Side-by-side Review of the Most Popular Contact Finding Tools for Recruiters

As a recruiter, you know the hunt for accurate contact information can make or break your workflow. My team at DISHER Talent Solutions has tested a wide range of tools over the years, and we’ve landed on a combination that covers all the bases, from active candidates to elusive passive prospects.  

4 Tools My Team Uses to Find the Right Candidate Contact Information

Here’s a look inside my team’s recruiting toolkit and why these tools have become staples in our daily sourcing routine. 

Indeed: The Go-to Sourcing Tool for Active Candidates

Let’s start with the obvious: when you want to find candidates who are actively looking, Indeed is still king.  

The platform’s massive reach and smart matching algorithms make it easy to surface resumes of people who are ready to make a move. We use Indeed to search and review resumes, especially when speed is of the essence. It’s not a contact-finding tool per se, but for identifying and connecting with active job seekers, it’s indispensable.  

Even though we cannot always get contact information from Indeed easily, it is a great way to see who is looking then hop to other platforms to find that candidate. 

Indeed Pros	Indeed Cons
– Huge database of active candidates  – Easy to filter by skills, location, and experience  – Great for immediate hiring needs	– Limited direct contact info—you have to message through the platform and wait for a response to get contact information  – Not ideal for passive candidates

ContactOut: Free, Accurate Emails for Outreach

When it comes to finding accurate personal emails, ContactOut is our secret weapon. The Chrome extension makes it a breeze to pull verified emails (and sometimes phone numbers) straight from LinkedIn profiles.  

What’s even better? The free plan gives us a handful of credits each day, which is perfect for targeted outreach without breaking the bank.  

We lean on ContactOut for those hard-to-find emails, especially when we want to maximize our response rates. 

ContactOut Pros	ContactOut Cons
– Triple-verified emails with a high accuracy rate  – Free daily credits for emails and phone numbers  – Seamless LinkedIn integration  – User-friendly and quick to deploy	– Phone number accuracy is hit or miss  – Daily limits on the free plan  – Some advanced features require a paid subscription

ZoomInfo: The Gold Standard for Accurate Phone Numbers

For direct dials and mobile numbers, nothing beats ZoomInfo. Our team relies on it for all of our searches. ZoomInfo’s vast B2B database and sophisticated data validation mean we get more valid numbers—and more conversations—than with any other tool we’ve tried.  

ZoomInfo also doubles as a sourcing tool for us, as you can source within the platform. With their variety of filter options, you can narrow down exactly what you are looking for and add those candidates to your applicant tracking system (ATS) from their database.  

ZoomInfo Pros	ZoomInfo Cons
– Extremely high accuracy for phone numbers (up to 85% in our experience)  – Massive, regularly updated database  – Advanced filtering and company insights	– Expensive, especially for small teams  – Can be overwhelming for new users  – Occasional bounce-backs on emails

Free People Search Tools: FastPeopleSearch, ThatsThem, FreePeopleSearch

Sometimes you just need to run down a lead or double-check details. That’s where free tools like FastPeopleSearch and ThatsThem come in.  

These platforms aggregate public records and can be surprisingly effective for finding addresses, phone numbers, or confirming someone’s identity. We use them as a last resort or for supplementary information—think of them as the “Google for people.” 

Free People Search Tools Pros	Free People Search Tools Cons
– 100% free for basic searches  – Good for cross-referencing or quick checks  – No sign-up required for most features	– Data can be outdated or incomplete  – Not designed for professional recruiting  – Privacy and ethical considerations

Contact Tools We’ve Tried but Didn’t Love: HireEZ

We previously used HireEZ as part of our sourcing toolkit, and from a sourcing perspective, it really does shine. The platform is intuitive and easy to use, with AI-powered search that pulls candidates from a wide range of platforms—LinkedIn, GitHub, Stack Overflow, and more.  

For building talent pipelines and finding profiles across tech and other industries, it’s genuinely effective. We especially liked the filtering and Boolean search options that made narrowing down candidates a breeze. It almost mimicked a dating app in how easy it was to “swipe right” on candidates and add them to your pipeline. The bulk import feature integrated with our ATS very easily and allowed for quick sourcing.  

However, where HireEZ fell short for us was in contact information retrieval. While it claims high accuracy rates, our actual experience was mixed: emails were sometimes outdated, and phone numbers were often missing or incorrect. This meant extra steps to verify or track down the right info, which slowed our outreach and reduced our response rates. 

HireEZ Pros	HireEZ Cons
– AI-powered sourcing across multiple platforms, including LinkedIn, GitHub, and Dice  – User-friendly interface with strong customer service  – Effective for finding passive candidates and hard-to-find talent  – Boolean search creator and easy-to-use features	– Data accuracy depends on original sources—not always perfect  – High pricing for large enterprises and staffing agencies  – Best suited for professional/executive roles, less effective for entry-level positions  – Limited to candidates in the HireEZ database

How We Combine and Use These Tools

Here’s a peek into my workflow and how I use these tools on a day-to-day basis:  

• Quick check on Indeed to identify active candidates. I typically get the name and try to hunt them down on LinkedIn. If I can’t find the person elsewhere, I’ll use a credit to reach out on Indeed’s platform directly. 
• Leverage ZoomInfo when I need an accurate phone number or deep company insights, especially for executive or hard-to-reach talent. 
• Use ContactOut for free, highly accurate emails, especially for passive candidates sourced via LinkedIn. I usually go to ContactOut if ZoomInfo does not have a personal email for the candidate. Because I have a limited number of credits each day, I use them sparingly. 
• Supplement with FastPeopleSearch and ThatsThem to fill in any gaps or verify information before outreach. 

This multi-tool approach ensures we’re never stuck waiting for a response or chasing dead ends. Each platform has its strengths, and together they give us the coverage and confidence we need to connect with top talent. 

Recruiting is part science, part art—and a lot of detective work. With the right combination of tools, you can reach the right people faster and more reliably. If you’re building out your own sourcing stack, I highly recommend starting with these platforms. They’ve made our team more efficient, more effective, and, frankly, a lot less stressed. Happy hunting!