A heuristically-driven platform and method for hiring based on previously-supported jobs and collected metrics solves the problem of efficiently connecting hiring agents and suitable job candidates. A portal application includes an inventory of successful placements and successful listings, allowing hiring agents to build job searches against a database of historical jobs. Leveraging the portal's inventory of placements and listings, the hiring agent may build a listing and design a candidate search based on previous listings, search venues for the same job type and metrics collected against each. An embodiment may provide the hiring agent a listing of the hiring agent's jobs, a list of applicants for each listed job and the detail for each applicant. The platform monitors applicant flow, online interviews, and site usage analytics for each position, suggesting alternatives and course corrections to the hiring agent if the performance of the job search is sub-par based on benchmarks.