How To Write Sourcing Assistant Instructions

Sourcing Assistant splits your needs into three groups:

Must-have qualifications

• These are deal-breakers. If a candidate doesn't have evidence of any of these on their resume, Sourcing Assistant will not contact them.

• Only use must-haves for skills or qualifications the person needs to do the job.
• Adding too many must-haves will lead to fewer matches. 
• We recommend 3-5 must-haves at maximum.

Preferred qualifications

• These are nice-to-haves. Sourcing Assistant uses these to prioritize candidates to reach out to for you.
• Candidates may still be contacted even if they're missing a preferred item.

Other criteria

This is where you set:

• Location radius: How far away candidates can live
  
  • Use: "Find matches within 25 miles of Chicago, IL"
  • Don’t use: "Find matches within 1 hour commute of Chicago, IL"
• Exclusion-phrased criteria: People who meet specific conditions that make them ineligible for outreach.
  
  • Example: "Exclude matches who have held "Director" or "Principle" titles
  • Example: "Exclude matches who have worked for ‘Jones and Jones Inc.,’ ‘Jones and Jones,’ or ‘Jones & Jones’"

Only include items from a resume

These work well:

• Job titles
• Years of experience
• Skills and tools
• Certifications or licenses
• Education
• Industries

These don't work:

• Personality traits like "team player" or "passionate," unless added in preferred criteria
• Work style or "culture fit"
• Information not likely to be included on a resume, such as "able to commute" or "has their own vehicle"

Keep it short

• Write 15 words or fewer for each item.

Example:

• Use: "4+ years experience in healthcare"
• Don’t use: “Must have an abundance of hours logged and experience completed in a relevant healthcare setting

Be specific

• Say exactly what you need.

Example: 

• Use: "2+ years of sales experience"
• Don’t use: "Experienced salesperson"

One idea per line

• Don't combine multiple needs into one bullet point.

Example:

• Use: "3+ years of nursing experience"
• Use: "BLS certification"
• Don’t use: "3+ years of nursing experience with BLS certification"

Skip extra details

• Only write things that matter for your hiring decision.
• Extra details make your pool smaller without helping you find better candidates.

To keep in line with Indeed’s hiring rules, you can’t use certain things as filters. Examples are:

• Age, gender, race, religion, disability, citizenship
• Words that hint at these (like "new graduate" or "digital native")
• Personality traits ("team player," "go-getter")
• Work schedule needs
• Physical requirements (lifting, standing)
• Background checks, drug tests, or vaccine requirements

What to do instead

• Add screening questions to your job posting.
• Screening questions are different from Sourcing Assistant instructions.

• When you review candidates, you teach the Sourcing Assistant what you want.
• When you reject a candidate, say why. Your reason gets added to your instructions and makes future matches better. Be specific:
• Use: "I need more recent hospital experience"
• Use: "Lives outside our area"
• You can change your instructions whenever you want. New candidates will match your new instructions, but outreaches sent before the update will not reflect these changes.

Do

• Use must-haves only for true deal-breakers
• Be specific with numbers and details
• Keep each instruction short and simple
• Write 5-10 total instructions

Don’t

• Put nice-to-haves in the must-have section
• Use personality words or culture fit
• Write long sentences or paragraphs
• Add every small detail about the job

Question: Is there a maximum number of instructions I can use?

Answer: No, but we recommend including 5-10 total criteria (must-haves and preferred combined). There is a maximum character limit of 2500. Writing more than 10? You're probably adding details that won't help.

Question: Can I use instructions on more than one job?

Answer: Yes. If you’re hiring for the same role in different locations or opening multiple similar positions, this is a great option. Click Import from another job when setting up Sourcing Assistant for a new role.