team?

A wider pool of candidates, advanced filtering, and automated engagement are a few of the benefits top talent sourcing software can offer hiring managers and recruiters.

Expanded Talent Pool Access

Unlike traditional job boards, such as Indeed, where talent finds you, sourcing tools enable you to find the right talent. These platforms search for potential candidates from any source they can crawl on the Internet, be it LinkedIn, Github, personal blogs, or professional communities. This means you're not just limited to active job seekers: Passive candidates are 25% more likely to stay at a company long-term, and their overall performance is 9% higher than active ones.

Across-Source Talent Resume Database

What is really cool about sourcing software is that this type of recruiting tool doesn't stick to one place. It gathers candidate data from multiple sources and consolidates it into a resume-like profile. This saves recruiters from jumping around 20+ platforms and makes it easier to compare and evaluate candidates side by side.

Advanced Candidate Filtering

Modern sourcing software usually comes with advanced filters and trained algorithms that allow users to sift through zillions of candidate profiles and identify the most relevant ones based on specific job descriptions.

Continuous Improvement through AI and Human Feedback

Backed by AI, these online sourcing tools can learn from experience. Algorithms implemented on platforms like Fetcher, hireEZ, and Rolebot are trained to be able to analyze human feedback on candidate matches and refine their search results accordingly.

Improved Sourcing Time

Speed matters in recruitment. By delivering matching profiles in a matter of minutes, recruiters can save hours, if not days, to source candidates. When the sourcing process is leaner and more efficient, recruiters have more time for the middle and bottom of their recruitment funnel—interviews and skills assessments.

Cost Savings

Efficiency gained from recruitment process automation doesn’t just save time, it saves money too. By automating time-consuming tasks and optimizing the hiring process, these sourcing tools cut down on recruiting expenses and make every dollar count.

Automated Candidate Outreach and Engagement

Recruiters can't be everywhere at once, but this recruiting platform comes close. Sourcing software can automate initial contact with candidates—sending personalized messages and follow-ups. This means more candidates are reached in less time, and there’s a better chance of finding the perfect fit.

Supporting Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives

Unlike humans, who can easily be swayed by hiring biases, sourcing tools focus on candidate skills and qualifications. Also, thanks to their trained algorithms, these sourcing tools can help recruiters reach and engage underrepresented talent, which actively contributes to fostering diversity and inclusion within organizations.

Pro Tips on Candidate Sourcing Tools

What Sourcing Tool Can’t Do for Your Recruitment Team?

Sourcing tools are fantastic at finding potential talent, but certain areas, such as the impact on active candidates and support for internal hiring, are where their capabilities fall short.

Limited Impact on Active Candidates

Most sourcing tools focus on passive candidate recruiting and, therefore, either lack or provide only limited features for attracting and engaging those currently searching for new jobs.

Pro tip: Applicant tracking systems can complement sourcing tools thanks to their focus on active candidates. These systems feature employer brands, job boards, social recruiting, and targeted advertising, which are perfect for getting the attention of those on the job hunt. Plus, many are budget-friendly or even free.

Lack of Support for Internal Hiring

While there are some exceptions, such as Manatal, which has a native internal job posting feature, sourcing tools mainly lean toward external talent acquisition and often miss the mark on internal mobility and succession planning. So, if you're looking to foster growth and retention within your organization, using these tools alone might not be enough.

Pro tip: Adding ATS software or recruitment CRM to your tool stack can be a worthwhile investment as these come with internal talent management systems that ensure internal mobility and promotion are well handled.

Inability to Convert Engaged Candidates into Hires

While sourcing tools excel at initial engagement, they often lack the capacity to fully convert engaged candidates into hires.

Pro tip: Pair your candidate sourcing tool with other recruiting technology, such as video interview software, candidate assessment tools, and background check software. That way, you're covering all your bases and making sure the people who are good fits end up joining your team.

Key Features of Candidate Sourcing Tools

Each candidate sourcing tool may specialize in certain functionalities, but in general, the one that makes finding the right candidates quicker and more efficient typically encompasses these six key features:

AI-Powered Candidate Search and Matching

A universal feature found in leading sourcing solutions is an AI-powered search function that allows users to conduct in-depth searches across platforms and databases. For instance, SeekOut utilizes algorithms to spot passive candidates among its 800M+ profiles and match them based on specific skills and qualifications sought by recruiters. This feature significantly boosts the ability to pinpoint ideal candidates within an extensive talent pool that recruiters alone might struggle to access.

Advanced Candidate Filtering and Segmentation

Another standout feature of robust sourcing software platforms like SeekOut and hireEZ involves advanced filtering options. Recruiters can precisely filter candidate profiles based on diverse criteria such as specific location, skills, education, and work experience to find candidates who closely match the requirements of the job.

Talent Pool Aggregation Across Multiple Platforms

Candidate sourcing tools like Fetcher stand out for their ability to aggregate candidate data from multiple sources, from professional networks to social media platforms, associations, industry-specific forums, and more. Rather than being on twenty-something sites, they have a unified talent pool where they can easily access professional experience, skills, educational background, and contact information of potential candidates.

Niche Talent Pool Exploration

Another crucial feature of talent sourcing platforms lies in niche talent pool exploration. You can tap into talent specifically based in New York and San Francisco with Underdog.io. You can look for only healthcare professionals within Canada and the US with SeekOut. If developers and software engineers are your next hires, you can focus on candidates with experience in just these roles using AmazingHiring.

Automated Outreach and Engagement

Talent sourcing platforms usually offer customizable outreach content templates and workflow automation, which recruiters can easily navigate and initiate conversations with potential candidates through email sequences and messages—fast and at scale.

Predictive Analytics for Talent Acquisition

Perhaps the best part about sourcing software is that it can be used as a crystal ball for organizations to identify those who aren’t actively looking for a job but are likely to be interested in their job openings. These predictive analytics give recruiters advantages when it comes to proactive hiring, as they know what drives the talent at work as well as what they are looking for at a new job. AmazingHiring is one of the sourcing tools in this buyer guide that integrates predictive analytics to forecast candidate availability and behavior.

Diversity and Bias Reduction

Given that companies that champion diversity have a 25% higher chance of financially outperforming those that don’t, it’s a logical move that more employers are looking for sourcing software to promote diversity recruitment. Arya by Leoforce, SeekOut, and Fetcher are some of the notable sourcing solutions that come with AI algorithms and advanced filtering that can help ensure candidate selection is based on merits rather than prejudices or biases. These platforms also include real-time DEI metrics to help users track their talent pipeline and fine-tune sourcing strategies to meet their diversity goals.

Candidate Sourcing Tool Pricing

Here's all you need to know about talent sourcing software pricing:

Subscription-Based Models

Most sourcing tools offer tiered pricing plans based on features, usage, or user count. Basic plans often limit monthly candidate profile views, integration options, and customization levels. On the other hand, higher tiers allow much more powerful capabilities in terms of accessible candidate databases, security, integrations, and customer support.

Different Charges for Corporate and Agency Customers

Several sourcing tools provide separate pricing structures for corporate versus recruitment agency customers. These differences often align with the unique needs of each user type. For example, agencies might require features for client management, multi-client candidate tracking, or team-shared access, whereas corporations might seek deeper integrations with existing HR systems for long-term talent acquisition strategy alignment.

Some Provide Free Trials And/or Free Plans

While not abundant, a few sourcing tools offer free trials or plans. For instance, Fetcher's Starter plan is free for individuals or small teams with limited sourcing needs (capped at 50 profiles per month), while Manatal provides a 14-day free trial with access to premium features.

Contract Length and Discounts

Longer contract commitments might offer discounts or reduced rates. A common practice is 20% off for an annual subscription as opposed to monthly plans. However, consider flexibility and whether long-term commitment aligns with your business requirements.

Scalability and Upgrades

Consider how easily the tool scales with your organization's growth. Upgrading to higher plans or adding features should be seamless without significant disruptions or cost spikes.

Be Aware of All Hidden Costs and Renewal Pricing

Watch out for hidden costs like setup fees, training charges, or additional costs upon renewal. It's also important to understand how renewal pricing fluctuates over time. Demos are a perfect time to ask these questions (we have already prepared a few for you to access later on in this guide).

Negotiations are Welcome

You know what’s the good news about most sourcing vendors having a custom pricing structure? This means they may allow room for negotiation, especially for larger contracts. So make sure you take advantage of this when discussing pricing with your target sourcing software vendor.

Questions to Ask Sourcing Software Providers on Demos

Don’t ever come to a candidate sourcing tool vendor demo empty-handed. A list of questions to ask will help you gain an upper hand in making the demo work in your favor. The following are our favorite questions for your inspiration.

Feature-Related Questions

  • Can you show us how your AI-powered candidate search and matching work?
  • How does your sourcing software handle advanced candidate filtering and segmentation? Can you provide examples?
  • Does your sourcing tool still support boolean search?
  • Could you show us how the talent pool aggregation across multiple platforms functions in real-time?
  • Can you walk us through the automated outreach and engagement process within your candidate sourcing platform?
  • What predictive analytics tools does your platform offer for talent acquisition, and how can we leverage them effectively?
  • How does your sourcing software support diversity and bias reduction in the hiring process?

Platform Integration and Customization

  • Can your platform integrate with our existing recruitment software?
  • Are there customization options available to tailor the platform to our specific hiring needs? What is the available support for this implementation? How long does it take to finish it? Does it cost extra?
  • Does your solution offer API access for further integration with other tools or systems we use? Do you provide any support if we need custom integrations?

Roadmap and Updates

  • Any product features or updates your team is working on?
  • How often do you release updates or enhancements to your platform?

Technical and Security Aspects

  • What security measures are in place to safeguard candidate data and our company's information?
  • Can you provide details on your platform's uptime and reliability?
  • How scalable is your platform, especially if our hiring needs grow significantly?

Training and Support

  • What kind of training or onboarding support do you provide for new users?
  • Do you offer ongoing customer support, and how can we access it?

Pricing and Contractual Details

  • What is your pricing structure based on (e.g., number of team members, job postings, features)?
  • Are there any additional fees not included in the initial pricing?
  • What are the terms of the contract, and are there any cancellation fees or lock-in periods?
  • Could we get to trial the platform a few days before making decisions?
  • Any discounts for early-stage startups/NGOs/annual subscriptions?

Client Success Stories and References

  • Can you provide case studies or success stories from clients in a similar industry or with comparable hiring needs?
  • Do you have references we can speak to about their experience with your platform?

Candidate Sourcing Software FAQs

What is candidate sourcing?

Candidate sourcing is the proactive process of identifying and attracting potential job candidates, often using various tools, platforms, and techniques, even if they aren't actively looking for a job. It involves searching, identifying, and engaging with individuals who possess the skills and qualifications sought by organizations to fill open positions.

What is a candidate sourcing platform?

A candidate sourcing platform is specialized software designed to assist recruiters in pursuing passive candidates. It employs AI, data aggregation, advanced search capabilities, and automated outreach to streamline the process of finding and initially engaging individuals who are not actively looking but are interested in a new job.

Are there different solutions for sourcing candidates?

Yes, there are various solutions for sourcing candidates, such as sourcing tools, applicant tracking systems, freelancer marketplaces, recruitment process outsourcing companies, virtual career fairs, targeted advertising, and employee referral programs. Each offers distinct approaches to finding and engaging potential candidates for different hiring needs and preferences.

Final Advice on Picking Sourcing Tools for Recruiters

Sourcing tools are meant to assist, not entirely replace, your human recruiters. Additionally, these tools are more powerful when they're part of a larger recruitment suite. A common combination we’ve often seen is using an ATS alongside a sourcing tool or an ATS paired with both a sourcing tool and a video interview platform.

Whichever path you take, ensure that humans remain at the center of decision-making and technology oversight. As advanced as AI may be, it's not yet ready to take over critical tasks.

Last but not least, ask for help if you get stuck along the way. Since we happen to have a team behind this buyer guide who spend most of their time digging into all options—the good, the bad, and the in-between, they may just know what you haven’t discovered yet.

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