For vendors
Your vendors work inside the same pipeline.
Most teams run vendors out of a spreadsheet and a shared inbox — and six months later, nobody can say which one was actually worth the fee. Here's the other way to do it.
- One listvendor submissions and direct applicants, ranked together
- Same rubricevery candidate screened, interviewed, and scored alike
- Per vendora live submit-to-shortlist rate on every firm
From invite to ranked shortlist
Four steps. You set them up once per vendor, and the rest runs on every role you publish after that.
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01
You invite the firm
Send one invite to a vendor you already work with. They accept, set up their own company profile, and land in a workspace of their own — scoped to the regions you approved and nothing beyond them.
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02
They bring their own recruiters
The vendor's admin invites their own staff, so you're never running someone else's team. And you still know who did what — every submission carries the name of the recruiter behind it, not just the firm.
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03
A new req reaches them the moment it's live
Publish a role and the vendors cleared for that region are told straight away. No forwarding a JD into a group chat, no vendor starting three days behind because the email went to the wrong person.
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04
Their candidates get the same screen as everyone else
This is the part nowhere else does. A vendor's resume takes exactly the same route as someone who applied to you directly. One shortlist, ranked on evidence, whoever sent whom.
Finally, an answer to "which vendor is worth it?"
When every vendor's candidates run the same screen, their numbers become comparable for the first time. Not submission counts — outcomes. Who sends people who actually clear your bar, and who is sending volume and hoping.
Renewal conversations stop being a matter of opinion. The scoreboard is the same one your vendor can see for their own submissions, so nobody is arguing about whose spreadsheet is right.
Vendor scoreboard
Senior Backend Engineer · all time
VendorSentShortlistedSelected
Apex Talent
187
34%
Northline Search
245
19%
Meridian Staffing
313
8%
Meridian sent the most and converted the least. On a submission count alone they'd look like your best vendor.
Opening the door doesn't mean losing the room
The reason most teams keep vendors at arm's length is the fear of what happens when you don't. Each of those failure modes has a specific answer here.
"They'll dump fifty resumes on every role."
Submissions are capped per vendor, per role
Each firm gets a fixed number of slots on a given req. It forces a vendor to send the people they actually believe in rather than everything in their database.
"Two vendors will claim the same person."
We spot the duplicate and turn it away
If someone is already in your pipeline — direct applicant, past search, another vendor — the second submission is rejected at the door, matched on email and phone. No ownership fight a month later.
"They'll see candidates they shouldn't."
Vendors see only their own submissions
No vendor can see another vendor's candidates, your direct applicants, or your internal notes. Their view is their own work and the roles you've opened to them.
"They'll work roles in the wrong markets."
Every vendor is scoped to approved regions
A vendor is only notified about, and can only submit to, roles in the regions you cleared them for. A role outside their scope is invisible to them.
"A relationship goes bad and I'm stuck."
Pause or remove any vendor, at any time
Suspend a firm and their access stops immediately while their history stays intact. The control is one-directional on purpose — a vendor can't remove themselves from your account or change their own scope.
"I'll be paying for their volume."
You see the cost of a vendor in outcomes, not credits
Vendor-sourced candidates run the same screening your direct pipeline does, so the spend is visible next to the conversion rate it bought. A high-volume, low-conversion vendor shows up as exactly that.
Your vendors get something out of this too
Ask a vendor to work inside your system, with a cap on submissions and a scoreboard everyone can see, and they're fair to ask what's in it for them. It's a straighter deal than the inbox they're used to.
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Roles arrive the moment they're live
No waiting on a forwarded JD. They see the req when you publish it, with the full brief attached.
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They know where their candidate stands
Submitted, in progress, rejected, selected — visible without emailing you to ask.
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Their good work is legible
A firm that consistently sends people who clear your bar can point at the number instead of arguing for the renewal.
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Their own team, their own admin
They add and manage their recruiters themselves, and see each person's contribution.
The things teams ask first
Do my vendors need to buy anything?
No. You invite them, they accept, and they work your roles. Setting up their side costs them nothing.
Are vendor candidates really scored the same way?
Yes — that's the whole point of the section above. Same resume screen, same AI call, same interview, same rubric. A vendor's candidate and a direct applicant are indistinguishable to the scoring pipeline.
Can a vendor see my other vendors?
No. Vendors can't see each other, each other's candidates, or your direct applicants. Each one only sees their own submissions and the roles you opened to them.
What if the same person is submitted twice?
The second submission is refused when it arrives, matched on email and phone against everyone already in your pipeline. You never end up with two records for one person.
How many vendors can I add?
As many as you work with. Each one is invited and scoped separately, so adding a vendor for one market doesn't affect the others.
Can I use this without changing my ATS?
Yes. Vendor-sourced candidates flow through the same pipeline and the same syncs as everything else in HiringScout.
Start with the role you need to fill next
About ten minutes to set up. Pay for what you use — no seats to buy, and nothing to sign.