International Candidate Sourcing Channels

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the premium talent social network. With hundreds of millions of users and a daily user base clocking in at about 130 million, it’s a rich vein of talent and potential. So how do you use LinkedIn as an international talent sourcing channel?

Search parameters.

• In the LinkedIn search bar, you can use words such as “Relocation”, “relocate”, “open for relocation”, and “job in the EU/Amsterdam/Berlin” as this will highlight candidates that have “relocation” or “open to relocation” in their bio.
• You can also include search terms like “open to work”.
• You can also utilize a Boolean search to further mine candidate specifics like “native English speaker” or “AWS Developer”.
• Utilize cross-border language terms.
• In Brazil and Argentina, for example, there's a strong possibility to source Italian or Portuguese passport owners (sometimes they even mention that in their summary - “EU citizenship”, “dual citizenship”, “Italian passport” etc).
• In Moldova, you have the same possibility to source candidates with Romanian passports. There is a high chance these candidates could be open to relocating.

LinkedIn Premium.

• If you pay for LinkedIn Premium there is a possibility to filter by country, and pick talent who have vetted themselves as “open to relocate".

Facebook

The world’s largest social media network doesn't have the digital dominance it used to, but it’s still an incredibly rich vein of talent sourcing and connection, especially in Facebook groups.

• Plenty of recruiters and talent sourcing specialists dive into Facebook groups to find talent, and by utilizing some savvy marketing outreach and employer brand storytelling it's easy to isolate candidates who are eager for international job opportunities.
• For example, IT jobs in Europe (official) has 12,000 members on it, IT Berlin has 9,000 members on it, and IT Jobs in Canada, USA, UK and more has 35,000 members!
• If reaching out on Facebook doesn’t work, you can always use names and resources from there on other social media sites like LinkedIn.

Djunni

Djunni is a Ukraine-based hosting website for tech candidates and a prime example of how easy it is to reach into niche networks and connect with talent.

• If you head onto their Candidates page, searching for talent is incredibly simple - the search bar on the left-hand side breaks down your search parameters by programming language, job title, region, English speaking level and employment type (e.g: relocation).
• You can also use the search bar at the top of the page to quickly search for candidates.

Hacker News

Hacker News is one of the least complex, and most up-to-date, dynamic places to find international tech talent and tech news.

• Their "Who Wants To Be Hired" monthly network thread is a rich source of candidates. Job seekers leave their information (what job they want, location, willingness to relocate, links to CV/Git/Portfolio) on the site for employers to reach out and connect.
• Recent “Who Wants To Be Hired” monthly threads can be found here.

Xing

Xing is a dynamic and modern interpretation of the candidate hosting site, with a focus on German-speaking countries and candidates.

• Similar to LinkedIn, companies are compelled to create an attractive client page, but the site is fixated on connecting talent not only with requisite and appropriate jobs but with a candidate’s ideal company culture.
• You can actively reach out and source candidates directly from the site.

Wellfound (formerly AngelList Talent)

Wellfound’s Source tool helps search through over 3.2 million startup-ready candidates and works similarly to LinkedIn or traditional job search platforms.

• You can build a company profile and connect directly with talent on the platform.
• You can search talent and set up saved searches by role, location, skill, experience, diversity, education and further preferences such as “ideal next opportunity”.
• New candidates are added at set times (Tuesdays and Thursdays), providing structure to outreach and sourcing, and you can search by active and passive candidates.