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20 Best Candidate Sourcing Software To Help You Find The Best Talent

The Best Candidate Sourcing Software List

Here’s the list of the best candidate sourcing software that I’ll cover in this article:

  1. 1. Manatal — Advanced ATS with AI-generated candidate scores and recommendations
  2. 2. SmartRecruiters — Scalable, enterprise-level recruiting platform with special tools for high-volume and career-fair recruiting
  3. 3. Lever — High-volume recruiting system with advanced candidate nurturing capabilities to keep applicants engaged
  4. 4. SeekOut — Sophisticated candidate sourcing software, well-suited for technical or expert-level positions
  5. 5. Yello — Candidate sourcing software with tools for talent rediscovery and nurturing passive talent
  6. 6. Eightfold AI — Sophisticated talent intelligence platform including a talent rediscovery tool that supports internal mobility
  7. 7. Fetcher — Time-saving candidate sourcing tool with helpful automations and AI-generated recommendations
  8. 8. AmazingHiring — AI-powered sourcing tool for technical positions with advanced prospect management features
  9. 9. Gem — Comprehensive talent acquisition software including insightful forecasting tools and a talent CRM
  10. 10. Visage — Global recruiting platform that blends human sourcing expertise with AI-powered candidate sourcing recommendations

HR teams know that sourcing qualified candidates isn’t as simple as it sounds. This is especially true for complex roles that have specific technical requirements. With so many popular career sites to choose from, chasing down leads can be very time-consuming. Candidate sourcing software can help by streamlining the talent matching process. It also saves recruiters time by automating other key portions of the process too.

To save you time, here's my list of the 10 best candidate sourcing software systems to help teams find talent. These systems will improve your efficiency and help you recruit faster and better.

Comparison Criteria

Wondering what I look for when selecting the best candidate sourcing software? Here’s a summary of my evaluation criteria: 

  1. User Interface (UI): I prefer software with a clean and colourful interface that makes the software enjoyable to use. 
  2. Usability: I prioritize software that’s simple and easy-to-use, with information clearly organized and easily accessible (i.e., no endless clicking or scrolling to find what I need). 
  3. Integrations: To maximize productivity, I prioritize systems that integrate with other software such as applicant tracking systems, communication tools, or digital calendars.
  4. Value for $: While I always appreciate software with transparent pricing structures, those details are not always readily available. Instead, pricing is often customized based on the volume of recruiting, job postings, or system users. 

Candidate Sourcing Software: Key Features

Here’s a summary of the key features you can expect to find in the best candidate sourcing tools: 

  1. Talent pools and pipelines: A talent pool is a roster of potential candidates for each position, whereas a talent pipeline is the visualization tool that tracks where each candidate is in the recruiting process. 
  2. Direct integrations with job boards & social network sites: The exact number of sites will vary with each platform, but candidate sourcing tools automatically scour candidate repositories like LinkedIn, GitHub, StackOverflow and many others to find top-matching candidates. Through these integrated networks, some sourcing tools give recruiters access to millions of candidate profiles.
  3. Advanced talent discovery tools: This includes features like talent rediscovery and recapture, which looks inward to find existing employees who have the required skills for a new position. This category also includes advanced searching capabilities (Boolean + Semantic), dedicated candidate diversity tools, and artificial intelligence (AI) that helps source and rank candidates for each position.
  4. Rich candidate profiles: Sourcing tools combine data from many sources to provide hiring teams with as much detail as possible about each candidate. This category also includes other features like resume parsing tools that scan resume contents and populate candidate databases automatically.
  5. Workflow automations: This includes features like automated candidate searches based on key criteria, automated candidate scoring, and talent pools or long lists of candidates that are auto-generated. 
  6. Customizable templates: This goes hand-in-hand with automations, but most sourcing tools have templates for candidate communications that can be customized and set to run in predetermined email sequences, saving recruiters lots of time. 
  7. Advanced metrics: This includes data on candidate sourcing (which sources are the most fruitful or lagging), candidate engagement, candidate diversity, and predictive analytics for future hiring needs.

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Overviews of the 10 Best Candidate Sourcing Software

Here’s a brief description of each candidate sourcing software that made my top 10 list, plus 10 additional software selections below. For my top 10 choices, I've highlighted each tool’s best use case, plus some noteworthy features, and screenshots to show you their user interface. 

1

Manatal

Advanced ATS with AI-generated candidate scores and recommendations

Manatal’s full-feature applicant tracking system (ATS) simplifies the recruitment process through AI-driven recommendations, job portal integrations and easy-to-manage talent pipelines. Key candidate sourcing features include a Chrome extension for LinkedIn that makes it easy to parse public information and add it to candidate profiles, and the ability to centralize all job applications into kanban-style boards. Their system also integrates directly to thousands of free and premium job posting boards, making it easy to advertise job openings.

To speed up the candidate screening process, Manatal’s AI framework scans job descriptions to extract the core skills and other requirements for each position. Its recommendation algorithm then quickly cross-references the data with candidates in your talent pools to highlight applicants with the closest match. The system also allots a score to each candidate, to make comparing candidates more objective. To improve candidate sourcing for advanced positions, Boolean candidate searching is also an option.

Manatal integrates with LinkedIn, Gmail, Outlook, Mailchimp, and other platforms. They also have an open API to support customized integrations, and a full-feature mobile app.

Pricing for Manatal starts at $15 USD/user/month. A free demo and 14-day free trial can also be requested via their website.

This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
4.9 169

14-day free trial

From $15/user/month

2

SmartRecruiters

Scalable, enterprise-level recruiting platform with special tools for high-volume and career-fair recruiting

SmartRecruiters is a flexible, modern and scalable recruiting platform with end-to-end features, suitable for teams of any size, all the way up to enterprise-level organizations. Their Talent Acquisition Suite includes tools to market job vacancies, source candidates, collaborate with hiring teams, track metrics and applicants through their ATS, and even send out offers and link up with onboarding processes.

Their system includes classic sourcing features like tools to discover candidates inside and outside of your organization, pre-existing integrations with popular job boards, and a customizable Sourcing Dashboard. Their integrated campaigns feature allows recruiting teams to nurture passive candidates and take advantage of both outbound and inbound recruiting approaches.

Another unique feature is their SmartRecruiters Field Recruiting App, which is tailored for recruiting events such as job fairs, recruiting meetups, and campus recruiting events. The app can function as a branded kiosk during the event, and parse resume details into candidate profiles in real-time. As a result of their useful automations and system scalability, SmartRecruiters is a great platform for high volume recruiting, or for organizations experiencing hyper growth. As an example, they are currently used by McDonalds.

It’s easy to use third-party tools with SmartRecruiters, and they currently boast connections with 600+ apps. On the off chance that your current HR tools are not part of their app Marketplace, their development team will integrate them for no additional cost.

Pricing details for SmartRecruiters are not readily available, though you can request a free demo via their website.

This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
4.3 437

Free demo available

Pricing upon request

3

Lever

High-volume recruiting system with advanced candidate nurturing capabilities to keep applicants engaged

High volume recruiting is Lever’s speciality. To help recruiting teams act fast, their system allows users to evaluate, skip, advance or archive candidates in seconds, or send them emails without leaving the system. Their Automation Hub takes care of time-consuming activities so you can spend more time on your strategy instead.

One feature that really stands out from the sourcing perspective is Lever’s ability to create an efficient, high-touch, personalized candidate experience. Their Advanced Nurture module makes it simple to personalize messages to make candidates feel important, while sending them in an automated sequence so you can set it and forget it. Through their Nurture module the system also makes it easy to reconnect with previous candidates still in talent pools too.

Lever integrates with 175 commonly used HR software applications, including background and reference checking platforms, video interviewing tools, and many other systems.

Pricing details for Lever are not readily available, though you can request a demo via their website.

This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
4.2 1320

Free demo available

Pricing upon request

4

SeekOut

Sophisticated candidate sourcing software, well-suited for technical or expert-level positions

SeekOut’s Talent 360 recruiting platform includes sophisticated features to enrich the hiring process. Their software can aggregate candidate data from multiple sources to form unified candidate profiles with rich details. Like many other platforms in this list, their candidate search function is also backed by an advanced AI framework that incorporates machine learning techniques with Boolean searching and candidate filters. They also have dedicated tools to improve diversity during the hiring process by incorporating highly qualified minority candidates.

Beyond all that, Talent 360 is a valuable candidate screening tool for technical and expert-level positions, in particular. Their system sources candidates from 707M+ public profiles, with 29M+ developer profiles based on candidates’ GitHub activities related to developer programming languages. As well, their platform has aggregated 96M+ candidates profiles with deep subject matter expertise based on information like patents in their name, conference presentations, published papers, and how frequently they are cited among research papers. Talent 360 also has a roster of candidates with verified security clearances for filling roles in government, aerospace, defense and intelligence.

Talent 360 integrates with 20+ common applicant tracking systems, including Phenom People, Taleo, Workday, Talemetry, Jobvite, Gr8People, Crelate, RecruiterFlow, TrackTalents and others.

Pricing details for Talent 360 are not readily available, though a free demo can be requested via their website.

This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
4.5 414

14-day free trial + free demo

Pricing upon request

5

Yello

Candidate sourcing software with tools for talent rediscovery and nurturing passive talent

Yello’s recruiting software makes it easy to source qualified candidates by automating candidate scanning from many sources, and importing the data directly into Yello. Their tool filters information from sites like LinkedIn and DAXTRA boards, and centralizes the top-matching candidate profiles into Yello’s system. This also helps reduce job board license costs, since the integrations are already part of their software package.

Yello’s recruiting software has several interesting features to enrich the candidate sourcing process. To help hiring teams stay proactive, their system enables passive talent management through personalized nurture campaigns. This allows recruiters to cultivate top talent for future roles even before the job postings are live. Their talent rediscovery and recapture tools also help uncover talent that got lost in the shuffle of hiring processes, and initiate personalized re-engagement campaigns with them.

Other classic features worth mentioning are their advanced candidate search and filters, pipeline visualizations, and candidate engagement metrics. Their source channel tracking information is useful as it highlights which candidate sources are the most fruitful for your cause. In addition, their platform includes other insightful metrics and reporting functions too.

Yello integrates with all major applicant tracking systems (ATS), including Taleo, Workday, iCIMS, SAP SuccessFactors, Greenhouse, ADP, Kenexa and Lever. To improve pre-employment candidate testing, they also integrate with assessment providers such as HireVue, SHL, Pymetrics, Saville Assessment, and Cappfinity.

Pricing details for Yello are not readily available, though you can request a free demo via their website.

This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
4.3 35

Free demo available

Pricing upon request

6

Eightfold AI

Sophisticated talent intelligence platform including a talent rediscovery tool that supports internal mobility

Eightfold’s Talent Intelligence Platform has a comprehensive set of tools to help teams hire, retain and grow their talent. Included in their software are tools to help with talent acquisition, potential candidate screening, candidate experience features, and talent management features to retain existing staff.

Eightfold’s sourcing tool starts with internal talent rediscovery first, to identify any existing employees who’d be a great fit for that role. This is a great feature as options for internal mobility are an important aspect of addressing employee retention. Their whole system is built on top of a deep AI learning structure. In their words, that means their software “uses neural networks that learn from 1 billion+ profiles, billions of global data points, and 1 million+ unique skills, to deliver bias-free, data-driven insights.”

Specific software integration details are not included on Eightfold’s website. However, customers will have access to an implementation services support team that can configure the system to work with the tools you’re currently using.

Pricing details for Eightfold are not readily available, though you can request a free demo via their website.

Free demo available

Pricing upon request

7

Fetcher

Time-saving candidate sourcing tool with helpful automations and AI-generated recommendations

Fetcher’s AI-powered sourcing platform reduces the time it takes to source quality candidates by automating the candidate sourcing process and other top-of-funnel tasks. Hiring managers can enter distinct keywords for skills their candidates need and upload a job description. The system then automatically scours candidate databases using their auto-pilot feature to quickly deliver the top-matched results.

Their AI-powered platform also makes it easy to remove bias from the initial sourcing process, ensuring your candidate pools are more diverse from the start. The system also supports diversity metrics such as open rates, response rates, and interview booking rates for diverse candidates. This makes it simple to show key stakeholders how your recruiting team is progressing against your company’s hiring goals.

Fetcher integrates with ATS systems Greenhouse, Lever and SmartRecruiters, as well as common email programs, Slack, Google Calendar and Outreach Calendar. They also have a 1-click Chrome extension too.

Pricing details for Fetcher are not readily available, though you can request a free demo via their website.

Free demo available

Pricing upon request

8

AmazingHiring

AI-powered sourcing tool for technical positions with advanced prospect management features

AmazingHiring uses AI-powered sourcing technology to build pipelines of candidates with a particular focus on hard-to-fill, technical roles. Their system accesses 600M+ candidate profiles hosted on 50+ social networking sites including professional communities like GitHub, StackOverflow and Kaggle. Their tool automatically aggregates candidate data from multiple sources, creating rich candidate profiles for further analysis.

Classic time-saving features in AmazingHiring’s system include personalized emails that can be sent in bulk, scheduled follow-up emails and automatic engagement metrics. They also have a free Chrome extension to flag candidate’s social profiles easily once discovered. Some of their more advanced features include prospect management tools like talent mapping and customized skill-based tags, collaborative hiring features for teams, and customizable email sequence campaigns.

AmazingHiring has native integrations with Greenhouse, Mixmax, and SmartRecruiters. You can also request advanced customer support to configure other applications through their open API.

Pricing details for AmazingHiring are not readily available, though you can request a free demo via their website.

Free demo available

Pricing upon request

9

Gem

Comprehensive talent acquisition software including insightful forecasting tools and a talent CRM

Gem’s comprehensive talent acquisition software includes features that address the full talent lifecycle. Their all-in-one system pairs sourcing tools with user-friendly talent pipelines, and a Talent CRM (candidate relationship management) module. All these features are further augmented by their Talent Compass module, which helps teams review their recruiting flow, visualize their KPIs (key performance indicators), forecast for future hiring needs, and understand other valuable insights about their recruiting process end-to-end.

To streamline candidate sourcing, Gem integrates data from multiple sources into one platform where you can automate and personalize the next steps. This makes it easy to aggregate candidate data from external sources like LinkedIn, Indeed, GitHub, Greenhouse, Facebook, and other platforms into one single source of applicant information. You can also use it to centralize all your communications with applicants, including sending SMS text messages.

Gem integrates with common applicant tracking systems, as well as LinkedIn, Facebook, GitHub, SeekOut and SmartRecruiters.

Pricing details for Gem are not readily available, though you can request a free demo via their website. They also offer a free version for startup companies with less than 15 employees.

Free demo available

Pricing upon request

10

Visage

Global recruiting platform that blends human sourcing expertise with AI-powered candidate sourcing recommendations

Visage’s candidate recruiting platform merges AI-powered sourcing with additional human intelligence through their team of sourcing experts. While their AI framework constantly learns and works to eliminate bias, their expert sourcers work behind the scenes to ensure candidates are sourced, vetted, matched and delivered efficiently. Currently, Visage has over 4,000 certified sourcers working around the globe who are available around the clock, every day of the week.

Automations and engagement features are also well integrated into Visage’s recruiting software. Teams can set up automated email sequences to run with a few clicks, to ensure no candidates are left wondering. The system also includes fully customizable email templates to save time on outreach efforts. Recruiting teams will also appreciate their collaborative hiring features like profile sharing and notes, and clear workflow views of all candidate communications to date. As well, their predictive analytics allow teams to anticipate future sourcing needs so they can build talent pipelines in advance.

Visage has designated integrations with SmartRecruiters and Avature, two commonly used applicant tracking systems.

Pricing details for Visage are not readily available, though a free demo and free trial can be requested via their website.

Free demo + free trial

Pricing upon request

Need Expert Help Selecting The Right Recruiting & Applications Software?

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The 10 Best Candidate Sourcing Software Summary

Tool Free Option Price
1
Manatal

Advanced ATS with AI-generated candidate scores and recommendations

14-day free trial

From $15/user/month Visit Website
2
SmartRecruiters

Scalable, enterprise-level recruiting platform with special tools for high-volume and career-fair recruiting

Free demo available

Pricing upon request Visit Website
3
Lever

High-volume recruiting system with advanced candidate nurturing capabilities to keep applicants engaged

Free demo available

Pricing upon request Visit Website
4
SeekOut

Sophisticated candidate sourcing software, well-suited for technical or expert-level positions

14-day free trial + free demo

Pricing upon request Visit Website
5
Yello

Candidate sourcing software with tools for talent rediscovery and nurturing passive talent

Free demo available

Pricing upon request Visit Website
6
Eightfold AI

Sophisticated talent intelligence platform including a talent rediscovery tool that supports internal mobility

Free demo available

Pricing upon request Visit Website
7
Fetcher

Time-saving candidate sourcing tool with helpful automations and AI-generated recommendations

Free demo available

Pricing upon request Visit Website
8
AmazingHiring

AI-powered sourcing tool for technical positions with advanced prospect management features

Free demo available

Pricing upon request Visit Website
9
Gem

Comprehensive talent acquisition software including insightful forecasting tools and a talent CRM

Free demo available

Pricing upon request Visit Website
10
Visage

Global recruiting platform that blends human sourcing expertise with AI-powered candidate sourcing recommendations

Free demo + free trial

Pricing upon request Visit Website

Need Expert Help Finding The Right Human Resource Software?

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It takes just a minute to submit your requirements and they will give you a call at no cost or commitment. You’ll get custom product shortlists covering the top solutions that best fit your specific needs from their team of software experts (via phone or email) and they can even connect you to your choice of the selected vendors. To get started, please submit the form below:

Other Candidate Sourcing Options

Here are a few more options that didn’t make the best candidate sourcing software list:

  1. hireEZ

    Robust candidate sourcing tool with deep candidate pools and integrated processes for challenging niche industries

  2. Zoho Recruit

    An applicant tracking system that helps streamline the recruitment process

  3. Tracker

    Combined ATS and CRM platform with helpful AI and automated candidate ranking features

  4. CVViZ

    Automated candidate sourcing tool that targets niche job boards based on industry, role and geography - available as a free trial.

  5. Arya

    Sophisticated sourcing tool for top-tier talent that utilizes 50M diverse data points and incorporates AI + deep learning with proprietary algorithms to produce predictive analytics.

  6. TopFunnel

    Scalable sourcing tool that combines expert knowledge with AI data processing to produce quality results.

  7. Entelo

    Advanced sourcing software with tools to flag candidates who are more likely than others to change jobs within the next 90 days - an indication of receptiveness to new opportunities.

  8. HireSweet

    Efficient, outbound hiring tool that helps recruiters engage with cold contacts and nurture past applicants.

  9. Interseller

    Candidate relationship management tool that supports personalized email sequences, with a Chrome extension to source candidates easily.

  10. Wade & Wendy

    An automated AI recruiter system that supports targeted outreach to 150M talent profiles and reduces noisy, unfiltered talent pipelines.

How Does Artificial Intelligence Support Candidate Sourcing? 

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a welcome addition to many candidate sourcing software platforms. AI supports the process by flagging job-related skills in job descriptions and searching the web for candidate profiles that match. Traditionally, this was a very time-consuming manual process that recruiters spent hours undertaking. Now, with AI, they can upload the parameters and let the sourcing software generate the list while they focus on other tasks. AI also helps reduce unconscious biases by adhering strictly to skill-based screening protocols.

AI also goes hand-in-hand with workflow automations - another time-saving feature. For example, AI-based tools like chatbots help create a positive candidate experience by managing candidate communications. Recent research indicates that recruiters using AI find it most helpful for: sourcing candidates (58%), screening candidates (56%), and nurturing candidates (55%). 

Related Read: How Contact Management Software Can Benefit Your Business

If you’re still curious about how AI has infiltrated the recruitment market, you might find these statistics interesting:

  • 80% of executives believe AI improves performance and productivity
  • 35% of talent professionals report that AI is the top trend influencing how they hire
  • 38% of organizations are increasing their efforts to use AI for talent acquisition
  • Data has shown that the cost of recruiting per role decreased by 75% due to AI-powered recruiting, and employee turnover reduced by 35%. 

What Are Passive Candidates? 

Passive candidates are professionals who aren't necessarily even looking for a job. Yet, they may have the exact skills and experience you're looking for. Even though these individuals are already employed, they may still show interest in a new career opportunity. This is especially true if they appear to have plateaued in their current role.

Sourcing tools identify these individuals by searching public candidate profile sites. Often using the power of AI, these tools match job requirements with overt skills mentioned in candidate profiles.

What Is Internal Mobility And Why Is It Important?  

Internal mobility describes the ability for employees to change positions within an organization. Upward mobility (or vertical mobility) describes an employee moving up to a more advanced level. Lateral mobility (or horizontal mobility) is when an employee changes positions within an organization, but not levels. For example, a manager may receive a lateral position change to manage a different department, but still at the same technical level. 

Many candidate sourcing systems automatically assess existing staff for internal mobility opportunities. This increases employee retention as staff who have opportunities to advance are more likely to stay with the company. 

Related Read: HR Software: What It Costs And How To Decide What’s Best For Your Company

Additional Resources

I hope this article gave you a greater understanding of how candidate sourcing tools can support and advance your recruitment efforts. 

If you’re interested in other software recommendations to help your recruiting team, take a look at our lists of the best recruiting software and best applicant tracking systems for small businesses too. 

You may also benefit from some tips on How to Manage the Candidate Experience Through Rapid Scaling, especially if your business is in a period of rapid growth. 

If you’re up to your eyeballs in applicants and need extra help, you may want to enlist some outside help. Here’s our list of 7 Recruitment Process Outsourcing Companies & Benefits to get you started. 

Last but not least, before you go, it’d be great if you took a moment to subscribe to our People Managing People newsletter. By signing up, you’ll gain access to the latest articles covering a whole range of HR-related topics. 

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By Kim Behnke

Kim Behnke is an HR Tool Expert & Writer for People Managing People. She draws on her 9 years of human resources experience and her keen eye for systematic processes to support her analyses of the top HR tools on the market. She is passionate about maximizing efficiencies and streamlining workflows to ensure internal systems run smoothly. Kim's HR experience includes recruitment, onboarding, performance management, training and development, policy development and enforcement, and HR analytics. She also has degrees in psychology, writing, publishing, and technical communication. When away from her desk, she can usually be found outside tending to her ever-expanding garden.