Candidate matching software uses data, algorithms, and behavioral insights to help recruiters quickly and accurately surface the best candidates for any given role. 

It pulls from your talent pool — be it past applicants, sourced leads, internal talent, referrals, and even passive prospects — then scores them based on how closely they align with your open roles.

This isn’t just keyword scanning or resume scraping. The best tools factor in:

• Skills and experience
• Culture and values fit
• Role preferences and intent
• Engagement behavior (what they click, where they drop off, etc.)

So what are the best tools, and what types of organizations are they best suited for? Our comprehensive list breaks them down, so keep reading.

Why Candidate Matching Belongs in Your Recruiting Tech Stack

Even if your careers page is beautiful and your pipeline is full, none of it matters if the right people aren’t finding the right roles or if your team is spending hours manually sorting through a sea of maybes.

The right candidate matching software can help you:

• Reduce time-to-hire
• Boost candidate quality and conversion
• Improve recruiter efficiency
• Increase retention by hiring better-fit talent from the start

If these metrics are top of mind for your team, one of these 6 candidate matching tools may be a good fit:

The 6 Best Candidate Matching Software Tools on the Market

1. Puck

Best for: Mid-market teams who want to match candidates and control their brand narrative

Puck isn’t just a candidate matching tool; we’re a full employer branding and candidate engagement platform. 

We couple matching and messaging together in one flow. That means candidates don’t just see relevant roles — they see them wrapped in your story, your voice, and your full value prop as an employer.

We unlock automation just as easily as we help you dynamically create and deliver content to surface the right roles to the right candidates, whether they’re applying, browsing, or just thinking about making a move. Because we’re purpose-built for lean talent teams, it’s intuitive, fast, and made to move with you, not against you.

Highlights:

• In-house Brand Studio for scheduling, recording, and producing authentic branded content
• Automated curation of templates for fresh job pages, interview guides, and content for easier recruiting processes
• End-to-end (but hands-off) ATS management so all of your insights live within it

💡 Don’t just take it from us. With Puck, Thyme Care increased hiring speed by 35% — click here to see how they did it.

2. HireEZ

Best for: Outbound sourcing and CRM-powered candidate matching

Touting an AI-led recruiting experience, HireEZ (formerly Hiretual) helps teams find new talent as well as rediscover talent already in their systems and match them to new roles. Their main proposition is that they boost hiring productivity.

Highlights:

• Agentic AI baked into the platform
• Internal mobility features for retaining top talent

💡 Where does AI fit into your recruiting strategy? Learn how the best teams are using AI to automate, but not to replace the human aspects behind hiring.

3. Phenom

Best for: Large enterprises managing high-volume hiring across departments

Phenom’s Talent Acquisition Platform is designed for global orgs needing advanced personalization and multi-brand career sites. If your hiring spans multiple regions or business units, Phenom may help the right people see your many open roles.

Highlights:

• AI-driven job recommendations and search
• Customizable career sites and chatbots
• Features for high-volume hiring

4. Eightfold AI

Best for: Skill-based candidate matching and workforce transformation

Eightfold AI uses a massive, GenAI-led talent intelligence database to help companies match based on potential, not just past titles. It’s a better fit for organizations prioritizing upskilling and internal mobility.

Highlights:

• Role-matching based on capabilities and growth potential
• Fine-tuned models for generated job descriptions, interview questions, and more

5. SeekOut

Best for: Hiring for technical and hard-to-fill roles

SeekOut’s strength lies in surfacing hard-to-find talent with unique or niche skillsets such as medical licenses, special security clearances, and other technical expertise. It’s useful when hiring highly specialized professionals.

Highlights:

• AI search filters and boolean support
• Deep candidate insights beyond the resume
• Diversity-focused matching filters

6. Fetcher

Best for: Automating outreach for matched talent

As the name would suggest, Fetcher fetches talent (their focus is sourcing). Their AI engine matches candidates to open roles and automatically kicks off outreach sequences, albeit with less customization than others.

Highlights:

• Role matching + email sequencing
• Calendar integration for interviews
• Analytics on engagement and conversions

Here’s Why Puck Comes Out on Top

A lot of matching tools surface the right candidates. Puck goes a step further and makes sure those candidates are a good match in that they actually want to engage with your company, too.

We blend powerful candidate matching capabilities with employer branding, personalized messaging, and end-to-end engagement. Puck helps you not just find better-fit talent, but convert them faster. 

It’s rare when a platform understands candidate matching isn’t just about scoring… it’s about storytelling. That’s exactly what we help you do best.

See how Puck can elevate your candidate matching strategy and book a personalized demo.

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