Find Hidden Passive Candidates with SeekOut's Semantic Search

1. Get your SeekOut login credentials from your TA lead or admin once your organization's license is active
2. Go to the SeekOut platform and log in
3. If a Chrome extension is offered as part of your plan, install it. Reviewers consistently call it one of the more useful parts of the tool for pulling candidate data while browsing profiles elsewhere

What you should see: A search interface with a prominent search bar and filter panel.

SeekOut's core advantage is combining Boolean with semantic matching, so describe the role the way you'd describe it to a colleague.

1. In the search bar, describe the candidate you're looking for in plain language, referencing skills, experience, or the kind of work they'd have done, not just a job title
2. Example framing: "machine learning engineers with healthcare data experience and HIPAA familiarity" rather than a rigid title search
3. Run the search and review the initial result count

What you should see: A ranked list of candidate profiles pulled from multiple sources, not just LinkedIn. Troubleshooting: If results feel too broad or too narrow, adjust the specificity of your description rather than switching back to a pure keyword approach. The semantic matching works best with descriptive input.

SeekOut offers a large filter set, reportedly over 300 combining Boolean logic with semantic categories.

1. Add experience-range filters to exclude candidates who are too junior or overqualified
2. Add location and remote-eligibility filters matching your role's requirements
3. If your hiring team has stated diversity sourcing goals, use the diversity filters available to you, and make sure you understand your company's policy on how these results can and can't be used in decision-making before you rely on them
4. Review the refined result count

What you should see: A meaningfully smaller, more targeted candidate list after filters are applied.

This is where SeekOut differs most from a LinkedIn-only search.

1. Open a candidate's profile and look past the headline. Check GitHub activity, patent filings, or publications if the role calls for that kind of depth
2. Compare what the aggregated data shows against your must-have list
3. Note that data freshness varies. Reviewers have flagged that SeekOut's profile data updates more slowly than LinkedIn's, so verify anything time-sensitive (current employer, recent title) against the candidate's LinkedIn directly before reaching out

What you should see: A fuller picture of a candidate's real work than a single-source search would show.

1. Add strong matches to a project or saved list inside SeekOut so you're not re-searching later
2. Check what outreach tools SeekOut provides for your plan. Some reviewers note the built-in messaging is closer to templated than fully personalized, so plan to customize before sending
3. Export or copy candidate details into your ATS once you're ready to move forward, since SeekOut identifies candidates but generally expects you to handle the outreach and screening steps yourself

What you should see: A saved shortlist ready for personalized outreach, either through SeekOut or copied into your usual outreach flow.

1. After a few weeks of use, compare candidates SeekOut surfaced against your LinkedIn search results for the same req
2. Note how many were genuinely new finds versus overlap
3. Use that comparison to decide which future reqs are worth running through SeekOut versus relying on LinkedIn alone

What you should see: A clearer sense of which of your req types actually benefit from the extra tool, so you're not running every search through both platforms out of habit.