Tool Talk Sponsored by Gem

A hands-on walkthrough of Gem shows how a sourcing workflow can move from first contact to hire without relying on spreadsheets or guesswork. The demonstration covers the free Gem Chrome extension, which pulls prospect data from any site on the web, not just LinkedIn, and adds candidates into a CRM with a single click, whether the source is Facebook, GitHub, or somewhere else entirely.

Key parts of the workflow include:

• Building multi-stage outreach sequences, including a seven-message cadence sent over several weeks, timed using Gem's data on the best days and times to reach prospects
• Setting up custom projects that replace candidate-tracking spreadsheets, with editable fields for things like secondary source, hiring manager notes, and dream role details, then sharing a live link with hiring managers instead of a static file
• Connecting Calendly so that booked meetings, not just message replies, stop an outreach sequence automatically
• Using a talent pipeline view that syncs bi-directionally with an ATS such as Greenhouse, Lever, or SmartRecruiters, so candidates can be moved through stages visually
• Automating a weekly Slack report to hiring teams, cutting out manual recap emails and freeing up time for strategy and training

The most striking part of the demonstration centers on outreach data used to catch bias in sourcing. After noticing that outreach for a run of hard-to-fill technical roles skewed heavily toward men, tracking that split quarter over quarter led to a near-even balance within about a year, without changing tools or search strings, just by watching the numbers and adjusting who got contacted. The same dashboards can break down response rates by InMail versus email, estimated gender and ethnicity across requisitions, and overall pipeline health, giving a sourcer or a hiring manager a quick read on where a search stands at any point.

Data for the win. It really can help change the game.

The workflow is built for anyone doing full-cycle sourcing or candidate management, whether working inside an existing ATS or maintaining an independent, hand-curated database of prospects built over years of outreach.