CIR Candidate Sourcing Techniques 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which advanced search operator helps a recruiter find candidates who have listed a specific job title on their resume posted online?
- intitle: (Correct answer)
- filetype:
- inurl:
- site:
Correct answer: intitle:
The intitle: operator searches for pages where a specific term appears in the HTML title tag, often matching resumes with job title headers.
Question 2: What is 'competitive intelligence' sourcing?
- Monitoring competitors' job postings to gauge market demand and identify talent pools (Correct answer)
- Hacking into competitor applicant tracking systems
- Paying employees to share competitor salary data
- Reading competitor annual reports for contact information
Correct answer: Monitoring competitors' job postings to gauge market demand and identify talent pools
Competitive intelligence sourcing involves analyzing a competitor's job postings, website, and public information to understand their talent strategy and identify potential candidates.
Question 3: What does 'ATS sourcing' mean for recruiters with access to legacy databases?
- Using AI to screen new applicants
- Re-engaging previously archived candidates stored in an Applicant Tracking System (Correct answer)
- Automating job postings across multiple boards
- Scheduling candidate interviews through software
Correct answer: Re-engaging previously archived candidates stored in an Applicant Tracking System
ATS sourcing (or 'mining the ATS') involves searching archived applicant records to rediscover candidates who previously applied or were screened.
Question 4: Which of the following is an example of 'social engineering' in passive candidate outreach?
- Using LinkedIn to view candidate profiles
- Calling a company's main line and asking to be transferred to a department to gather employee names (Correct answer)
- Posting jobs on social media
- Sending automated email campaigns
Correct answer: Calling a company's main line and asking to be transferred to a department to gather employee names
Social engineering in recruiting involves using persuasion or deception-adjacent tactics, like phone calls to a target company, to gather candidate names and contact information.
Question 5: What is a 'talent community' in the context of proactive sourcing?
- A job board subscription service
- A curated pool of pre-engaged candidates who have opted in to receive future opportunities (Correct answer)
- A LinkedIn group managed by a recruiter
- An internal employee referral board
Correct answer: A curated pool of pre-engaged candidates who have opted in to receive future opportunities
A talent community is a pipeline of pre-interested candidates who have opted in to be contacted for future relevant roles.
Question 6: When a recruiter uses the search string 'filetype:pdf resume "project manager"', what are they looking for?
- PDF job descriptions for project manager roles
- Resumes saved as PDF files that contain the phrase 'project manager' (Correct answer)
- Project manager certification documents
- Annual reports mentioning project managers
Correct answer: Resumes saved as PDF files that contain the phrase 'project manager'
The filetype:pdf operator restricts results to PDF documents, and combining it with 'resume' and a job title targets candidate resume files.
Question 7: What is 'resume harvesting' in internet recruiting?
- Automatically applying to jobs on behalf of candidates
- Systematically collecting publicly available resumes from online sources (Correct answer)
- Importing resumes into an ATS from email attachments
- Purchasing resume databases from job boards
Correct answer: Systematically collecting publicly available resumes from online sources
Resume harvesting is the practice of systematically finding and collecting resumes posted publicly across the internet for recruiter use.
CIR Candidate Sourcing Techniques 3
Which advanced search operator helps a recruiter find candidates who have listed a specific job title on their resume posted online?