Job search & recruiting glossary

Plain-English definitions of the terms behind modern hiring — how recruiters search, how matching works, and what it means for getting discovered.

AI candidate sourcing

Using AI-driven semantic search to proactively surface qualified candidates, instead of manually building keyword searches.

Software employers use to collect, filter, and manage job applications — historically keyword-matched.

A search technique using operators like AND, OR, and NOT to filter candidates by exact terms.

A numerical representation of a candidate's profile that captures its meaning, enabling search by fit rather than by exact keywords.

A structured summary of your experience, skills, and availability that recruiters search and AI matches on.

How recruiters actively find and reach out to potential candidates, rather than waiting for applications.

A recruiter who proactively seeks out and approaches candidates — often for senior or hard-to-fill roles.

Qualified candidates invisible to keyword-based search — often because they aren't active on job boards or don't use expected terms.

A ranking of how closely a candidate's profile fits a specific search, based on relevance — not on how much a recruiter paid.

Searching for candidates using plain-English descriptions of a role instead of boolean strings of AND/OR/NOT operators.

Someone not actively job hunting but open to the right opportunity if a recruiter reaches out.

A platform where candidates list themselves and employers search and reach out — the inverse of applying to job postings.

Semantic search (or semantic matching) ranks people by the meaning of their experience and a query, instead of counting exact keyword matches.

Sourcing is finding and identifying potential candidates; recruiting is the full process of engaging, evaluating, and hiring them.

A searchable group of candidates a recruiter or platform can draw from when filling roles.

The time between a role opening and a candidate accepting an offer — a core efficiency metric for recruiting teams.