Eightfold AI and External Sourcing: More Candidates for the Matching Engine to Work With

Eightfold's AI matching and talent intelligence tools are built to find the best-fit candidates from whatever data the platform has access to — internal employees, past applicants, and any external candidate pools connected to it. That last part matters: the matching engine can only surface candidates that exist in its data. It doesn't independently generate new passive candidates from outside the platform.

AI matching still needs a candidate supply

For roles where the internal and historical applicant data is thin — new skill sets, new markets, highly specialized or highly passive candidate segments — Eightfold's matching quality is limited by how few relevant candidates it has to compare against. More relevant data in generally means better matches out.

Connecting an external sourcing layer

Eightfold supports API-based candidate ingestion, allowing structured profiles to be added to the platform's talent pool. A sourcing layer that runs targeted social campaigns to reach passive candidates in specific skill areas can pre-screen and deliver them into Eightfold, expanding the pool the matching engine works from.

What it means for a talent intelligence strategy

• Matching quality improves for skill sets and markets where internal data was previously thin
• New, currently-passive candidates enter the system instead of relying only on past applicant history
• Recruiters get more relevant AI-surfaced matches instead of the same limited internal pool
• Existing matching models, workflows, and internal mobility processes remain unchanged

What SmartHire adds above Eightfold

SmartHire sources and pre-screens candidates through targeted social campaigns, then feeds qualified profiles into Eightfold via API — expanding the data the matching engine has to work with. Your existing models, workflows, and internal mobility strategy stay exactly as they are.