Low Cost Recruiting Tools For Sourcing

As a recruiter, it’s your job to find the best talent out there and bring them on board.

But what if you’re working with a tight budget?

Never fear - there are plenty of low-cost (or even no-cost) tools and sources you can use to help you in your recruiting efforts.

In this blog post, we’ll share some of our favorite tips and tricks for finding great candidates without breaking the bank. So read on, and happy recruiting!

Social media

Recruiting with social media can be an effective way to find ideal candidates. With a well-developed strategy, companies can carefully target potential candidates through:

• LinkedIn - Look for people who have thoughtfully commented on your posts or company posts
• Twitter - There are thousands of recruiters and talent professionals already using twitter to reach niche communities of developers, financial professionals, etc.
• Slack groups - Chat with people who are looking for new roles in groups like Out in Tech
• Hacker News “Who is hiring” posts - These are published at the front of Hacker News each month and get your role great exposure
• Github - Use Github’s advanced repo searches to narrow down potential candidate profiles by number of followers, number of forks, number of stars, relevant topic, and more
• Reddit - Create a list of people looking for a job on Reddit by diving into specific communities or using Reddit boolean strings to scan through comments and pull profiles that match your criteria
• Stack Overflow - Find regular contributors to topics that match role job descriptions or even buy a set of display ads

You can post jobs quickly and easily on these platforms and expand the reach of recruitment beyond what traditional methods allow. Additionally, social media is a great platform for building a brand presence.

Being known as a great recruiter with a track record of success establishes your future employment opportunities as desirable.

That said, you need to do your due diligence, taking the time to determine how best to use each platform.

Employee referrals

When aiming to source the best candidate for a position, employee referrals are an invaluable tool.

By asking current employees for help in your search process, you can tap into their trust and expertise about people who might be suitable for the job. Trust is not just exclusive to team members but also to employees’ outside networks of colleagues, family, and friends.

Utilizing employee referrals can save time and money and can be just as effective at finding a hiring manager’s dream employee as any other strategy.

Job postings

Job postings are essential for any job search, and job boards are an excellent way to promote job opportunities and reach a wider audience. Taking advantage of these job boards involves identifying the best match according to your specific items, such as job title and specific qualifications.

Not only do job boards give recruiters access to thousands of potential job candidates at any given time, but the best job boards also provide effective measures to streamline the process of sorting through applicants.

Most job boards allow recruiters to filter through candidates based on criteria like job titles and required skills, helping recruiters maximize their ROI during the hiring process.

Additionally, there are specialty job boards tailored to unique job niches or candidate types, like moms returning to work, veterans, or second-career seekers. Relocate.me is another example of a niche job board, allowing you to post jobs that would support techies who want to move to a new city (possibly internationally). Boards like Relocate.me and HiringRecruiters.com can be a great way to add diversity to your clients’ staff.

All of these aspects of job boards make them an ideal tool for recruiters who are hoping to gather a diverse set of candidates with the right level of expertise.

Networking events

If networking isn’t part of your job search strategy, it should be!

Networking events are opportunities to meet candidates and hiring managers and chat with them one-on-one. You can learn more about what they’re looking for, showcase your skills and qualifications, and strengthen relationships with existing clients.

Events are also a great way of connecting with people in a new industry who may have valuable insight into upcoming job roles you could recruit for. Talking to them can clue you into industry trends that may give you an edge over the competition.

Other Search Tools

Finding great candidates to interview is the hardest part of recruiting. Luckily, there are a variety of free tools that can help you narrow your search:

• Chatkick Talent CRM - Use Chatkick’s Chrome extension to find candidate emails, send email sequences, automate follow-ups, and track your activity. This all-in-one solution can save you tons of time and get you in touch with excellent candidates quicker than your competition.
• Social List - Use this tool to instantly build lists of target social profiles. You can use a number of search parameters, like previous employers, job titles, location, and more. One pro is that you can get a free trial.
• EmailOnGitHub - You can use this Chrome extension to grab someone’s email from their GitHub profile. This is especially helpful when used in conjunction with the advanced repo searches referenced above.
• True People Search - This directory has billions of public records, giving you another avenue for finding email addresses and phone numbers for free.

Thinking Outside The Box

The last thing we’ll leave you with is to think creatively.

Don’t limit yourself to some of the more traditional sourcing methods. Think hard about where your ideal candidate hangs out and how they would most like to engage with a recruiter. Think about what would make you stand out as someone worthy of talking to.

Trying unique, cost-effective sourcing strategies can help you reach more qualified talent in less time!

For inspiration, try subscribing to newsletters like Recruiting Brainfood or following recruiting influencers on LinkedIn.

Get Sourcing — On The Cheap

Now that you know some great places to find new talent, it’s time to start sourcing! Networking events, job postings, and online applications are all great ways to reach potential candidates.

And don’t forget about employee referrals—your employees probably know people who would be perfect for the position.

Keep track of all your promising candidates with Talent CRM. Our easy-to-use platform will help you keep track of candidate information, contact details, resumes, and cover letters all in one place and automate your follow-up.

Try incorporating Talent CRM into your daily recruiting routine with our 7-day free trial.