Let’s be clear up front: LinkedIn is an incredible sourcing tool.
It’s often the first place recruiters look, and for good reason.
But treating LinkedIn as the only place to search is where recruiters quietly start losing ground.
Despite its dominance, CV databases like Totaljobs, Reed and CV‑Library remain an essential part of a modern sourcing strategy — especially when they’re accessed intelligently through platforms like WaveTrackR.
This isn’t about choosing one over the other. It’s about understanding what each source gives you. Given the size and omnipresence of LinkedIn, it’s easy to fall into the idea that its the only place people go.
LinkedIn shows professional identity. CV databases show job intent.
LinkedIn profiles are curated. They’re brand‑managed, often out of date, and written for visibility rather than searchability.
CV databases are different.
Candidates on the traditional have taken the time to upload a full CV, often recently updated, with:
- Detailed skills and responsibilities
- Location and availability clarity
- Industry‑specific terminology recruiters actually search for
These databases are built around active or semi‑active job intent, not networking presence.
There is still huge candidate coverage outside LinkedIn
No single platform captures the whole market. If we take some approximate numbers, the working population in the UK is around 44m, LinkedIn, if you believe the recent report from Yardstick have 47.5m users of which 23m log in every month). So lets make the assumption the rest are less frequent, that’s a whole bunch of people, but not everyone. CV Library boasts 22m users on their database – with a few hundred thousand new people joining every month. Reed, and Totaljobs will no doubt have similar numbers too.
The point is not everyone is on one platform. The more I think about this, more I realise, age, location, demography will come into play here – someone asked me the other day if they should put their CV on Monster. You can probably have a guess at their age range based on this – (Late 40’s / Early 50s)
Job board CV databases collectively hold tens of millions of UK CVs, including candidates who:
- Aren’t active on LinkedIn
- Don’t respond to InMail
- Work in operational, technical, healthcare, industrial or regional roles
- Prefer applying or being contacted about a job, not a conversation
Ignoring these databases narrows your view of the market.
Search depth still beats surface‑level filters
CV databases allow deep keyword and Boolean searching across:
- Full employment history
- Certifications
- Tools, licences, methodologies
- Industry‑specific language
WaveTrackR brings those databases together in a single CV Search workflow, allowing recruiters to search their internal database and external job board databases at the same time, rather than hopping between platforms.
That unified approach is what makes CV database searching viable at scale again.
CV databases reward proactive recruiters
Recruiters win when they stop waiting. CV databases flip the model from “post and hope” to search, shortlist and engage. The best recruiters still proactively search to build pipelines early — not after adverts underperform.
WaveTrackR enhances this by letting recruiters:
- Save searches
- Monitor new matching CVs
- Act immediately when fresh candidates appear
This mirrors how strong recruiters already think — but with far less admin. Oh and WaveTrackR will also search your database before you even post that job – but that’s a story for another day.
LinkedIn + CV databases is the real power move
LinkedIn remains the best place to validate, cross‑reference and engage professionally. CV databases remain one of the fastest ways to identify active talent at scale.
The smartest recruiters don’t choose between them — they find the ones that work for them and use both.
That’s exactly why WaveTrackR treats CV searching as a core part of candidate attraction, not a legacy bolt‑on. It gives recruiters access to job board CV databases, internal talent pools, applications and analytics in one place.
Recruiters who keep searching Totaljobs, Reed and CV‑Library aren’t behind the times — they’re covering the market properly. At a time when costs are soaring and jobs are scarce, it’s tempting to think you dont need these tools, you may not need all of them, but having a couple of different pools to search in gives you the best chance of beating the rest and finding that candidate you need.
WaveTrackR helps you attract, screen and hire faster.
From job posting to shortlisting — get more done in one place.
