The best recruitment tools for finding STEM talent fast

Talent Acquisition Workforce Management

By Diyaa Mani
March 25, 2025

Updated
March 25, 2025

6 min read

What are the best sourcing tools for recruiters?

Imagine a world where the next groundbreaking innovation is just a step away but finding the right minds to make it happen seems like an impossible puzzle.

Companies are racing to uncover the best STEM talent but traditional hiring methods often fall short. The solution lies in leveraging innovative tools and strategies beyond conventional platforms.

By embracing cutting-edge recruiting tools to find candidates, organisations can uncover hidden gems and nurture the next generation of STEM leaders. Discovering these game-changing tools can revolutionise how you identify, develop, and retain them.

Below are some of the best recruiting tools that recruitment industry leaders are using to find top-quality STEM talent fast.

Assessment tools for STEM professionals

Role-specific assessments

Many tools are available to evaluate technical skills through coding challenges or engineering simulations. These tools provide structured assessments tailored to job roles, ensuring candidates meet the technical requirements.

Codility provides coding challenges designed to assess a candidate's technical skills in a structured and role-specific manner. Offering real-time coding tasks helps recruiters quickly evaluate problem-solving abilities, algorithmic thinking, and code efficiency, ensuring candidates are well-suited for the job.

HackerRank assesses technical skills using a combination of coding challenges and engineering simulations. Its platform enables recruiters to test candidates on specific programming languages, algorithms, and problem-solving approaches, streamlining the hiring process by efficiently identifying top talent.

Codercred offers tailored assessments through coding simulations that reflect real-world scenarios. This tool helps recruiters evaluate candidates' technical proficiency and logical thinking in a way that aligns with the role's demands, ensuring an accurate match between skills and job requirements.

These tools are particularly suited for hiring candidates in software engineering, programming, and IT fields due to their emphasis on coding challenges, technical simulations, and algorithmic problem-solving. Such assessments are tailored to evaluate the skills critical for success in these domains

Project-based evaluations

Assign real-world tasks relevant to the job, such as developing software prototypes, solving engineering problems, or conducting data analysis. This method assesses practical application, problem-solving, and innovation skills. Tools like ThriveMap can streamline this process.

By creating realistic work simulation assessments, it lets candidates engage in project-based evaluations such as developing software prototypes, solving engineering problems, or conducting data analysis.

By simulating a "day in the life" experience of the job, ThriveMap helps recruiters quickly assess candidates' ability to apply their skills in real-world scenarios, ensuring they are well-suited for the role.

AI-driven screening

AI driven screening reduce hiring bias and streamline candidate evaluation.

Leverage AI recruiting tools to assess cognitive skills, personality traits, and cultural fit alongside technical abilities. These tools reduce hiring bias and streamline candidate evaluation.

Bryq uses AI-driven assessments to evaluate candidates' cognitive abilities, personality traits, and alignment with company culture. It aids in finding STEM talent fast by providing a comprehensive profile of each candidate, ensuring they not only meet technical requirements but also fit the team dynamics. By reducing unconscious bias in the screening process, Bryq helps recruiters quickly focus on the most qualified candidates.

Criteria offers AI-powered assessments that measure cognitive skills, emotional intelligence, and job-specific competencies. This tool accelerates recruitment by identifying top STEM talent through data-driven insights. It ensures candidates are evaluated fairly and efficiently, enabling hiring managers to make informed decisions without manual effort.

Recruitment platforms and technologies

AI-powered talent acquisition

AI recruiting tools can source passive candidates, analyse resumes, and predict candidate success based on data-driven insights. The best AI recruiting tools can streamline recruitment and make finding STEM talent faster and more efficient.

LinkedIn Recruiter uses AI to source passive candidates by analysing profiles and suggesting the best matches for open roles. It helps recruiters find potential candidates quickly by leveraging its vast professional network and providing data-driven recommendations, ensuring that even hard-to-reach candidates are identified efficiently.

Hired assessments combine AI with skills testing to evaluate candidates' technical abilities and cultural fit. This tool accelerates the hiring process by automatically screening resumes, matching candidates to job requirements, and predicting their likelihood of success, saving recruiters valuable time.

Custom-built AI platforms can be tailored to specific organisational needs, integrating features like resume parsing, predictive analytics, and candidate engagement. These platforms, such as Manatal, aid in finding talent quickly by automating repetitive tasks, analysing large datasets to identify top candidates, and providing actionable insights for better decision-making.

Programmatic advertising

An Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is a recruiting software that streamlines the hiring processes. It collects, organises, and tracks applicants throughout the hiring cycle.

Automate job postings on niche platforms using ATS systems, one of the best sourcing tools for recruiters. Targeted ads ensure visibility among relevant STEM professionals, making it easier to connect with top talent quickly.

Recruitee integrates programmatic advertising capabilities to automate job postings across niche platforms. It helps recruiters find STEM talent fast by leveraging data-driven targeting to ensure job ads reach the most relevant candidates. Its automation reduces manual effort, allowing recruiters to focus on engaging qualified applicants.

Workable offers advanced programmatic advertising features that optimise job ad placement and visibility. Analysing candidate behaviours and preferences ensures ads are displayed on platforms frequented by STEM professionals. This precision targeting accelerates the hiring process by efficiently connecting employers with highly relevant candidates.

Social media recruiting

Utilise social media platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Meetup to connect with STEM communities and identify potential candidates based on their professional interests and activities. These tools help streamline the recruitment process by targeting relevant talent quickly.

LinkedIn is a powerful platform for social media recruiting. It offers advanced search filters and AI-driven recommendations to identify STEM professionals based on their skills, experience, and interests. It aids in finding talent fast by allowing recruiters to directly engage with active and passive candidates through personalised messages and job postings.

X facilitates real-time engagement with STEM communities by enabling recruiters to follow relevant hashtags like #STEM or #TechCareers. This platform helps in quickly identifying potential candidates who actively share insights or participate in discussions related to their field, making it easier to connect with top talent.

Meetup connects recruiters with local or global STEM-focused groups and events. By joining these communities, recruiters can network with professionals passionate about specific fields, such as data science or software engineering. This targeted approach accelerates finding qualified candidates aligned with the job requirements.

Employee referrals

Enhance referral programs with gamified tools. These platforms incentivise employees to recommend qualified candidates by automating referral tracking, managing rewards, and providing real-time updates.

Boon simplifies the hiring process by seamlessly integrating existing HR systems and automating workflows, enabling companies to source talent faster and more efficiently. Its advanced analytics allow recruiters to monitor referral performance, optimise campaigns, and strengthen employer branding. With Boon, organisations can scale their referral programs quickly and achieve consistent, high-quality hires while reducing administrative effort.

Diversity and inclusion initiatives

Hiring bias occurs when different standards are applied to different people during the recruitment process, resulting in prejudice or discriminatory action against an individual or groups of people.

IATGEN is among the diversity recruiting tools that will assess unconscious biases in hiring processes and promote a diverse workplace culture that appeals to underrepresented groups in STEM fields.

IATGEN facilitates the creation of Implicit Association Tests (IATs), which measure unconscious biases by analysing response times to categorisation tasks. It aids in finding STEM talent fast by uncovering hidden biases in hiring decisions, enabling recruiters to make data-driven adjustments to ensure inclusivity. IATGEN helps organisations attract and retain diverse talent pools by promoting unbiased evaluation.

Building diverse and innovative STEM teams for future success

Finding and hiring the right STEM talent is essential for staying ahead in a competitive, fast-moving industry. The right tools and strategies can help organisations refine their hiring processes, ensure fair evaluations, and connect with skilled professionals more effectively. If you're looking for ways to enhance your talent acquisition efforts, contact us to explore solutions tailored to your hiring needs.