This article will help you quickly compare and evaluate the best talent management systems to help you recruit, retain and develop your team members.
The Best Talent Management Systems
Here’s a shortlist of the best talent management software:
- Hellotalent - Best talent management system dashboard
- ADP - Best cloud-based HR suite
- SAP SuccessFactors - Best enterprise talent management system
- Recruitee - Best Android and iOS mobile apps
- Hiretual - Best talent management system for diversity and inclusion Initiatives
- PeopleStreme - Best for performance reviews & 360 feedback
- Bullseye Engagement - Best low cost talent management system
- Oleeo - Best for redeployment and internal mobility
- Pathgather - Best for offering personalized learning for staff
- MightyRecruiter - Best free talent management system
TMS System Comparison Criteria
What are we looking for when we select talent management companies for review? Here’s a summary of my evaluation criteria:
- User Interface (UI): Is it clean and attractive?
- Usability: Is it easy to learn and master? Does the company offer good tech support, user support, tutorials, and training?
- Integrations: Is it easy to connect with other tools? Any pre-built integrations? Does it connect with pre-existing job boards and professional sites like LinkedIn?
- Value for $: How appropriate is the price for the features, capabilities, and use case? Is pricing clear, transparent, and flexible?
Talent Management Systems: Key Features
Here’s what I look for when I’m selecting the best talent management systems for review.
Hiring Process Automations
Does the talent management software systems offer any AI/ML/automations for expedited HRIS workflow?
Talent Pool Searchability
Are hiring managers and HR teams able to quickly, thoroughly, and reliably search their talent pool according to relevant field data like experience, skills, education, and so on?
New Talent Onboarding Process
Is the HR management team able to easily onboard new talent and provide them with accessible documentation, resources, and training in-app to get them started?
Document Management and Storage
Is there a way to upload, track, sort, and search relevant candidate documents (like CV, portfolio, certificates, etc.).
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Overviews of the Best Talent Management Systems
Here’s a brief description of each of the talent software services that are featured on this top 10 list.
Hellotalent - Best talent management system dashboard
HR system with clean, straightforward dashboards and UX.
Many basic features of this tool are available for free, like tags and ratings, access through the mobile app, and 1 document per candidate. A free talent management system, of course, scores quite highly on the Value for Cost section of our evaluation system.
One con to note is that mail campaigns don’t seem to be as feature-rich as they could/should, which is something others on this list touch upon better.
Hellotalent starts at $63.50/month and has a freemium version of the software.
Pros
- Solid free plan available
- Scalable recruiting tools
- Easily add LinkedIn profiles to database
Cons
- Only 1 document per candidate for free plan
- CV parser limited to Enterprise subscription
- Keyword search is finicky
ADP - Best cloud-based HR suite
Jack-of-all-trades suite, including new hires and succession planning.
ADP Workforce Now maintains a system that is easy to use, despite the fact that it covers quite an extensive amount of HR functions. A subscription is near limitlessly customizable, too, with users being allowed to add and remove functions to suit their needs.
Their professional website has a usability issue, with endless menuing blocking easy access to information and frequent dead ends for basic info. This problem carries through to their software, which lost them marks in the evaluation consideration for Usability.
ADP Workforce Now starts at $17.50/user/month with a minimum of 1000 users and has a free demo.
Pros
- Robust mobile app
- Company, state, federal forms all in one portal
- Super easy to verify time
Cons
- Entering hours in military time
- High minimum user requirement
- Lag when manually updating multiple times entries
SAP SuccessFactors - Best enterprise talent management system
Core HR for the enterprise employee lifecycle.
SAP has a variety of tools that can integrate with their talent solutions. For example, they have connections for common document authoring, document management, and identity management systems. This scored them well in the Integrations segment of the evaluation.
A few cons to note is A) the cost of the software can really add up if you need various services/packages and B) reporting could be more intuitive and automated and, as it stands currently, requires significant manual intervention.
SAP SuccessFactors has solutions that start at $2.18/user and has software packages starting from $1000+/package. The tool offers a free trial.
Pros
- High quality reward and recognition
- Robust career path development tools
- Engaging onboarding portal
Cons
- Busy administrative scenes
- No AI for sourcing candidates
- Limitations to customized rating systems
Recruitee - Best Android and iOS mobile apps
HRMS in real-time using fully featured mobile apps.
Their open API allows you to integrate Recruitee directly with your pre-existing software and platforms. Therefore, you can add-on tools for chat, project management, or CMS. This scored them highly in the Integrations section of the evaluation outline.
A critique of this tool is that it suffers from some interface issues when it comes to integrating and parsing external documents like PDF CVs, for example, which navigate poorly and require magnification.
Recruitee starts at $79/month and has a free 18-day trial and a free demo.
Pros
- Access to 1250 free and paid job boards
- User-friendly candidate pipelines
- Includes talent sourcing Chrome extension
Cons
- Multi-language job sites limited to higher subscriptions
- No custom careers site URL for entry plan
- No functionality to send external emails
Hiretual - Best talent management system for diversity and inclusion Initiatives
Develop HR processes and projects according to specific needs.
As you can see from the tool screenshot, Hiretual has a clean, intuitive, and modest user interface. The simple list of tools in the menu bar makes it easy to gauge what you need at a glance. This helped them evaluate favorably in both UX and general usability.
A downside of Hiretual is that paid plans tend to be on the pricey side with no ideal options for the case of having multiple recruiters in a single company.
Hiretual starts at $49/month and has a freemium Starter plan. Hiretual also offers customized pricing plans.
Pros
- Bi-directional ATS/CRM integrations
- AI candidate sourcing from 40+ platforms
- Great Chrome extension
Cons
- Only 10 contacts per week on free plan
- Gmail and Outlook integrations limited to enterprise plan
- No pricing package for multiple recruiters in a company
PeopleStreme - Best for performance reviews & 360 feedback
Talent management system with a focus on reviews, risks, and potential.
This tool excels at customizability and, despite that, is easy to use no matter the configuration you settle on. The hyper-attentive support team can clear up any troubleshooting remaining.
Peoplestreme lost some marks in the Value for Cost section of the evaluation criteria simply because they are A) not transparent with pricing options online and B) do not offer any sort of free trial for users before commitment.
PeopleStreme offers pricing upon request and has a free demo.
Pros
- Ability to personalize responses to candidates en masse
- Payroll for complex configuration and requirements
- Can manage a very high recruitment workload
Cons
- Limited custom branding options
- Best reporting features limited to higher plans
- Inability to identify same candidate twice
Bullseye Engagement - Best low cost talent management system
Employee development and onboarding with flexible, low costs.
The feedback loop of this tool is easy and satisfying, engaging users with notifications, role-based appraisals, comments and notes, employee history access, organizational chart, a social media wall, direct reports coaching, and communication tracking.
With a dated and clunky user interface, Bullseye Engagement lost some marks in the UX category of the evaluation criteria section. The software looks much older than it is and does nothing to create a seamless, clean experience.
Bullseye Engagement starts at $3-4/user/month and has a free demo.
Pros
- Streamlined check-in and performance evaluations
- Interfaces with all ERP systems
- Multiple locations, currencies, and languages
Cons
- Comment and communication pages tricky to find
- More HCM and L&D systems welcomed
- Hard to find pricing information
Oleeo - Best for redeployment and internal mobility
Track employee performance and plan internal upward mobility.
A stand-out quality of this software is that it works well for high-volume ATS, allowing flexibility and scalability to design a solution around your pre-existing process.
Lack of pricing transparency and no free trial offerings lost Oleeo some marks in the Value for Cost section of the evaluation criteria, in which at least one of these two items is highly recommended for a perfect score.
Oleeo offers pricing upon request and has a free demo.
Pros
- Well-established training agenda
- Intelligent automation for volume recruiting
- Easily schedule interviews from the system
Cons
- Large focus on campus recruiting
- No scheduling integration with Outlook
- Can’t change month/day/year format to suit region
Pathgather - Best for offering personalized learning for staff
Talent management with a learning management system built in.
With an expertise in training/learning, Pathgather carries this knowledge into their own ecosystem with ample resources for onboarding and exploring their software. Videos, tutorials, articles, and more are waiting for the ready learner. They evaluated very well for usability.
One con to note is that the mobile version of the tool is not nearly as functional and accessible as the browser/desktop version. Some features are even missing all together.
Pathgather starts at $5/user/month and has a free demo.
Pros
- Rich labor market data for internal recruiting
- Personalized learning recommendations
- Recruiting merged with LMS tools
Cons
- Mobile app is not as fully-functional as web-based
- Database search could be more focused
- Very course/learning focused
MightyRecruiter - Best free talent management system
Robust talent acquisition tools that are free to use.
Obviously, with a price tag of zero, MightyRecruiter takes the cake for Value for Cost per our evaluation criteria. They scored very well in this regard, making it a great option for small businesses or startups.
Because this is a free tool, they are limited in what job boards they can connect to when it comes to posting and distributing a listing. Additionally, it can take a while for a job posting to start circulating—up to 48 hours.
MightyRecruiter is free to use.
Pros
- Unlimited open jobs and resume searching
- Access to custom job posting strategy experts
- Branded job posting page
Cons
- Slight delay between creating/posting job listing
- Targeted leads require extremely detailed data entry
- Complex per-view pricing model
Best Talent Management System Software Summary
Other Talent Management Systems
Here are a few more that didn’t make the top list. If you need additional suggestions for handy talent management systems, check these out.
- Zoho – Best executive talent management system
- Trakstar – Best for identifying high performers
- Saba – Best for onboarding plans and checklists
- ClearCompany – Best built-in background screening
- JazzHR – Best interview scheduler with reminders
- Blue by Explorance – Best talent management survey software
- Vibe HCM – Best unified HCM engagement platform
- Ascentis – Best for compensation planning
- Glint – Best talent management for small businesses
- Qualtrics – Best to measure employee engagement and sentiment
- BreezyHR – Best for automated job postings
- PeopleFluent – Best global talent management for multinational enterprises
- OrangeHRM – Best open source talent management system
- Bamboo HR – Best performance management software
- Dayforce by Ceridian – Best workforce management with flexible rules engine
- Workday – Best enterprise performance appraisal
- UKG (was Ultipro) – Best workforce planning & recruiting software
- Oracle HCM – Best candidate-centric experience & onboarding
- Cornerstone – Best talent management for SMBs
Talent Mgmt Software Solutions FAQ
Have some questions before moving on? This FAQ is a great place to start.
What is a talent management system?
Talent management is often defined as the following four pillars: recruitment, performance management, learning/development, and compensation management. All four pillars play a very important role within a business strategy. The best-integrated suite of HR technology will cover all of your hiring and development needs, providing everything from an applicant tracking system to identification of your best employees and succession plan documentation.
Why is talent management important to HR?
Talent management is a vital HR function as it plays a major role in the overall business strategy of the company. It is the commitment to hire, manage, develop, and retain employees. This allows businesses to retain and recognize top talent within their teams that will in turn help with organizational success.
The best talent management solution will bolster employee experience within your organization, providing career development opportunities and boosting employee engagement and retention.
What Do You Think About The Above Talent Database Software?
Have you tried out a TMS/talent management system listed above? Is there any training management system you would add to this list? In your opinion, what is the best talent management software? Let us know in the comments.
Looking for even more software to better suit your needs? Find out what an HRMS System can do for your ogranization, here.
