This article will help you quickly compare and evaluate the best talent management systems and other talent software services.
As any talent manager knows, there are many tools required to ensure successful talent management within an organization. For example, implementing talent management systems can define the characteristics, authenticity, and resilience across your team. It will help form the recruitment process for the learning and development of employees to the overall management thereafter.
The best talent management solution will bolster employee experience within your organization, providing career development opportunities and fostering a more engaged HR department. From finding the right talent to identifying top performers, talent management is about helping HR professionals streamline the services your company needs to retain the best people.
The Best Talent Management Systems
Here’s a shortlist of each of the talent management programs chosen:
- Hellotalent
- ADP workforce now
- SAP SuccessFactors
- Recruitee
- Hiretual
- PeopleStreme
- Bullseye Engagement
- Oleeo
- Pathgather
- MightyRecruiter
Talent Mgmt Software 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?
The importance of talent management is vital to HR 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 employees that will in turn help manage organizational success.
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?
- Features & Functionality:
- Feedback System – Can employers or hiring managers to rank and report on candidates and team members? Can employees voice concerns and compliments? Is this data then organized and deployed in a useful way?
- AI/automation for sorting – Can CVs and candidate data be ranked with comprehensive AI/automation software? Does it have a solid rating system?
- Onboarding Help – Does the tool offer any solutions for onboarding new talent and providing them with the information, documents, and accounts they may need?
- Document Management and Storage – Is there a way to upload, track, sort, and search relevant candidate documents (like CV, portfolio, certificates, etc.).
- 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?
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Overviews of the Talent Management Software
Here’s a brief description of each of the talent software services that are featured on this top 10 list.
1. Hellotalent – Best talent management system dashboard
Hellotalent’s parent company is Talentsoft, a European leader in cloud-based talent management and learning software. This TMS provides automated social media aggregation, email, CV parsing, job opportunity promotion, and collaboration with comments and mentions.
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
2. ADP workforce now – Best cloud-based HR suite
ADP, a workforce solution for almost 70 years, was named on FORTUNE Magazine’s “World’s Most Admired Companies” list for 12 consecutive years. Features include the ability to monitor and track compensation, mobile-optimized job postings, and self-service management.
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
3. SAP SuccessFactors – Best enterprise talent management system
SAP stands for “Systems, Applications, and Products in Data Processing” and was founded in 1972 in Walldorf, Germany. Originally specializing in enterprise resource planning, they now do TMS as well, including robust features for global talent sourcing and team goal management.
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
4. Recruitee – Best Android and iOS mobile apps
Used by Starbuck, Toyota, and VICE, Recruitee is designed to help attract talent and automate recruiting tasks. Features include advanced CSS and media options for your customized career site and the ability to post to over 10 free job boards worldwide.
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
5. Hiretual – Best talent management system for diversity and inclusion Initiatives
Hiretual is used by recruiting professionals at Intel, Hilton, IBM, and Nike. Designed for talent sourcers and agencies, this platform features machine learning for candidate selection, a robust infrastructure with scalable server clusters, and contact information sourcing.
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 $89/month and has a freemium Lite plan.
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
6. PeopleStreme – Best for performance reviews & 360 feedback
PeopleStreme is an international human capital management and payroll software company, specializing in the development of technology to support human resources initiatives, like employee recognition, incident management, and learning and development.
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
7. Bullseye Engagement – Best low cost talent management system
Recognized by Insights Success Magazine as a “Disruptor of the Year,” Bullseye Engagement provides solutions for a 360 employee review and evaluation, engagement and pulse surveys, goals management, compensation planning, and talent matching.
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
8. Oleeo – Best for redeployment and internal mobility
Formally called WCM, this platform is specifically designed with diversity-sensitive hiring in mind with modules for a VA talent management system and Intern/Apprentice sourcing. This software hones in on oft-missed recruitment pools, like veterans and college campus populations.
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
9. Pathgather – Best for offering personalized learning for staff
Pathgather was designed to provide a single point of access for an engaging, employee-driven learning experience; in saying this, it should be noted that their primary focus is developing the talent that you do have, not hunting for what you don’t. They stand out for this niche.
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
10. MightyRecruiter – Best free talent management system
MightyRecruiter lets you start sourcing immediately by posting your jobs to 29+ job boards for free. Additionally, they offer automated candidate delivery, easy applicant tracking, and candidate ranking and matching with the ability to integrate with your existing ATS.
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
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
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.
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