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10 Best Resume Screening Software Shortlist

Here's my pick of the best software which I review in detail below.
  1. 1. Manatal — Best for AI-driven recruitment automation
  2. 2. Unnanu Hire — Best for mitigating bias in candidate scoring
  3. 3. Freshteam — Best for pre-screening tests and deep resume parsing capabilities
  4. 4. SmartRecruiters — Best enterprise-grade resume screening software
  5. 5. Lever — Best resume screening software for high-volume sourcing and hiring
  6. 6. CVViZ — Best AI resume screening software for contextual candidate tracking and selection
  7. 7. Daxtra Technologies — Best resume screening software with semantic search technology for sourcing candidates across multiple databases
  8. 8. Ideal — Best for eliminating hiring discrimination and promoting equality
  9. 9. Sovren — Best for AI search-and-match capabilities and data enrichment APIs
  10. 10. HireBeat — Best for parsing resumes to create a 360-degree candidate profile

Have you ever had to sift through hundreds, perhaps thousands, of resumes to find the right candidate for a job role? It’s super tedious. This is where resume screening software is a game-changer for your business. It is especially beneficial for large enterprises, but small organizations, or even businesses with no HR teams, can reap their benefits as well. 

To help you choose the right resume screening software, I’ve evaluated multiple tools and carefully created this guide of my top 10 recommendations. Below I’ve explained the reason why each software system was chosen, and highlighted its notable functions, integrations, and pros and cons. I have also briefly explained the criteria I used to select these tools and added a few relevant FAQs. 

What is Resume Screening Software?

Resume screening software helps filter through candidate resumes and identify relevant skills to source the best applicants for a job. 

The ideal resume screening software in today’s digital landscape features advanced artificial intelligence (AI) technologies that analyze insights from past hiring processes to improve your recruitment workflows. They also come with parsers and data enrichers that utilize the power of keyword searches to source, sort, and rank candidate CVs. 

With the right resume screening software, you can detect inaccuracies in job profiles, eliminate hiring bias, promote diverse recruitment practices, and build an efficient and productive workforce. 

Overviews of the 10 Best Resume Screening Software

Here’s a comprehensive overview of the 10 best resume screening software with highlights featuring their standout attributes, pricing, and pros and cons.

1

Manatal

Best for AI-driven recruitment automation

Manatal is a cloud-based recruitment software designed to assist HR departments and recruitment agencies in managing their hiring processes. The tool incorporates artificial intelligence to facilitate candidate sourcing, resume screening, and the tracking of applicants through various stages of the recruitment pipeline. 

Why I picked Manatal: I selected Manatal for this list because of its innovative use of AI to automate various recruitment activities. Manatal's resume screening software functions by utilizing artificial intelligence to parse and analyze resumes and cover letters. The software scans these documents for customized and predetermined phrases and words that match the original job description. This process allows recruiters to sort through large volumes of applications quickly, identifying the most relevant candidates based on the criteria set for the position. 

This tool's system also organizes the extracted information, such as skills, experience, and education, making it easier for recruiters to evaluate and compare candidates. Manatal's approach to resume screening aims to save time and improve the accuracy of candidate selection during the recruitment process.

Manatal Standout Features and Integrations:

Standout features include an Applicant Tracking System (ATS), that allows users to manage candidates and jobs, track the progress of applicants through the hiring pipeline, and automate communication with candidates. It includes features such as candidate scoring, job and offer management, and a recruitment pipeline that can be customized to fit the company's process.

Manatal additionally enables teams to source candidates from various channels, including job boards and social media platforms. It also allows for the creation of a branded career page that integrates with the company's website to attract candidates directly.

Integrations include LinkedIn, Indeed, Talent.com, Glassdoor, AviationCV, MyJobHelper, Microsoft 365, Ziprecruiter, Microsoft Teams, Google Calendar, and Monster.

This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
4.9 169

14-day free trial

From $15/user/month

Pros

  • Provides robust tools for data migration
  • Offers helpful customer support services for users
  • Continuously adds new features

Cons

  • Dashboard could have more customization options
  • Limited ability to manage multiple recruitment campaigns simultaneously
2

Unnanu Hire

Best for mitigating bias in candidate scoring

Unnanu Hire is a recruiting software that leverages patented technology to deliver intelligent candidate scoring and mitigate bias in the resume screening process. This capability positions it as an optimal solution for companies seeking to conduct fair and impartial evaluations of job applicants, ensuring that the hiring process is equitable and based on merit.

Why I chose Unnanu Hire: I selected Unnanu Hire because of its unique approach to contextual analysis in understanding resumes. This tool maps candidates' resumes directly to the job description, emphasizing the candidate's soft, analytical, and technical skills as they relate to the job requirements. What differentiates this software is its patented technology aimed at reducing resume bias, which allows for a quicker identification of qualified candidates.

Unnanu Hire Standout Features and Integrations:

Standout features of the platform include its candidate management system, which aids in organizing and tracking the progress of applicants throughout the hiring process. It makes it easy to see where each applicant is in the hiring process, helping you stay on top of communications. Speaking of which, you can also set up automated emails to keep candidates updated on their standing. All of these tools help you keep everything organized and ensure no one falls through the cracks.

Integrations are not currently listed by the provider.

This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
4.5 2

Free plan available

From $99/2 users/month

Pros

  • Free plan with unlimited job postings
  • Includes a pre-populated talent database
  • Supports mass emails and other bulk actions

Cons

  • Limited customer support with lower-tier plans
  • AI evaluations come at extra cost
3

Freshteam

Best for pre-screening tests and deep resume parsing capabilities

Freshteam by Freshworks is a full-size HR software that offers a robust applicant screening system. It comes with a sophisticated UI, smart integrations, and seamless support. 

Why I picked Freshteam: Freshteam offers deep resume parsing capabilities. You can sift through hundreds of candidate profiles to find the perfect applicant based on skills, education, or experience using conditional screening on autopilot. This provides a 360-degree view of your applicant portfolio for easy access. The platform thus acts as a single source of truth for resume collection, enabling you to add notes and comments, and rate applicants.

Freshteam also offers pre-screening tests in conjunction with trusted partners such as HackerRank, HackerEarth, and Codility for technical roles. You can select from a number of aptitude, cognitive, personality, and physical tests, as well as background checks, based on the relevant job functions. You can also create bespoke custom application forms with the tool’s drag-and-drop editor to collect additional information such as preferred job location, relocation ability, and certifications for certain employment categories.

Freshteam Standout Features and Integrations:

Standout features include recruitment automation and pre-boarding activities. Once you have selected candidates, Freshteam streamlines the recruitment process by automating repetitive procedures such as emailing and follow-ups. The software also handles pre-onboarding procedures, such as form filling and document signing via e-signatures, to provide an efficient and paperless experience. Moreover, Freshteam features built-in tools for application assessments, employee learning and development, and integrated job boards via connectors.

Freshteam helps future-proof your hiring needs by enabling you to build a talent pool with stellar candidates. Additionally, you can tag candidate profiles with specific keywords to find them faster when a specific job role opens up.

Integrations include Adzuna, CV Library, Dr. Job, Indeed, Instahyre, Jooble, JobTarget, LinkedIn, Monster, and ZipRecruiter.

This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
4.6 181

21-day free trial

From $1.20/user/month + $71/month base fee

Pros

  • Provides an birds-eye-view into applicants by screening stage
  • Easy integration with other Freshworks apps
  • Enables detailed daily, weekly, and monthly customized report creation

Cons

  • Mobile application could be improved
  • Cannot generate custom salary breakups
4

SmartRecruiters

Best enterprise-grade resume screening software

SmartRecruiters is an AI-enabled, enterprise-grade recruitment software with robust resume-screening functionalities. SmartRecruiters features a classic ATS augmented by CRM capabilities.

Why I picked SmartRecruiters: I picked SmartRecruiters because of its prowess with sourcing and screening candidates. The software can source applicants from your internal applicant database, referral lists, and external job sites. SmartRecruiters also offers transparent candidate progress tracking and automated messages for optimized communication. It also provides in-depth reviews of selected candidates with highlighted insights and intelligence-assisted match scores.

Besides this, the SmartCRM function builds a qualified talent pool for your business, nurtures prospective candidates with branded content, and creates custom landing pages for career events.   

SmartRecruiters Standout Features and Integrations:

Standout features include job advertising and distribution features. The SmartJob feature maximizes your return on job advertising by centralizing job board contracts and automating spend adjustments based on real-time changes and performance.

The tool also syncs ATS data with sourcing analytics to give you an end-to-end overview of how ad spend impacts hiring results. The SmartDistribute feature helps understand which channels yield the best ROI in attracting the right talent. With this feature, you can post to 300+ job boards with a single click, track post-to-hire metrics, and direct your budget to the best hiring platforms accordingly.

Integrations include 600+ third-party applications, such as Basil, ConveyIQ, HackerRank, MeVitae, Paradox, Reevolt, Scotty AI, SourceWhale, Tableau, Whatfix, and others.

This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
4.3 437

Free demo available

Pricing upon request

Pros

  • Recruiters can directly send self-schedule invitations integrated with Outlook
  • Autosaves interview summaries
  • Enables setting up multiple approval chains for jobs and offers

Cons

  • Does not allow recruiters to build their own dashboards
  • Job template management can be improved
5

Lever

Best resume screening software for high-volume sourcing and hiring

Lever is a comprehensive talent acquisition suite that offers a three-pronged approach — resume screening, candidate management, and talent analytics — to manage high-volume hiring needs for large enterprises.

Why I picked Lever: I chose Lever because of its end-to-end recruitment capabilities to help you hire quickly and efficiently at scale. Using Lever, you can source applicants from various sources, including employment sites, job postings, automated multi-touch email campaigns, and even within your organization. The software integrates with Zoom, enabling hiring managers to screen candidates using structured or live video interviews. 

Lever’s dashboard includes a resume database with well-organized lead and candidate data. The database functions similarly to a CRM and helps analyze resumes and create reports. Lever elegantly combines ATS and CRM functionalities in one platform to collaborate and hire the right candidates. 

Lever Standout Features and Integrations:

Standout features include Lever’s automation Hub and talent analytics. The automation hub simplifies manual tasks such as archiving, labeling, emailing, and promoting applicants. The talent analytics feature bolsters your hiring objectives with a comprehensive picture of your pipeline and recruiting progress.

Lever also helps with monitoring diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts.

Integrations include 350+ third-party applications, like ADP Workforce Now, Ceridian Dayforce, Datapeople, Filtered, Good Egg, Interview, Oracle HCM, Slack, Tangelo, and Workato. 

This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
4.2 1320

Free demo available

Pricing upon request

Pros

  • Easy internal communication with team members
  • Interviewers can create candidate scorecards during screening
  • Candidates can be directly scraped from LinkedIn Recruiter

Cons

  • Standard career page design is a bit bland
  • Resume parsing capabilities can be improved
6

CVViZ

Best AI resume screening software for contextual candidate tracking and selection

CVViZ is an AI-enabled smart resume screening software. The tool goes beyond keyword matching and contextually evaluates resumes. This helps surface top talent who wouldl be a good fit for your organization. The software also provides insights into your hiring process for future optimization.

Why I picked CVViZ: CVViZ provides an AI-powered platform that streamlines your recruitment workflows from job posting to hiring and onboarding. The tool goes beyond the typical strategy of keyword or binary search and contextually understands resumes. CVViZ continuously learns from your recruitment and selection processes to select the best applicants from hundreds of candidate profiles.

This software also assesses candidates in real time by using relative ranking. CVViZ rates CVs based on several criteria. Key parameters include your job requirements, applicant type, and the candidates’ experience. 

CVViZ Standout Features and Integrations:

Standout features include the ability to filter out duplicate resumes, access to 2,000 free and paid sites for candidate sourcing, and a vast recruitment database. CVViZ uses AI algorithms to effectively mine your existing repository of professionals to match ideal passive candidates to a suitable job role. The software also offers an Elastic Search feature that uses machine learning (ML) and natural language processing (NLP) algorithms to find results quickly.

Integrations include Dice.com, Facebook, Github, Google for Job Search, G Suite Access, LinkedIn, Outlook Emails, Stack Overflow, and Twitter. 

This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
4.4 36

14-day free trial

From $69/month (billed annually)

Pros

  • Integrates with many job boards
  • Intuitive and user-friendly UX
  • Easy to integrate with any company website

Cons

  • Interview scheduling and talent scoring features can be improved
  • Limited customizable email template options
7

Daxtra Technologies

Best resume screening software with semantic search technology for sourcing candidates across multiple databases

Daxtra is a market-leading resume parsing software consistently benchmarked for having the highest CV parsing accuracy across multiple languages. The tool helps extract data-rich insights from resumes to help hire the right candidates instantly. 

Why I picked Daxtra: Daxtra converts unorganized information from resume and job application documents into structured XML/JSON data in many languages with great precision. Besides job boards and sites, Daxtra’s software also allows social media content parsing and extracts data points like Twitter, Skype, LinkedIn, and Xing contact information, among others.

This software also features multilingual CV parsing capabilities for comprehensive geographical and language support. 

Daxtra Standout Features and Integrations:

Standout features include its skill taxonomy extraction and customizability. Daxtra possesses flexible and bespoke skill taxonomy schemas encompassing industrial skills, job titles, educational and professional degrees, and languages. You can also devise custom taxonomies for general business and many other sectors. 

The tool helps with resume, candidate, and vacancy information extraction and can strategically enhance data searching, analytics, and reporting to help you improve your recruitment workflows for making efficient hiring decisions.

Integrations include 70+ third-party applications, such as Access Recruitment CRM, Bullhorn, CandidateID, CV Library, Erecruit, Flatchr, iContract, Jobable, Sense, Symplr CTM, and others. 

This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
4.6 11

Free demo available

Pricing upon request

Pros

  • Multi-source search feature aggregates talent data across job boards
  • Offers mass emailing feature for recruiters
  • Intuitive and user-friendly interface

Cons

  • Information extracted from CVs and job posts can be slightly inaccurate
  • A little complex to configure and set up
8

Ideal

Best for eliminating hiring discrimination and promoting equality

Ideal is an AI-driven automated resume screening software that helps swiftly shortlist numerous applicants based on their CVs, interviews, assessments, and other factors. This software eliminates hiring bias in screening and matching, allowing you to reach out to a wide pool of individuals who are the best fit for your needs.

Why I picked Ideal: Ideal provides robust DEI intelligence to help recruiters uncover bias (if any) and make action-oriented policies for diverse and inclusive hiring. The software leverages AI to objectively measure people demographics across your organization and unravel valuable insights into workforce diversity.

Furthermore, Ideal quantifies your equity initiatives by analyzing the intersection of demographics and human groups. This helps you understand and expose unconscious hiring bias towards a particular group (if present) at any stage of the employee lifecycle — from hiring to retention.

Ideal also combines staff survey data with diversity and equity intelligence in order to find out how inclusive your employees view your workforce. You can use this data to track and improve inclusion sentiments over time, leading to the long-term success of your organization.

Ideal Standout Features and Integrations:

Standout features include grading resumes with an A, B, C, or D in real time, within your HR or ATS system. It ensures a 100% screening rate, which means that, unlike manual screening, recruiters can rest assured that they won’t miss any applications. Candidates for a job are shortlisted in record time, who you can then contact using the chatbot at scale. You can reach any number of passive applicants and drastically increase your response rates with this feature.

Moreover, Ideal’s AI algorithm keeps continuously learning from recruiter feedback, assessments, and candidate performance to improve over time. It also explains every decision it makes to maintain transparency for hiring managers.

Integrations include Greenhouse, IBM Kenexa, iCIMS, Lever, Oracle Taleo, SmartRecruiters, SAP SuccessFactors, TalentNest, and Workday.

This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
3.3 2

Free demo available

Pricing upon request

Pros

  • Easy integration with applicant tracking systems
  • Chatbots can be customized with automatic knock-out questions
  • Candidate grades are displayed on a workbench for easy access

Cons

  • Reporting capabilities could be improved
  • Turnaround times for chatbot customizations are slow
9

Sovren

Best for AI search-and-match capabilities and data enrichment APIs

Sovren is a premium resume parsing and keyword matching software with unmatched speed, accuracy, and stability that helps you hire for diversity without bias. Additionally, Sovren’s reliability beams through its 100% uptime guarantee.

Why I picked Sovren: I chose Sovren because of its quick resume parsing enhanced by AI search and match capabilities. The tool matches keywords in resumes with those in job descriptions at record speed. However, the AI engine does not store any personally identifiable information (PII), which removes any hiring bias within the software or for recruiters as they are only privy to relevant anonymized data. 

Additionally, the Ontology API standardizes information across job formats and powerfully maps out professional taxonomies to help you recognize shared and adaptable talents within job roles.

Sovren Standout Features and Integrations:

Standout features include an LLM parser enhanced with the capabilities of ChatGPT. The tool offers a unique blend of human-like domain awareness and industrial scalability, elevating your resume parsing processes. Besides this, you also get Boolean text search capabilities for more accurate keyword matching.

Integration details are currently unavailable.

This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
4 1

Free trial available

From $99/month

Pros

  • Identifies personal data and anonymizes resumes to remove hiring bias
  • Offers resume parsing in 53+ languages
  • Ensures no processed user data is stored to maintain data security

Cons

  • Integrations with certain ATS or HRMS software is challenging
  • Parsed data might lack in-depth context
10

HireBeat

Best for parsing resumes to create a 360-degree candidate profile

HireBeat is a resume screening and parsing software that simplifies the scanning, extraction, storage, and analysis of resumes. With HireBeat, you can automate HR activities such as job postings, job board advertising, on-the-fly video interview screening, and more.

Why I picked HireBeat: HireBeat is adept at parsing and extracting data from resumes. Consequently, the software builds a 360-degree candidate portfolio, including application-specific information, interview notes, and evaluation assessments. This helps you find the right applicant for present requirements and maintain a database for possible future job roles at your company.

Besides this, HireBeat offers multi-platform broadcasting for talent sourcing, especially for high-volume hiring efforts.

HireBeat Standout Features and Integrations:

Standout features include custom application forms and AI-powered algorithms that enable contextual hiring. HireBeat lets you add custom screening questions to your pre-employment assessments in a few clicks. Moreover, simple keyword matching may generate false positives and negatives. This is why HireBeat leverages AI to evaluate the overall fit of an applicant for your company. 

Integrations include 30+ third-party applications, such as Breezy, Clockwork, JazzHR, Lano, Patch, Recruitee, SAP SuccessFactors, TalentLyft, ZipRecruiter, and others.

This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
5 3

14-day free trial

From $169/month

Pros

  • Clear pipeline for companies to broadcast open positions and collect applications
  • Video screening for connecting recruiters and candidate
  • Multiple filters in talent search to find relevant profiles

Cons

  • Enabling bulk device setup online can be helpful
  • Lacks features for a quick search for candidates

The Best Resume Screening Software Summary

This comparison chart summarizes basic details about each of my top resume screening software selections. You can view pricing details and the availability of free trials or demos side-by-side to help you find the best software for your budget and business needs.

Tool Trial Info Price
1
Manatal

Best for AI-driven recruitment automation

14-day free trial

From $15/user/month Website
2
Unnanu Hire

Best for mitigating bias in candidate scoring

Free plan available

From $99/2 users/month Website
3
Freshteam

Best for pre-screening tests and deep resume parsing capabilities

21-day free trial

From $1.20/user/month + $71/month base fee Website
4
SmartRecruiters

Best enterprise-grade resume screening software

Free demo available

Pricing upon request Website
5
Lever

Best resume screening software for high-volume sourcing and hiring

Free demo available

Pricing upon request Website
6
CVViZ

Best AI resume screening software for contextual candidate tracking and selection

14-day free trial

From $69/month (billed annually) Website
7
Daxtra Technologies

Best resume screening software with semantic search technology for sourcing candidates across multiple databases

Free demo available

Pricing upon request Website
8
Ideal

Best for eliminating hiring discrimination and promoting equality

Free demo available

Pricing upon request Website
9
Sovren

Best for AI search-and-match capabilities and data enrichment APIs

Free trial available

From $99/month Website
10
HireBeat

Best for parsing resumes to create a 360-degree candidate profile

14-day free trial

From $169/month Website

Other Options

Here are a few more resume screener options that are worth considering:

  1. CiiVSOFT

    Best for deep integrations with multiple HR and ATS systems

  2. CVJury

    Best free resume screening software with an AI-powered resume builder

  3. Affinda

    Best for job description parsing with recruitment AI capabilities

  4. Zoho Recruit

    Best cloud-based resume screening software with automated resume parser mapping

  5. Paycor

    Best for sourcing qualified and diverse passive talent

  6. Recruit CRM

    Best AI-powered resume parsing software for agency recruitment

  7. Employa

    Best resume screening software with ATS software add-ons

  8. TextKernel

    Best resume parsing software with multilingual coverage

  9. Trakstar Hire

    Best for bulk resume parsing capabilities

Selection Criteria for Resume Screening Software

You are probably wondering how I prepared my dream team of tools. Here’s a short summary of the main selection and evaluation criteria I used to develop my list of the best resume-screening software:

Core Functionalities

Here are some basic functionalities of my shortlisted resume screening tools:

  • Resume parsing capabilities that use AI, ML, and NLP technologies to extract relevant applicant information and help recruiters identify suitable candidates
  • Candidate sourcing capabilities that search through multiple sources such as hiring platforms like LinkedIn, industry-specific job sites, and even social media to connect recruiters with top talent

Key Features

Here are some more important attributes that each resume screening software on my list possesses:

  • Keyword Matching: For identifying and matching relevant keywords on hard and soft skills from candidate resumes against your job descriptions 
  • Customizability: For optimizing job descriptions and criteria to find candidates with suitable work experience and skills
  • Data Analytics: For tracking and reviewing candidate data to refine hiring strategies

Usability

The tools I’ve highlighted feature a clean and intuitive user interface that are easy to navigate for recruiters. Configuring and setting up these tools are also fairly easy. The recommended options in my list also have a smooth learning curve for quick onboarding.

Data Security

Extracting candidate profiles from job posting sites or social media inadvertently gives you access to job seekers’ sensitive information. This is where ensuring data security becomes of paramount importance.

The tools I’ve included in my list have the necessary compliance certifications for various geographical locations and target markets.

Software Integrations

Resume screening is simply one aspect of the recruitment process. This is why it’s essential that any software you choose for this purpose is not a standalone tool.

The tools I’ve selected for my list offer robust integrations with third-party applications, such as applicant tracking systems, communication tools, human resource information systems, human resource management systems, CDPs, CRMs, and more. 

Pricing

My shortlist has tools offering affordable monthly or annual pricing models. Many of my recommended options also offer free trials. You can test their individual capabilities before zeroing in on a particular tool.

People Also Ask

Here are a few frequently asked questions and answers about resume screening software:

Other Software to Level Up Your Hiring Practices

Resume screening and parsing is only the tip of the iceberg. Hiring the right candidate for a job has many other aspects, and you have many different kinds of software available at your fingertips:

Final Thoughts

Your recruiting technology and strategies are vital to your company’s success. However, there’s one extremely critical aspect that influences your firm’s performance: the people.

This is why there is fierce competition in the corporate landscape today to hire the best talent. 

I hope my resume screening software recommendations resonate with your recruitment goals and elevate your HR processes.

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By Kim Behnke

Kim Behnke is an HR Tool Expert & Writer for People Managing People. She draws on her 9 years of human resources experience and her keen eye for systematic processes to support her analyses of the top HR tools on the market. She is passionate about maximizing efficiencies and streamlining workflows to ensure internal systems run smoothly. Kim's HR experience includes recruitment, onboarding, performance management, training and development, policy development and enforcement, and HR analytics. She also has degrees in psychology, writing, publishing, and technical communication, and recently completed a Certified Digital HR Specialist program through the Academy to Innovate HR. When away from her desk, she can usually be found outside tending to her ever-expanding garden.