LinkedIn feels tapped out. Where else are you sourcing?

TalentScout22

LinkedIn feels increasingly noisy and honestly, kind of predictable. Everyone’s sourcing from the same talent pool, sending the same messages, using the same search strings. I've had much better results diving into more niche communities like Discord servers, hobbyist developer forums, and even contributor threads on GitHub. Yes, it's more manual but the conversations are more human.

One recent hire came from a small AI ethics Discord. We connected over a shared post about model fairness no job pitch, just curiosity. Two months later, I hired her for a research lead role.

So, I’m wondering: where else are you finding ‘undiscovered’ candidates? What are the channels or tactics that give you an edge beyond the LinkedIn ocean?

SvenHRBerlin

We’re a bit old-school but effective: we still rely heavily on local meetups and university alumni networks. For compliance and engineering roles in the DACH region, in-person presence still matters. There’s a university near us that runs industry evenings, not huge, but highly focused. I recently hired a lead systems engineer who I met over coffee at a panel talk.

It’s not scalable, but the signal-to-noise ratio is amazing. And these people often aren't actively applying elsewhere, they trust the network more than a job board.

MRecruiter_NL

In the legal and finance sector, we’ve moved away from public sourcing altogether. Bar association newsletters and closed alumni groups (some hosted on private platforms or even WhatsApp) give far better ROI.

It’s slower but you build visibility over time, often by posting insights rather than job ads but the responses are more meaningful. Candidates appreciate relevance, not reach.

PeopleOpsAnna

Slack communities have become a go-to for us, especially for product and design roles. "Jobs in Tech", "Ladies Get Paid" and various open-source project Slack spaces, they’re full of people talking about real work, not just self-promotion. But the golden rule: don’t pitch. I once made the mistake of sending a polished job post directly into a dev Slack and got politely roasted. Now I just participate. I’ve had better hires come from conversations than cold sourcing

Jules_TechTalent

+1 to GitHub and forums. I recently started checking Stack Overflow not for their reputation scores, but for how people explain things in comments. You learn more about their collaboration style than from any resume.

Also, don’t sleep on Kaggle for data roles. Some of the smartest people I’ve interviewed weren’t even on LinkedIn but they had great project documentation and clean codebases in public repos.

CultureMatcher

For DEI-focused roles, I’ve sourced from activist communities; not just job spaces. Intersectional Environmentalist’s community board, DiversifyTech’s email list, even niche Twitter circles. It takes trust, and you need to engage beyond hiring, support their initiatives, show up, contribute. When you do, people invite others into the pipeline. That’s where real inclusion begins.

ElenaHRstrategist

We recently started experimenting with sourcing via webinars. We host knowledge-sharing events 30 mins of real insights, no pitch, then follow up with attendees who engage deeply. We also track who’s asking smart questions in panels and Twitter Spaces. That curiosity often signals growth potential better than most job titles.

QuietConnector

Love this thread. Just adding: not every great hire comes from being 'found'. We keep an internal 'passive pipeline' built from referrals, ex-candidates we liked, and people we met at conferences. Sometimes all it takes is checking in with someone you almost hired a year ago and asking, 'What are you exploring these days?'