10 Best Recruiting CRM Software Shortlist
Here's my pick of the 10 best software from the 30 tools reviewed.
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With numerous recruiting candidate relationship management (CRM) software on the market, choosing the right one for you can be tricky. You want software to help you source top-quality candidates, the ability to sort and segment candidates for future roles, and tools to create tailored marketing campaigns and outbound communications to keep them engaged along the way. In this post, I'll help you simplify the selection process to make your choice easy. I'll share my insights on the top recruiting CRM software based on my personal recruiting experience dealing with hundreds of candidates.
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The 10 Best Recruiting CRM Software: Pricing Comparison Chart
This comparison chart summarizes basic details about my top recruiting CRM software selections. View pricing details and the availability of free trials or demos side-by-side to find the best software for your budget and business needs.
| Tools | Price | |
|---|---|---|
| Manatal | From $15/user/month | Website |
| Thryv | Available upon request | Website |
| Recruiterflow | From $99/user/month | Website |
| Salesforce CRM | From $25/user/month (billed annually) | Website |
| TalentReef | Pricing upon request | Website |
| Trakstar | Pricing upon request | Website |
| PCRecruiter | From $85/user/month | Website |
| Act! | From $30/user/month (billed annually) | Website |
| Freshsales | From $9/user/month (billed annually) | Website |
| SmartRecruiters | Pricing upon request | Website |
Compare Software Specs Side by Side
Use our comparison chart to review and evaluate software specs side-by-side.
Compare SoftwareHow to Choose Recruiting CRM Software
Recruiting CRM software can help you keep your candidates engaged and create a better hiring experience. To help you figure out which recruiting CRM software best fits your business needs, you need to pinpoint your key users and document their specific challenges first.
As you work through your own unique recruiting CRM software selection process, keep the following points in mind:
- What problem are you trying to solve - Start by identifying the recruiting challenges you're trying to overcome. This will help you clarify the features and functionality the recruiting software needs to provide.
- Who will need to use it - To evaluate cost and requirements, consider who will use the software and how many licenses you'll need. You'll need to evaluate if it'll just be your talent acquisition specialists, or your entire HR department that will require access. Once that's clear, it's also useful to rank the needs of your different users to identify your key priorities for your recruiting software power users, managers, and future candidates, to ensure they're all met.
- What other tools it needs to work with - Clarify what tools you're replacing, what tools are staying, and the tools you'll need to integrate with, such as HR management systems or onboarding software. You'll need to decide if the tools should integrate together, or alternatively, if you can replace multiple tools with one consolidated recruiting CRM platform.
- What outcomes are important - Review the capabilities you want to gain or improve, and how you will measure success. For example, an outcome could be improving your time to hire, or increasing your ability to automate candidate engagement processes to keep your applicants informed. You could compare software features until you’re blue in the face but if you aren’t thinking about the outcomes you want to drive, you could be wasting a lot of valuable time.
- How it would work within your organization - Consider the software selection alongside your existing workflows and systems. Evaluate what's working well, and the areas that are causing issues that need to be addressed.
Remember every business is different — don’t assume that a recruitment CRM system will work for your organization just because it's popular.
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Deel
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Paycor
Visit WebsiteThis is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.4.1 -
Paychex Flex
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Best Recruiting CRM Software Reviews
Here you’ll find brief descriptions of each recruitment CRM that made it into my top 10 list. I’ve highlighted each tool’s best use case and noteworthy features, and included a screenshot for each to preview their user interface.
Plus, there are 18 additional bonus options below if you’d like a few more choices to consider.
Manatal
Best recruiting CRM for organizing and analyzing recruiting efforts for multiple clients
Manatal’s all-in-one recruitment CRM & ATS simplifies the recruitment process through job portal integrations, easy-to-manage talent pipelines, and AI-driven candidate recommendations. Their Chrome extension for LinkedIn makes it quick and easy to parse public information and add it to candidate profiles. From there, you can organize all your candidate applications into kanban-style boards for each position, and advance candidates to the next stage using their drag-and-drop pipeline feature.
Manatal’s recruitment CRM has specific features that are purpose-built for recruitment and staffing agencies. This includes tools to manage relationships with different clients you’re recruiting for, and reports that let you track placements and revenue generated per client as well.
To give you ultimate oversight of your team’s productivity, you can link revenues directly to jobs and clients, allowing you to measure your return on investment (ROI) for your team’s efforts on a per-client basis. As well, you can also grant clients access to a customizable external view of your Manatal system, making it easier to interact with them and keep them informed.
Manatal integrates with Office 365, Microsoft Outlook, LinkedIn, Gmail, Facebook, WhatsApp, Mailchimp, Zapier, and other platforms. They also have an open API to support additional custom integrations, plus a full-feature app for mobile recruiting.
Thryv is a one-stop-shop operations platform for small businesses. It offers a CRM as well as external portals, communication tools, and invoicing capabilities. It's functional as a recruiting CRM because of its robust and versatile feature set.
You can use this platform to hire employees as well as contractors and freelancers. By creating portals, you provide a space where candidates can schedule interviews, share files, and sign contracts. Digital signatures and invoicing are included, making it easy to keep contracts connected with candidate profiles and ensure payments are made on time.
A centralized inbox keeps all communications in one place. Team chat is also available to facilitate internal communications around the hiring process and related to candidate's status. Meanwhile, candidate profiles have complete records of their history with your business, providing context and important details.
The software integrates with popular workplace tools like QuickBooks, Zoom, Mailchimp, Clover, Typeform, Gmail, Facebook Messenger, and Instagram Messenger, among others.
Pricing is available upon request.
Best end-to-end recruiting CRM for staffing agencies wanting time-saving automations
Recruiterflow is an applicant tracking & recruiting CRM software for ambitious recruiting & staffing firms. What makes Recruiterflow different from other ATS and recruiting CRM products, is their recruiting automation, simplicity, and ease of use. Recruiterflow helps you manage your candidate and client pipeline with visual, drag-and-drop kanban style boards, and post jobs on different job boards like Indeed and LinkedIn.
With Recruiterflow's email sequences, it's easier than ever for recruiters to reach out to candidates and clients quickly. However, the crown jewel of their platform is their cutting-edge recruiting automation, which creates a positive candidate experience and is one of the most advanced automations in the industry.
Recruiterflow's platform is simple and easy to use, requiring almost no training. You can also review your recruiting strategy and performance at all times using their real-time reporting.
Recruiterflow integrates with popular job boards and Zapier. You can also build your own custom apps or set up additional software integrations using their open APIs.
Best CRM software for its extended functionality through AppExchange
Salesforce is a cloud-based CRM platform that streamlines a company’s recruitment process, candidate tracking, and hiring process and improves the quality of candidates. It does this by automating HR tasks to reduce human error and speed up the processes involved. This solution is used by a wide range of companies ranging from startups to Fortune 500 companies.
The CRM platform functions as an all-in-one software to meet the many needs a business can have, including prospect management, onboarding, and HR management. The cloud-based platform combines all client and candidate data in a single accessible dashboard powered by AI, automation, and personalization to customize the journey of suitable candidates. Salesforce empowers recruiters with a 360-degree view of both clients and candidates to offer value-added services to help move beyond the traditional sourcing approaches that many companies still use.
Should Salesforce prove to lack certain features that a particular company needs for its hiring process, it is possible to look for a specialized solution through Salesforce AppExchange. Several applicant tracking systems are available in the AppExchange that can be used to extend Salesforce’s native Customer 360 feature. Having the choice to simply stick with Salesforce’s functionalities or augment it using solutions built on Salesforce allows companies to have a flexible tool to continue using the platform instead of subscribing to a different software altogether.
Best recruiting CRM software for sourcing high-volumes of candidates for hourly positions
TalentReef's cloud-based talent management software is designed to streamline all elements of the hiring process. It includes a comprehensive set of tools for attracting, hiring, and onboarding new candidates, with a particular focus on helping teams manage high-volume hiring for hourly roles.
Their integrated recruiting CRM (candidate relationship management) database can easily accommodate a large amount of candidate data that comes hand-in-hand with high-volume hiring. Their CRM software is designed to track active and passive candidates, with the ability to filter through candidates at a broad or granular level to find the best talent for bulk positions. You can also track additional details for each candidate, such as their career preferences, level of interest, communication preferences, and other relevant details.
Using TalentReef, you can communicate directly with candidates using configurable templates for email and SMS (text) communications, including two-way texting right from within their platform. They also have a conversational AI chatbot to help you automate back-and-forth communications that don't require human oversight, while providing prompt replies to your candidate questions to keep them actively engaged.
Integrations are available with payroll systems, candidate assessment tools, background check providers, and learning management systems, though individual platforms are not specified.
Trakstar is a recruiting CRM software that gives organizations access to a large talent pool and facilitates communication with potential candidates throughout the hiring process. It helps HR teams quickly identify and analyze top talent, streamline their recruiting operations, and make more informed hiring decisions.
The software has an intuitive interface where recruiters and hiring managers can collaborate on resumes and track progress throughout recruitment, from initial outreach all the way through to new employee onboarding and talent management.
Users can search through hundreds of profiles to identify the best candidates for any given role, with filtering options like location, experience level, and education level, and candidate searches can be saved for quick future access. Built-in communication tools such as email templates and automated notifications help recruiters stay connected with their candidates and provide timely updates on job openings and other opportunities within the organization.
The software also offers powerful analytics capabilities with detailed reports on candidate performance metrics like time spent in interviews or tests taken by applicants. This helps recruiters better understand who will be successful in various roles based on data rather than opinion alone, ensuring that only qualified individuals are hired or promoted within their organization.
Trakstar integrates with popular job boards such as Indeed, allowing users to post job openings quickly and easily from one platform. It also has integrations for common workplace communication tools like Slack, Google Workspace, Zoom, and Office365, and has a PandaDoc integration for easy contract management.
Best recruiting CRM software for detailed candidate profiles & recruitment analytics
PCRecruiter is a CRM software that helps recruitment professionals source, track, and manage candidates throughout the hiring process. It helps users develop relationships with potential candidates, identify the best talent for open positions, and streamline communication and collaboration between team members. The software also automatically posts job openings on popular job boards like LinkedIn.
PCRecruiter lets users conduct comprehensive candidate searches based on resumes, keywords, and notes. Users can create profiles for potential candidates and track all their information in one place. This includes contact information, resumes, and responses. Users can define and automate workflows for various recruiting processes, and its drag-and-drop interface makes it easy to edit and manage candidate placements.
Their sequencing feature helps users track activity and monitor progress through metrics and charts, giving users insight into their client and candidate engagement activities. Users can view recruitment analytics in various visual presentations, including bubble charts, line graphs, and bar charts. They can generate, export, and share detailed reports in various formats with other team members.
Their email integrations allow users to synchronize contacts from other systems easily. PCRecruiter enforces standard security measures, ensuring that confidential data is always protected. Users can toggle on permissions and controls, letting them have complete control over who can access what type of documents.
Integrations are available through PCRecruiter's public API, or by connecting a paid Zapier account. They also have native integrations with Gmail, Microsoft Office, and Office 365, and a mobile app that users can access from anywhere.
Act! is an on-premise and cloud-based CRM and marketing automation platform developed by Swiftpage for small and midsize businesses. The software enables you to manage a robust central repository of information related to your clients, leads, opportunities, and prospective staff members.
Act! is available with cloud hosting or on-premise, and it’s capable of storing client and prospect interactions, activities, contact information, and account histories. It also provides marketing and sales automation to facilitate continuous business growth with better engagement, retention, and sales.
Apart from centralized contact information, Act! CRM also automates repetitive and time-consuming tasks, including various sales processes and the scheduling of certain marketing and recruiting tasks. This is meant to enhance productivity and operational efficiency.
The task and activity management module, in particular, can be useful in the recruiting process as it allows users to keep track of priority calls, applicant meetings, as well as daily activities and task lists to effectively manage the recruiting team’s time and effort.
Freshsales is a CRM software designed to assist businesses in identifying and engaging with high-potential leads through AI-driven lead scoring. Its capabilities in providing predictive deal insights and automating workflows cater to the needs of HR, marketing, and support teams, positioning it as a suitable option for companies aiming to efficiently prioritize customer interactions and accelerate recruitment processes.
I selected Freshsales for the 'recruiting CRM' because of its robust AI capabilities that enhance lead scoring and recruiment insights. It differentiates itself with features like AI-powered contact scoring and predictive deal insights, which are crucial for identifying and prioritizing potential candidates efficiently. I believe Freshsales is best suited for AI-driven lead scoring as it leverages artificial intelligence to not only score leads effectively but also to offer smart recommendations.
Freshsales CRM incorporates AI-powered Contact Scoring, which leverages Freddy AI to evaluate customer engagement and prioritize leads effectively. The platform also offers Predictive Deal Insights, utilizing AI to forecast and recommend actions that could increase deal closure rates. The Unified CRM Suite within Freshsales integrates sales, marketing, and support to provide a comprehensive view of the customer journey, aiming to improve collaboration and customer relationship management.
Freshsales integrates with Freshdesk for customer support, Freshchat for messaging, Freshservice for IT service management, and Freshmarketer for marketing automation. It also connects with Google Calendar, MailChimp, Segment, Zapier, Office 365, Google Apps, Slack, Facebook, LinkedIn, Jotform, Typeform, Calendly, Email Parser by Zapier, and ClickFunnels Classic to facilitate various business processes.
Best CRM system with recruitment marketing tools & special features for recruiting events
SmartRecruiters is a modern and flexible recruiting platform with end-to-end recruiting features, suitable for teams of any size, including enterprise-level organizations. Their recruiting CRM software, called SmartCRM, gives recruiting teams the tools they need to strengthen their employer brand, build a candidate pool of active and passive candidates, and nurture their interest through branded rule-based drip campaigns. Their recruiting software also includes a feature to discover qualified candidates inside of your organization too.
Their recruitment marketing tools make it easy to market your company presence at networking events and career fairs by building custom landing pages for each event. Another unique feature is their SmartRecruiters Field Recruiting App, which is tailored for recruiting events like job fairs and campus recruiting events. During the event, their app functions as a branded kiosk and can parse resume details directly into candidate profiles in real-time. You can also set up useful automation throughout your recruiting process to help you increase your recruiting outreach at scale. This makes them a great platform for high volume recruiting or organizations experiencing hyper growth.
SmartRecruiters integrates with 600+ software applications. On the off chance that you’re using tools that aren’t already in their app marketplace, their development team will integrate them into your system for no extra cost.
Pricing details for SmartRecruiters are available upon request. They also offer a free demo through their website.
Other Recruitment CRM Software
Here are a few more worthwhile options that didn’t make the best recruiting CRM software list:
- Cornerstone OnDemand
Best recruitment platform for internal candidate management, upward mobility and succession planning
- Jobvite
Best all-in-one talent acquisition software to boost candidate engagement through video interviewing
- Bullhorn
Best recruiting CRM with a robust LinkedIn integration for improved candidate sourcing
- JobAdder
Best recruitment CRM + ATS with a useful competition-tracking tool
- Eightfold AI
Best recruiting CRM for leveraging an AI-generated candidate selection processes
- Gem
Best recruiting CRM software for targeted email campaigns and outreach analytics
- NetSuite CRM
Best to connect with an ERP system
- Recruit CRM
Best recruiting CRM software for agencies wanting detailed team productivity reports
- ClearCompany
Best recruiting CRM software for posting to multiple job boards in minutes
- Zoho Recruit
Best recruiting CRM system for advanced recruitment automation tools
- Teamtailor
Best for managing candidate data and automating personalized communications
- Tracker
Best combined CRM + ATS tool with advanced automation and candidate engagement
- Fetcher
Best recruitment CRM for automated email campaigns, diversity sourcing tools, and advanced metrics
- Workable
Best recruiting CRM software for detailed interview scorecards
- Crelate
Best recruiting CRM for integrated communication tools & automations suitable for high-volume recruiting
- CEIPAL
Best CRM + ATS platform for SMS (text) recruiting & DEI-focused talent acquisition
- JazzHR
Best recruiting CRM for standardizing your outreach to all qualified candidates
- iSmartRecruit
Best engagement-focused CRM software for managing candidates, clients, freelancers, vendors, and leads
- Yello
Best recruiting CRM software with tools for talent rediscovery and nurturing passive talent
- Rakuna Recruiting CRM
Best recruiting CRM software for nurturing passive candidates and aggregating rich candidate profile data
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Selection Criteria for Recruiting CRM Software
Selecting the right recruiting CRM software for you requires a thorough understanding of your current challenges and how this type of software can alleviate those problems. My approach to choosing the best recruitment CRM systems for this list is grounded in personal experience assisting with recruiting coupled with my hands-on experience with inefficient candidate management, poor communication channels, and the inability to effectively track and engage with potential new hires.
Here’s a summary of the main selection and evaluation criteria I used to develop my list of the best recruiting CRM software for this article:
Core Recruiting CRM Software Functionalities (25% of final score): For a recruitment CRM system to land a place in my list, it needed to offer the following basic functionalities to start:
- Basic tools to manage large volumes of candidate data effectively
- The ability to source active and passive candidates from a variety of channels
- Integrated tools to search, filter, and compare candidates against specific criteria to uncover the best fit for each open role
- Career page integrations that simplify the application process for candidates
- The ability to store templates for key items like job postings, job descriptions, and many different types of emails (introductory, interview scheduling, reference check requests, etc.)
- Collaboration tools for team-based hiring needs
Additional Standout Features (25% of total score): To help me select the best recruiting CRM software out of the numerous options available, I also took note of any unique features, including:
- AI-powered matching abilities that significantly reduce the time-to-fill positions
- Unique engagement tools, such as video interviewing capabilities or automated personalized email campaigns
- Any features that help to eliminate hiring biases, such as blind screening or other DEI-focused tools
- Advanced analytics features that offer predictive insights into hiring needs
- Customization options that allow businesses to tailor the platform to their specific needs, including both corporate branding and workflow customizations
- Mobile-friendly solutions or dedicated mobile apps for Android and iOS devices
Usability (10% of total score): To evaluate the usability of each recruiting CRM software, I considered the following:
- An intuitive design and user-friendly interface that's quick to master
- A good balance between powerful features and ease of use
- User-friendly elements like visual candidate pipelines and drag-and-drop tools
- Role-based access controls that are easy to configure for different user levels
- Features specifically designed for staffing agencies who need to manage recruiting needs for multiple clients simultaneously
- The availability of software integrations with key systems like applicant tracking systems, talent management systems, digital calendars, background-checking platforms, or e-signature software
Onboarding (10% of total score): To get a sense of each software provider's customer onboarding process, I considered the following factors:
- Quick setup processes and clear guidance for first-time users, including customizable templates
- The availability of training materials such as videos, webinars, or interactive product tours
- Support for migrating data from other systems into the new platform
Customer Support (10% of total score): To evaluate the level of customer support each vendor offered, I considered the following:
- The availability of multiple support channels, including email, phone, and chat
- Whether a dedicated account manager is available for enterprise or agency-level clients
- The existence of a self-service knowledge base, FAQ repository, or other self-help resources to speed up troubleshooting
- The overall quality, responsiveness, and helpfulness of the support team during customer onboarding and post-purchase, as inferred from customer reviews
Value for Price (10% of final score): To gauge the value of each software, I considered the following factors:
- The availability of free trials or demos to test the software before purchasing
- Transparent pricing models that clearly explain which features are included at each level
- Tiered pricing plans that cater to different business sizes, from small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) up to enterprise-level organizations
Customer Reviews (10% of final score): Evaluating customer reviews is the final element of my selection process, which helps me understand how well a product performs in the hands of real users. Here are the factors I considered:
- Whether a product has consistently high ratings across multiple review platforms, indicating a broad level of user satisfaction
- Specific praises, criticisms, or trends in customer feedback that indicate the software's strengths or areas for improvement
- Whether customer feedback specifically mentions issues with ease of use, customer support responsiveness, or lacking features
- Any testimonials that highlight improved recruiting processes or time-to-hire
By using this assessment framework, I was able to identify the recruiting CRM software that goes beyond basic requirements to offer additional value through unique features, intuitive usability, smooth onboarding, effective support, and overall value for price.
Trends in Recruiting CRM Software for 2024
Recruiting CRM software continues to evolve to keep pace with the always-competitive race for top talent. Here are the most recent developing trends impacting recruiting CRM software as of 2024:
- Enhanced AI and Machine Learning Capabilities: Evidence shows a significant push towards more sophisticated AI algorithms designed to improve candidate sourcing and engagement. These tools are now capable of analyzing vast amounts of data to identify the best candidates more accurately and predict their job fit and potential success within an organization.
- Personalized Candidate Engagement: Updates have introduced more advanced personalization features, allowing recruiters to tailor their communication with candidates based on their interests, skills, and previous interactions, helping recruiters build stronger relationships with candidates throughout the recruitment process.
- Diversity and Inclusion Tools: Many software developers are now adding enhanced diversity and inclusion tools to help reduce unconscious bias during the recruitment process. These tools are designed to promote a more diverse and inclusive workforce, reflecting the increasing importance of corporate social responsibility in recruitment strategies.
- Mobile Accessibility and Functionality: The demand for mobile-optimized recruiting CRM software continues to rise, with updates focusing on improving the mobile user experience for both recruiters and candidates.
These trends highlight a clear shift towards more intelligent, efficient, and inclusive recruitment processes. For HR professionals, investing in software that capitalizes on these trends will help you effectively attract, engage, and retain top talent.
What is Recruiting CRM Software?
Recruiting CRM software is a suite of tools to recruit candidates and manage interactions with them through the recruiting and hiring process. They're used by recruiting firms and in-house recruiters to segment candidates based on skills and experience and nurture them for specific roles in the future. You can use them to identify top-ranking candidates and leverage automation and artificial intelligence (AI) to keep candidates engaged.
Recruiting CRM software offers tremendous value for team-based recruiting by automating time-consuming candidate communications and recording all interactions in one place, so any recruiter can pick up the conversation where it left off easily. They also help teams build a positive employer brand where candidate queries are answered promptly with personalized messages that stay on point.
Features of Recruiting CRM Software
In addition to the basic functionalities above, I also assessed the following key features to determine my final selections for the best recruitment CRM software:
- Automated Candidate Sourcing: This feature allows recruiters to automatically gather candidates from various sources, saving time and increasing the pool of potential hires with specific skills, experience, or qualifications.
- Candidate Engagement Tools: The crux of CRM systems are tools that facilitate communication with candidates to keep them engaged throughout the recruitment process. These tools make timely and personalized communication easy, which helps maintain candidate interest and enthusiasm.
- AI-Powered Matching Algorithms: These algorithms match candidates with job openings based on skills, experience, and other relevant criteria. They help recruiting teams quickly identify the most suitable candidates, thereby accelerating the recruitment cycle.
- Talent Pools: This refers to the ability to create a pool of qualified candidates to draw from for future positions. This includes passive candidates who might not be actively looking for work, but who possess all the required skills for a particular job according to their candidate profile.
- Talent Pipelines: A talent pipeline is a visualization tool that indicates where each candidate is within the recruiting process. It should cover all the typical recruitment phases: screening, interviews, skill assessment, background check, references, offer, etc.
- Integration with Job Boards and Social Media: Seamless integration allows for easy posting to multiple job boards and social media platforms, expanding the reach to potential candidates and simplifying the recruitment marketing process.
- Workflow Automations: Automations are the most valuable time-saving feature of recruiting CRMs. The best systems automate tedious tasks like interview scheduling, sending out reminders, prompting candidates for references, etc. Many systems also support automated nurture or drip campaigns to casually keep your connections in the loop for future opportunities.
- Reports, Metrics, and Analytics: Recruiting CRM systems fill up with data very fast. The best systems include built-in reports that show high-level productivity overviews and the success rates for individual recruiters in a staffing firm or recruiting agency. Analyzing this data can help to identify bottlenecks, improve strategies, and help recruiting teams make better data-driven decisions.
- Collaborative Hiring Tools: Since recruiting CRMs are generally used the most by staffing firms or agencies, it’s important that they include solid tools for collaborative hiring. This includes the ability to leave notes for other team members in candidate profiles and tag them with @mentions. Also, they should be able to aggregate and track all communications within one central candidate profile. That way, all your team members are on the same page at all times.
- Mobile Accessibility: With mobile access, recruiters can perform tasks and stay updated with the recruitment process anytime, anywhere, ensuring that no opportunities to engage with candidates are missed. Mobile-friendly features such as click-to-apply, text messages, and dedicated device-friendly interview packages also provide a better candidate experience for applicants too.
Selecting a recruiting CRM software equipped with these features can transform your recruitment process, making it more efficient, effective, and candidate-friendly, leading to a more engaged and qualified talent pool.
Benefits of Recruiting CRM Software
Recruiting CRM software offers numerous benefits for both in-house recruiters or those working in a recruiting or staffing agency. By understanding the potential benefits these software systems offer, you'll be able to make a more informed decision on which option aligns with your organizational needs the most.
Here are several benefits you can expect to gain by investing in the best recruiting CRM software for you:
- Streamlined Candidate Sourcing: This software significantly expands the reach of candidate sourcing efforts by automating the process of gathering candidate profiles from various sources, ensuring a diverse and qualified talent pool, which is crucial for filling positions quickly and effectively.
- Improved Candidate Engagement & Relationship Management: By leveraging a centralized database of candidate information and interactions, the software helps build stronger relationships with potential hires by facilitating personalized and timely interactions that keep candidates engaged and informed throughout the hiring process. This ongoing engagement can lead to a more responsive candidate pool when new opportunities arise and enhance your employer brand in the talent marketplace.
- Improved Efficiency & Productivity: By automating administrative tasks, such as scheduling interviews and sending follow-ups, recruitment CRM software makes the recruitment process more efficient. This, in turn, allows recruiters to allocate more time to strategic tasks, like engaging directly with candidates.
- Greater Collaboration Among Hiring Teams: These platforms foster collaboration by allowing team members to share candidate feedback and status updates easily. This collective input ensures more informed hiring decisions and alignment among team members.
- Advanced Data-Driven Insights: With advanced analytics capabilities, recruiting CRM software provides actionable insights into the recruitment process. These insights help identify bottlenecks, optimize strategies, and improve decision-making, leading to better hiring outcomes.
As you can see, recruiting CRM software offers a strategic advantage in the competitive world of talent acquisition. These benefits collectively contribute to a more efficient, effective, and candidate-friendly recruitment process, positioning organizations to attract and retain top talent in their respective industries.
Costs and Pricing for Recruiting CRM Software
Recruiting CRM software offers different pricing options depending on the features and level of customer support you require. To help you understand the most common pricing structures and price ranges, I've put together this summary table.
Plan Comparison Table for Recruiting CRM Software
| Plan Type | Average Price | Common Features |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | Basic candidate tracking, limited job postings, email integration, and basic reporting |
| Basic | $15 - $100/user/month | Enhanced candidate tracking, unlimited job postings, email and calendar integration, basic analytics, and customer support |
| Professional | $100 - $250/user/month | Advanced candidate sourcing tools, CRM and ATS integration, advanced analytics, personalized email campaigns, and premium customer support |
| Enterprise | Custom Pricing | Customizable workflows, advanced integration capabilities, dedicated account manager, comprehensive analytics and reporting, and enhanced data security |
In addition to these approximate price ranges, it's worth noting that some recruiting CRM systems are priced according to the volume of job postings or system users. That's why it's always important to request a quote that's tailored specifically to your unique business needs.
Recruiting CRM Software: FAQs
Do you have questions about what recruiting CRM software has to offer? These answers to frequently asked questions are a great place to start:
What is a recruiting CRM?
Recruiting software is a type of HR software solution that helps internal talent acquisition teams or professional recruiters and staffing agencies organize their data. Recruiting CRM software takes things one step further. They’re more sophisticated than traditional recruiting software due to their advanced tools to manage candidate relationships. For example, many recruiting CRM solutions have the ability to automate nurture campaigns. This can help you keep top candidates engaged, without requiring you to write a fresh email and send it yourself.
Recruiting CRM software can also help you with candidate sourcing. They leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to simplify the process, make smart recommendations, and save you time. This includes uncovering potential candidates from databases like LinkedIn, even if they aren’t actively looking for work.
For more advice on the best way to manage your candidate relationships, take a look at our candidate sourcing tips from industry experts.
What does CRM stand for in recruiting software?
There are different types of CRM’s out there. But when it comes to recruiting software, CRM stands for candidate relationship management. These platforms help recruiters organize their candidate data and automate aspects of their candidate outreach and messaging.
Another popular type of CRM software is for customer relationship management. This type of CRM software helps sales-oriented teams organize all their customer data. This includes customer preferences, order frequency, known budgeting information, and contact information.
If you’re a professional recruiter or working for a staffing agency, you can actually use your recruiting CRM for both purposes. You can organize your client data (i.e., the customers you’re recruiting for) and the candidates you’re tracking, all in one place. If that sounds like exactly what you need, take a look at my list of the best recruiting agency software to find the best software for your business needs.
What is resume parsing?
Resume parsing is a useful feature that is often included in recruiting software. It works by using automation to electronically scan and extract candidate information from resumes, which it then saves into specific fields within your recruiting software or applicant tracking system. This saves recruiters lots of time otherwise spent copying and pasting this data from resumes into their software to allow for easier candidate comparisons.
The most common details that resume parsers focus on are:
- contact information
- educational credentials
- professional certifications
- work experience
- job skills
If your existing recruiting CRM doesn’t include resume parsing capabilities, consider investing in a standalone resume screening software system instead. You’ll be able to integrate it with your existing tools to work more effectively.
What is recruitment marketing and how do you do it?
Recruitment marketing is the process of using traditional marketing strategies to attract and hire talent. It involves illustrating what your company does, who you are as an employer, and what working for your organization will look like.
Here are some common marketing tactics you can use for recruitment marketing:
- Engaging job adverts (see How to Write a Zinger Job Description for some expert tips on that)
- Targeted outreach through channels like LinkedIn
- Company profiles on popular hiring platforms (e.g., Hired, LinkedIn, SheCanCode, Cord, Haystack, AngelList, etc.)
- Outreach via social media channels
- A dedicated careers page that funnels applications straight into your applicant tracking system
- Enlist company ambassadors (similar to brand ambassadors)
- Profiles and interactions on company review sites (e.g., Glassdoor, Kununu, and Indeed)
- Attend recruitment events or hiring fairs to access different candidate groups
- Conduct community outreach through online forums like Subreddits, Discord, or Slack
- Host a public-facing company blog to showcase your company culture to potential candidates
For more details on all of these strategies and how to execute them, take a look at our list of 10 effective recruitment marketing tactics.
Why is mobile accessibility important for recruiting CRM software?
Mobile accessibility is important for both recruiters and candidates since 89% of job seekers use their mobile devices to search for open positions. It’s even more important if you’re sourcing candidates for an industry with mobile, field-based, or deskless workers. In that case, you’ll want a recruiting CRM system that works on both Android and iOS devices to provide a better candidate experience. You may also appreciate having the ability to communicate directly with candidates via text messages (SMS), and the option to send mobile-friendly interview packets to candidates on the go.
How does the software facilitate candidate engagement?
Recruiting CRM software enhances candidate engagement by providing personalized communication tools such as automated emails and messaging. It allows for targeted messaging based on candidate profiles and interactions, ensuring relevant and timely engagement. Advanced CRMs also track candidate interactions, helping recruiters tailor future communications and maintain a warm candidate pool.
What kind of automation features do recruitment CRM systems offer?
Recruiting CRM software offers automation tools to streamline repetitive tasks such as email campaigns, candidate screening, and interview scheduling. This allows recruiters to focus on more strategic aspects of their role, like candidate relationship building. Automation also ensures a consistent candidate experience and helps in maintaining a proactive talent pipeline.
To learn more about common automations, take a look at our list of the best recruitment automation software.
Can recruiting CRM systems integrate with social media for recruiting?
Most recruiting CRM software can integrate with social media platforms to streamline the sourcing process, allowing recruiters to post jobs, search for candidates, and communicate directly through social media such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and other popular sites. This integration expands the reach of recruiting efforts and taps into passive candidate pools effectively.
For a solid example of a social media recruiting platform, take a look at our in-depth review of Teamtailor.
How do recruitment CRM systems handle candidate data and privacy?
Recruiting CRM software is designed with data privacy and compliance at its core, adhering to regulations like GDPR in the EU. These systems provide features for secure data handling, consent management, and data access control, ensuring that candidate information is collected, stored, and processed ethically and legally.
Other Recruiting Software Reviews
There are many different types of recruiting software out there. The great news for you is, I've already done all the sleuthing for you. Here's a collection of some other top 10 suggestions for different recruiting software sub-types. I'm sure you'll find something that piques your interest further:
- Best Recruiting Software
- Recruitment Software for Small Businesses
- Enterprise Recruitment Software for High Volume Hiring
- AI Recruiting Software for High-Volume Sourcing
- Diversity Recruiting Software for DEI Hiring
- Recruitment Marketing Software for Hiring
- Cloud Recruitment Software for Hiring Teams
- Recruiting Database Software for Hiring Teams
- Staffing Software for Recruiting & Staffing
Other Resources for Recruiting Top Talent
Not sure if recruiting CRM software is the right fit for you? Perhaps what you actually need is better candidate sourcing software, or a tried and true applicant tracking system?
To round out your whole talent acquisition approach, I recommend taking a look at these other popular resources too:
- Why and How to Create a Proper Talent Management Strategy
- How to Attract and Retain Top Talent Through the Employee Life Cycle
- 10 Key Recruiting Metrics to Focus On (And 12 Advanced)
- Recruitment Budgeting: Everything You Need to Know + Example
What's Next?
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