The process of researching, identifying and connecting with potential tech candidates has become extremely time-consuming and complex. Recruiters can spend most of their workweek—at least 30 hours, in many cases—on sourcing alone.
To save time and effort, many recruiters are turning to highly advanced sourcing tools to automate and expedite manual tasks and help them find the best candidates.
But with so many tools to choose from, how do you decide which ones to use? For instance, Phil Strazzulla, founder of Select Software, says his firm tracks some 30,000 tools in the broader HR category. That’s a lot to wade through. Plus, deriving the maximum benefit from any new technology often requires new workflows, habits and skills.
While every recruiting team needs to conduct a needs assessment before investing in new technology, here are several categories of tools that will help you identify, contact and engage candidates for tech jobs more quickly and efficiently.
A.I.-Enabled Candidate Identification Tools
Are you tired of searching multiple sites to get a comprehensive picture of a candidate’s technical capabilities and interests?
A.I.-enabled identification tools use machine learning algorithms to analyze resumes, social media profiles, and other data sources (including job titles, skills and keywords) to find the best matches for open positions. Some are standalone apps, while others are Swiss Army-type tools, meaning they integrate with an existing ATS and let you conduct outreach campaigns or engage prospects right from the platform, reducing the need for additional tools.
Tools like Arya, hireEZ (formerly Hiretual) and Seekout let you search dozens of sites simultaneously, including LinkedIn, Stack Overflow, GitHub, Dribble, X and Medium, explained Jonathan Kidder, a senior recruiter at Amazon and author of 19 books on recruiting, including “Top Talent Sourcing Tools for Recruiters: A Beginner's Guide to Over 50+ Talent Sourcing Tools.”
These days, many tech pros think of their online profiles and work samples as proof of their abilities, work experience, and education, Kidder added. With fewer resumes to review, you will need to evaluate GitHub and Stack Overflow profiles to find someone whose skills and interests match your job description. It’s important to keep that in mind when selecting a candidate identification tool.
Candidate Rediscovery Tools
Could the best candidate for that open position be hiding in plain sight in your ATS? Gem offers a candidate “rediscovery tool” that lets you search, organize and re-engage past candidates from your CRM and ATS.
Even if you invest in a rediscovery tool, valuing and maintaining contact with silver medalists and past applicants requires a cultural shift and the implementation of touch campaigns, Strazzulla noted. However, it’s probably worth the effort even if you end up hiring just 10 to 15 percent of the candidates who previously expressed an interest in working for your company.
Tech-Enabled RPO
If your team doesn’t have the bandwidth to source candidates for junior level tech positions, consider using a tech-enabled recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) solution like Fetcher or Hirefly.
These tools address two crucial components of an effective and efficient sourcing process: speed and scalability.
For instance, once you upload a job requisition into a tech-enabled RPO, the solution scrapes several databases to build a “hot funnel” of candidates. It uses chatbots or automated screening questions to qualify prospects, and schedules phone screens with those who meet the basic criteria. All you need to do is follow your schedule.
Best of all, it’s trainable. If the candidates it initially refers aren’t the right fit, the solution uses machine learning and feedback to “get smarter” and make better matches.
The catch is rubbish in, rubbish out (RIRO). In other words, unless you have an accurate job description that specifies must-have intangible qualities and have a way to gather and quantify post-interview feedback, you may need to work on the basics first in order to get the best results.
Contact Info Finders, Verifiers and Scrapers
Once you identify a prospect, you’ll need a valid email address to reach out and initiate a conversation about your job opportunity. While there are dozens of tools to choose from, the best ones provide personal and corporate emails as well as phone numbers.
The key to effective outreach and ongoing communication is creating the right balance between text, call and email. So if you have a prospect’s phone number, you can always text and ask for their preferred method of communication if they don’t respond to your emails.
If you are impressed by someone’s comments on a technology forum made under a username, using a tool like WhatsMyName can help you identify the author.
Other things to consider are the cost, whether the tool scrapes the sites where the top candidates like to hang out online, and whether the data is exportable to your CRM or other database. If you don’t want to use another tool for marketing, look for a scraper that provides additional functionality, such as the ability to track emails or engage in drip marketing campaigns.
Outreach Tools
There are any number of tools that can help recruiters create and send personalized email campaigns at scale and even send automated follow-up messages. If you’re searching for high-level candidates with in-demand skills, Lemlist lets you hyper-personalize your approach by sending videos, images or even a customized landing page to top prospects.
However, Kidder recommends ChatGPT. ChatGPT is not only free, it can create a basic personalized outreach email in a few seconds. You just need to provide some basic information like the candidate’s career goals and qualities, the job description, and an overview of your employer value proposition or EVP. With some minor tweaking, your A.I.-generated email can be out the door in no time.
But as Kidder points out, the quality of the email is directly correlated to the quality of your prompts or input. Your messages will improve as you embrace new habits and processes and become comfortable using the tool.
Productivity Tools
When it comes to sourcing, time is money. Scheduling automation tools makes it easy for candidates to book phone screens or interviews with hiring managers at mutually convenient times, eliminating the need for back-and-forth emails and rescheduling.
Productivity tools and apps such as Toggl, Pomodoro, RescueTime and TrackingTime can help manage your tasks, schedule your day, set reminders, and so on. They can also help you discover how you’re spending your time, the tasks that generate the biggest return, and those that can be automated by A.I.
Why work harder when you can work smarter? Today, the most successful recruiters devote most of their time to sourcing activities that drive the most value… and automate everything else.
