Cherrypicker
Blog/Recruiting Strategies

The Sourcing Links - tons of free tools to help find anyone anywhere.

A curated list of free sourcing tools to help recruiters find candidates, verify contact data, and build outbound pipelines — no paid subscriptions required.

Cherrypicker·December 12, 2023·3 min read
Recruiting StrategiesSourcing ToolsCandidate Sourcing

The Sourcing Links - offering tons of free tools to find anyone, anywhere!

Our team here at Cherrypicker is always on the hunt for new tools and services that can help find the best candidates available on the market to share with our clients. One of our mantras is to help the recruiting community make more placements by sharing our findings! We recently stumbled upon The Sourcing Links which is a database of free tools that can help you source the best talent from anywhere.

You can sign up for a free membership to start which offers a sample of free tools to try. If you are looking for a larger listing of tools, there are paid plans to upgrade to depending on your needs.

What is OSINT?

If you are interested in OSINST tools this is a great resource. For those who don’t know what OSINT is:

OSINT stands for open source intelligence and refers to the practice of collecting data from free sources that are available to the general public. related tools. You can get really creative with boolean searches, finding contact data of prospects, extracting data from different sources, finding salary data, and more.

About Sourcing Links

Dean Da Costa, the founder of The Sourcing Links, has researched and compiled a list of free tools to take advantage of. He even has a YouTube channel called Dean Da Costa: The Search Authority which walkthroughs and demos new recruiting tools coming on to the market. He is one of our favorite resources when it comes to investigating tools to implement within our process.

Dean Da Costa’s Bio:

Dean Da Costa is a decorated veteran and recognized sourcing expert with more than 20 years of experience. He writes The Search Authority, one of the most influential blogs in the business.

Dean began his career while in the military, connecting the dots from resume writing to making employer contacts for fellow service members who were entering civilian life.

He has spoken at numerous conferences including Sourcecon, Talent42, And Recruiting Trends.

He is best known for his work in the highly difficult security and mobile arenas, and the gold star-winning numbers he produced. His keen insight and creation of groundbreaking tools and processes, to enhance and change staffing as we know it, have proven he is a "Staffing Thought Leader". Despite all this, he remains first and foremost one of the top sources and full cycle recruiters in the industry and a true "Search Authority".

Frequently asked questions

What are the best free tools for sourcing candidates?
The Sourcing Links directory by Dean Da Costa is one of the most comprehensive collections of free sourcing tools available. It includes tools for finding candidates on LinkedIn, verifying email addresses, searching GitHub and other platforms, and building Boolean search strings — all at no cost.
How do recruiters find candidates without job boards?
Recruiters use a combination of LinkedIn searches, Boolean search strings on Google (X-ray sourcing), professional directories, GitHub for technical roles, and tools like Apollo and Hunter for contact enrichment. The goal is to find passive candidates who are not on job boards and reach them directly.
What is candidate sourcing?
Candidate sourcing is the process of proactively identifying and engaging potential candidates for a role — before they apply. It involves searching professional networks, databases, and directories to find people with the right skills and experience, then reaching out directly.
What free tools do recruiters use to find email addresses?
Popular free tools for finding contact information include Hunter.io (limited free tier), Snov.io, Apollo (free tier), and RocketReach. Many are available in The Sourcing Links directory. Always verify email addresses before sending outreach to protect your sender reputation.
What is Boolean search and how do recruiters use it?
Boolean search uses operators like AND, OR, NOT, and quotation marks to build precise search queries. Recruiters use Boolean strings on LinkedIn, Google, and talent databases to narrow results to candidates with specific skills, titles, locations, and experience. It is one of the most powerful free sourcing techniques available.

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