A Profile Is Not a Candidate: What You Actually Get from AI Sourcing, Talent Maps and Vetted Slates
AI sourcing tools, talent maps and hourly research all cost less than a search fee. Here's what each one delivers, and what's still left for your team to do.
Most talent acquisition leaders know the contingency math by heart. A 25% fee on a $180,000 Director of Operations is $45,000 for one hire. So it's no surprise that cheaper options are multiplying: AI sourcing tools, flat-fee profile packages, talent maps, and hourly research.
They do cost less. The question is what you receive for the money, and how much work is still sitting on your team's desk when it arrives.
Four ways to buy sourcing, and what each one delivers
AI sourcing packages. Typically a few thousand dollars for three to five profiles pulled from large online databases. Fast and inexpensive. What you get is a set of profiles that match keywords. Nobody has confirmed the person is open to a move, still in the role, or right for your culture. Your recruiters still make every call, and those candidates are often hearing from a dozen other bots that week.
Talent maps. Published market rates run from about $6,000 to $15,000 for a single metro area, and far more for multi-region leadership maps. A good talent map is a valuable picture of who works where, with org charts. But it's data. Nobody has contacted anyone. If the goal is filling one role, your team still has to work the whole list.
Hourly research. Research firms commonly bill $125 to $200 or more an hour, often in packages of 100 to 250 hours. The hourly rate is clear; the total isn't. If the search is harder than expected, the meter keeps running, and the budget risk sits with you.
A contacted, vetted candidate slate. This is what our Candidate Generation Program delivers: five qualified, interested candidates for a fixed $5,995 (ten for $9,995). The research is done, the calls are made, backgrounds are checked against your requirements, and each person has said they want to talk.
Where the real cost hides
The price of a list is never the whole price. Someone has to turn names into conversations.
Suppose you buy 40 profiles. A recruiter needs to find current contact details, reach out, follow up, and screen. For passive candidates, a realistic response rate means dozens of attempts to produce a handful of real conversations. That is days of recruiter time, on top of the requisitions they already carry.
That's why we say a LinkedIn URL is not a candidate. A candidate is a person who has been reached, who fits, and who is interested. Everything before that is raw material.
Why human research still finds people the tools miss
AI tools are good at searching profiles that already exist and are up to date. Many of the best people for hard-to-fill roles don't fit that description. Their profile is three jobs old, or they barely use it.
Researchers find them in other places:
- speaker and presenter lists from trade shows and technical conferences
- association rosters and committee memberships
- published research, patents and industry articles
- competitor organizations, mapped team by team
We use AI too, but only to find names. A person still has to qualify every candidate. And the best people on a slate are usually found by a researcher following a lead the database didn't have, then confirmed in a phone conversation.
The multi-hire question
Most per-hire pricing assumes one search, one seat. If two finalists are excellent, the second hire usually means a second fee.
Our program works the other way. If more than one person on your slate is right for you, you can hire them all at no additional fee. For teams with a second opening coming, or a backfill they expect, that changes the math considerably.
Choosing the right tool
- If you need market intelligence (who works where, how teams are structured) for workforce planning, a talent map is the right purchase. See Talent Mapping for Hard-to-Fill Roles.
- If your recruiters have time to make the calls and want raw names, a name generation list is the most economical. See Name Generation Lists.
- If you need people to interview, and your team doesn't have the hours to research and recruit them, a contacted slate at a fixed fee is the closest thing to a search firm's output without a search firm's percentage. See Flat-Fee Alternative to Contingency Search.
The short version
- AI sourcing package: Profiles. Calls made by: your team. Price: Fixed.
- Talent map: Names, org charts. Calls made by: your team. Price: Fixed, $6K to $15K+.
- Hourly research: Names, notes. Calls made by: varies. Price: Open-ended.
- PRS Candidate Generation: 5 contacted, interested, vetted candidates; hire more than one at no extra fee. Calls made by: PRS. Price: Fixed, $5,995.
If a requisition has been open too long, take a look at how the Candidate Generation Program works, or call Tom DeBourcy at (847) 487-8100.
