What candidate sourcing actually is. A list is not a hire.
Candidate sourcing is the search-and-first-contact part of recruiting. This page focuses on outbound sourcing: finding people who have not applied and starting a conversation. Recruiting is the whole hire, and most products sell the first slice and name it the whole job.
Sourcing finds people who are not applying. Screening, interviews, and the ATS record come later. A sourcing tool usually returns profiles and contact details. You still write the message, chase the reply, and book the slot. Metix AI runs that loop against a bar you approve, across 860M+ public profiles in 190+ countries. Its Credits meter product usage rather than candidate delivery. Disclosure: Metix AI publishes this and sells the recruiter half, not a self-serve sourcing seat.
Outbound sourcing starts with a search, not a job post
A job post waits. Sourcing goes out and looks. Who starts the contact is the line between active vs passive sourcing.
Someone who is good at the work is often already employed, not refreshing a careers page. You have to find them, write something they will answer, and keep the thread alive until a first conversation is real. That stretch, from nameless market to a first real conversation, is sourcing. Start it while the need is still a forecast and you are sourcing before the req opens. It is not the interview. It is not the offer. It is not the ATS record of how you decided.
Sourcing vs recruiting
Recruiting is the whole hire: bar, search, outreach, screen, interview, offer. Sourcing is the search-and-first-contact slice of it. The slice is expensive in hours, which is why so many products sell it as if it were the product, and why a week of Boolean can look like progress while the calendar stays empty.
Many tools sell sourcing and call it recruiting. The test is simple: ask what lands on your calendar when the week ends.
What sourcing is not
It is not screening. Screening asks whether this person, already in motion, clears the bar. Sourcing still has to produce the person.
It is not an ATS. An ATS stores applications, stages, scorecards, and offers. Put an empty pipeline into it and you get a well-organized empty pipeline. That half of the market is ATS versus AI recruiter.
It is not a talent map. Talent mapping pictures who works where so you can write a sharper bar. Sourcing still has to find and contact the people.
It is not a placement. An agency fee prices a hire. A sourcing seat prices access to names. Mixing those two invoices is how firms overpay for software or underprice their own judgment. The fee analysis sits on agency fee versus software cost.
| Stage | What comes out | Who usually owns it |
|---|---|---|
| Sourcing: search | People who match the bar and have not applied | Sourcer, recruiter, or an AI recruiter |
| Sourcing: first contact | A reply, or a documented non-reply | Whoever sends under the company name |
| Screen | Fit and real interest | Recruiter, hiring manager, or delivery review |
| First interview | A confirmed calendar slot with evidence attached | Hiring team |
| Record | Applicant file, scorecards, offer | ATS, kept by the employer |
A simplified flow, as this page uses the terms. The product question is which of those rows a tool actually finishes.
Most sourcing tools stop at a list
That is not an insult. It is the product.
A sourcing desk searches a graph, pulls contact details, and sometimes sequences a first message. What comes back is names. Useful names, if the search is good. Still names. You live in the inbox after that.
A desk fits when a recruiter will operate every query and every follow-up. Whether to buy one or a recruiter that books the interview is the subject of AI sourcing tool vs AI recruiter.
What Metix AI sources, and where it stops
Metix AI searches 860M+ public professional profiles in more than 190 countries. You write the bar. You approve outreach before anything sends under your name. Mira runs sourcing, follow-up, screening for fit and interest, and scheduling. Credits meter platform usage. The interviews, the offer, and the ATS record stay yours.
Metix AI delivers interested, interview-ready candidates on subscriptions from $99 to $499 a month. Outside an AI Agent workflow, Credits meter contact unlocks, Deep Search lists, and additional AI Agents. Work inside an active Agent's workflow uses 0 Credits. The trial is 14 days, 1 AI Agent, 500 Credits, no card. 95 percent of roles get a first interview scheduled within 24 hours: a confirmed slot, not a same-day meeting. Company-reported, not audited.
That is not a sourcing seat you operate. It is also not an agency placement. If you want to inspect every Boolean yourself, this is the wrong product, and the best AI sourcing tools for recruiters are a better place to start.
Point it at one live role
Write the bar the way you talk about the work. Watch who gets booked. Keep the interviews. The trial is 1 AI Agent and 500 Credits, no card.
Frequently asked questions
What is candidate sourcing?
Candidate sourcing is the search-and-first-contact part of recruiting. This guide focuses on outbound sourcing: finding people who have not applied and opening a conversation with them. It sits before screening, interviews, and the ATS record. A job post waits. Sourcing goes out and looks.
How is sourcing different from recruiting?
Recruiting is the whole hire: bar, search, outreach, screen, interview, offer. Sourcing is the search-and-first-contact slice. Many tools sell sourcing and call it recruiting. Ask what lands on your calendar when the week ends.
Does a sourcing tool book interviews?
Most do not. They return profiles, emails, and sometimes sequences. You still qualify interest, keep the thread alive, and book the slot. That split is the subject of the AI sourcing tool versus AI recruiter page on this site.
Where do Metix AI candidates come from?
Sourcing runs across 860M+ public professional profiles in more than 190 countries. Outreach goes out only after you approve the message. Outside an AI Agent workflow, Credits meter contact unlocks, Deep Search lists, and additional AI Agents, not candidate delivery. Work inside an active Agent's workflow uses 0 Credits.
What does a sourcing search cost on Metix AI?
Published plans run $99 to $499 a month and include 5,000 to 27,000 monthly Credits plus 1 to 5 AI Agents. Outside an AI Agent workflow, contact information costs 10 Credits and a Deep Search list costs 100. Work inside an active AI Agent's workflow, including its search, uses 0 Credits. The free 14-day trial includes 1 AI Agent and 500 Credits, with no card.