I’ve been a recruiter for nearly 10 years, and used LinkedIn as my primary way of sourcing candidates for most of that time. It’s great for profiling candidates — I can search by job function, keywords, experience and education — but when it comes to determining whether those candidates are ready to move, it falls well short.
So here’s my wish list for a comprehensive recruiting tool — one that can tell you whether a company is on the cusp of a hiring spree, a candidate is ripe for poaching, and exactly what to say to both.
Wish #1: More timely updates
People can wait weeks, if not months, before updating their LinkedIn profiles with a new job or title. I’ve definitely had that gut-wrenching sensation of congratulating someone on her new job, only to realize that she’s been there for months. I want to be able to reach out to a new VP of Sales just as she’s joining the company so I can help build out her team — not months later, when she finally gets around to changing her profile.
Wish #2: Knowing exactly when to reach out
Companies ramp up their hiring just after they close a funding round — which is often months before that round. I don’t want to be one of 100 recruiters cold-emailing a CEO in December for a round closed in July, when s/he’s already made his/her new hires or signed a recruiting firm. I need to see leading indicators of a hiring spree, not lagging ones.
Wish #3: Finding candidates ready to jump ship
Rather than cold-emailing every candidate who might be a decent fit and hoping that one of them is ready for a career change, I want to see signs that a company is on the rocks, like:
- Going more than two years without raising funding
- Announcing a round of layoffs
- Making an executive hire
- Getting acquired
And while we’re at it, I want to be able to contact those candidates I think might be ready to move. LinkedIn is perfect for finding individuals with the skills and experience that I need, but aside from messaging them, it doesn’t provide much by way of contact information. Ideally, I’d like to see their emails or phone numbers, so I can do more than just reach out through LinkedIn’s platform.
The recruiting genie that granted my wishes
A few months ago, I started using one of my client companies, DataFox, to fill LinkedIn’s gaps. It’s made identifying poachable candidates, finding contact information, and reaching out with the right message much, much easier.
#1 Faster than the speed of LinkedIn
DataFox gets its hiring data from thousands of sources, including press releases and social media, so I don’t have to wait weeks or months for someone to get around to updating his/her LinkedIn profile.
#2 Leading indicators of hiring (or layoffs)
DataFox decreased my reliance on funding round announcements which, again, often lag months behind the round’s closing. Instead, I reach out when a company opens a new office, makes an executive hire, launches a new product or is frequently in the news. Those are the kinds of triggers that not only get me in the door just as a company starts hiring, but also to stand out from the recruiters who wait until an announcement to act.
#3 Finding poachable candidates
The company’s Growth Score algorithm finds companies poised to grow rapidly — and companies that don’t have a solid outlook. It’s helpful to reference a single, trusted number to find candidates stuck at a low-ceiling startup. That, in addition to alerts on warning signs like layoffs or funding dry spells, makes finding restless candidates easier. I can also look up candidates’ emails and phone numbers within the app, which makes the actual outreach that much easier.
I’m biased, of course, but I can honestly say that DataFox has made my recruiting work much easier. It’s saved headaches, helped me find more candidates, and filled the gaps in LinkedIn’s recruiting tools.
Want to try?
Check it out at www.datafox.com, email sales@datafox.com or call 415–969–2144.
