A 360° View to Recruitment Software: Usage, Benefits & Top Tools

Bipasha Nath
11 min readJan 23, 2021

Would you be surprised if I tell you that 80% of the employees start looking for a new opportunity after only One bad day?

That’s right. Want to know more?

50% of the Millennials do not see themselves working in their current organization after one year. At the same time, Millennial and Gen Z employees, who compose more than 60% of the total workforce, have a fragile commitment to their work.

Due to all these factors, companies, big or small, have to go through the recruitment process more frequently now than ever.

The lengthy and frequent recruitment process can take a toll on your HR team by reducing their performance significantly. Not to mention the huge expenses companies have to bear for conducting the process.

In this situation, recruitment software can become your savior. It can streamline the whole process of hiring talents for your organization.

This blog will offer an ultimate guide to all things Recruitment Software. Once you finish reading it, you will have sufficient knowledge to choose the best recruitment application that can cater to all your hiring needs.

But, before going into the details, it is important to understand the meaning of recruitment software and the features it can offer.

In simple terms, Recruitment Software is the application or program that helps you in the process of talent acquisition. This is basically an umbrella term that refers to all software programs that are used in the course of hiring.

Sourcing candidates, creating databases, screening, assessment and interviewing, checking background, hiring, onboarding — you name it, these applications can do it all.

Recruitment software dates back to the beginning of the 1990s, when the ATS or Applicant Tracking System was introduced. Evidently, its functions were limited in the initial phase.

But over time, ATS evolved to keep abreast of the ever-changing need of the 21st century!

Now, not only the ATS has many more attributes to offer, there are other hiring applications out there, including recruitment CRM. You will learn more about these applications later in this blog.

Some of you might still be in doubt about using these applications for managing the recruitment process. Trust me, recruitment software will significantly cut down the time and effort you had to invest in hiring. In the following section, we will discuss all other benefits these programs have to offer you.

Perks of Getting an Automated Buddy for Recruitment

If you choose a hiring application to assist in the recruitment drive, you will enjoy the following benefits that will ultimately simplify the process.

1. Seamless Communication

Recruitment software ensures smooth and hassle-free communication with the applicants, who are your potential employees. Simultaneously, these applications also make sure that every department of your organization stays on the same page when it comes to choosing the right candidate.

To facilitate the interdependent process of hiring, the software also offers conversation tools for quick and effective communication among the concerned executives.

2. Organized Job Posting

A talented and industrious employee is an asset to any organization. So, your competitors are also out there to hunt down the top-notch candidates.

Recruitment software can post openings on a number of job portals and social media. Thus, you can reach out to more applicants. Some programs also help to create the career page of your company website and sync it with the software dashboard.

3. 24x7 Access

There is tough competition in the market to hire the right person. Therefore, getting back to the applicants who responded to the job posting, or contacting the potential candidates within the earliest possible time is a must.

But the point is, you cannot sit before your computer all the time and have other work to attend to. To relieve you of this problem, recruitment software also offers mobile applications as well as mobile-only programs.

Using these, it is possible to access the applicant list 24x7, even beyond office hours. It also has a real-time notification system to alert you whenever someone shows interest in your job posting. As people are becoming more and more dependent on their mobile devices, you can be sure that mobile recruitment software will reign in the future.

4. Better Hiring Rate & Quality Hiring

If you choose to get software for the recruiting procedure in your organization, there will be an increase in the rate of successful hiring. As you can immediately respond to the deserving candidates with the applications, you will get a better chance to rope them in.

Hiring Software also uses objective metrics to evaluate the potentiality of the applicants accurately. Thus, no bias will be there in the selection process, and you will have high-standard hiring which is based purely on ability and aptitude.

5. Database Creation & Skill-wise Segregation

Once you have a rich candidate database, choosing the most suited person for a post becomes much easier. These days, recruitment software can create a detailed database of all the potential candidates.

Such a database includes all the relevant information such as skills, experience, social profiles, previous employer data, and location. The hiring application also allows you to create a separate talent pool based on any of the parameters.

With these programs, you do not have to spend hours to find the right person from the database as screening becomes effortless.

Attention: Getting a recruitment application that complies with GDPR, EEOC, OFCCP, and other global laws will help you follow the approved data retention and data deletion policies.

6. Tracking Recruitment Performance

We have talked adequately about the ways recruitment software helps to improve hiring performance. For you, it becomes easy to track the overall hiring performance along with the metrics like time-per-hire, cost-per-hire, and candidate retention percentage.

These programs will also help you build a better recruitment policy by pointing out the effective strategies through their analytics data.

7. Candidate Experience

The hiring software not only streamlines the recruitment process but also contributes to the overall experience of the job applicants. Improved candidate experience means applicants will become more interested to join your company.

With these recruitment software programs, applicants can get more accurate results when they search for a job.

Besides, you do not always have to be online to answer their queries. Many applications have automated chat facility where applicants instantly get the answer to their questions.

8. Automated and Rapid Candidate Screening

If you are willing to protect the environment, you should definitely get recruitment software. Deploying a recruitment software means making the process of hiring automated. Since the whole procedure takes place online, you will be saving trees in this process.

Now, forget the lengthy and laborious manual hiring. Save yourself or your HR team from doing tedious paperwork and instead, invest the effort in something more fruitful.

Recruitment Software for Complete Automated Hiring Solutions

Modern-day hiring applications are sophisticated enough to perform in all the stages of the recruitment process. Let me take you through the procedure of employee recruitment step by step to discuss the suitable applications that will help you in each step.

Stage 1: Sourcing Potential Employees

Once you want to add some new talents to your team, you can source the candidates into the talent pool with the help of various job aggregator applications or job boards.

These boards or software tools allow you to create job vacancies with suitable job descriptions, post jobs on these platforms and check out the CV of the candidates who are open for new opportunities.

Applications like Glassdoor and Indeed help you to post your job there and find out the interested candidates.

Software like Ideal can search and select candidates from different job sites based on your given criteria.

Stage 2: Screening the Applicants

In this stage of recruitment called screening, what you need to do is to select only the qualified ones for the interview process. Different Applicant Tracking Software (ATS) can manage this work on your behalf.

Hiretool application screens the most gifted talents from the list and puts them into your talent pool. Another similar software is Workable. It not only screens applicants and manages interviews, but also generates a detailed report.

On the other hand, there is Recruiterflow CRM. With it, you can automate emailing and pipeline applicants for the interview.

Stage 3: Assessing for Skill Test

After selecting the candidates, you face the real challenge of finding out if they have what it takes to be in your organization. As every job requires a different and unique set of skills of the employee, many general and specific tools can help you get a clear picture of their skills, IQ, EQ, and reasoning capability.

With Devskiller, you can evaluate and assess the developers to gauge if they have the required coding knowledge.

Recruitment CRM Cubicks also offers tools that can test the values, morals, personality, and working style of the candidates.

Stage 4: Interviewing Candidates

When the skilled candidates are separated from the mass, you have to interview them to make the final decision about the hiring.

To acquire the best talents, you may need to interview people from different locations. Video interviews can reduce these barriers and facilitate a face to face conversation with you and the candidate.

Zoom became the most used video conferencing app during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Though it’s not a dedicated recruitment software, it is equally efficient in conducting video interviews for official purposes.

If the time zones do not match, HireVue software lets the applicant record their answers to the questions you have asked. This application is great for desktop and mobile platforms.

Stage 5: Background Checking

Believe it or not, you must not hire someone without doing a background check or reference verification. Check out what you will need to do for background checking according to the local law.

GoodHire is a globally trusted software that can perform a background check in less than a minute. You can check important information such as identity verification, drug screening, and various international verifications, including credit checks or any other custom checking.

If you want to go through deeper checking, software like Sterling will be of great help. This tool can find out social media activities, driving records, legal records, and fingerprints.

Stage 6: Onboarding

This is the final stage of the recruitment which ensures that the most perfect applicant becomes the latest addition to your organization. Having a quick and smart onboarding process, you can leave a long-lasting impression on their minds that will ultimately help you to retain them for a longer period.

Onboarding should not have to be a lot of paperwork and form fill up, neither should it require you to assign someone else to take care of the onboarding business. Onboarding tools can make the process totally automated.

BambooHR software empowers employees with a self-onboarding task checklist that they can complete without any external guidance. Paycor Perform is another application that facilitates a quick onboarding procedure with fewer forms to fill up.

Top 3 Recruitment Software Applications of 2020

Now, let’s have a look at the top recruitment applications of 2020. While the hiring application market is growing, we have cherry-picked some of the best tools that made a mark in the last year.

1. BambooHR

Features

  • Complete human resource management system
  • Integration with 45 programs including Glassdoor & Indeed
  • Contains attributes most suitable for SME Businesses
  • Provides support in all recruitment steps from hiring to onboarding

Pros

  • Facility to generate tailored workflows from customized templates
  • Seamless creation and listing of job postings
  • Electronic signatures to reduce manual effort
  • Compatible with Windows, Mac, iPhone/iPad, Android
  • Complete HR reports and analytics data
  • Custom permission feature to allow any stakeholders to provide input

Cons

  • If you choose the Essentials package, you will not get the benefit of basic phone support.
  • Certain applications cost extra that may cause inconvenience if you have a budget constraint.

Pricing

As per market analysis data, Bamboo HR follows a pay-per-employee/month model for pricing. For the Essentials and Advantage packages, the price is $6.19 and $8.25 respectively for each employee/month. Contact the vendors to get customized services based on your needs and budget.

2. Bullhorn

Features

  • Works as both ATS application and complete CRM solution
  • Suitable for the use in hiring agencies for candidate management
  • Allows simultaneous working on candidates and recruiting cycle
  • Facility to choose from more than 100 applications from Bullhorn marketplace

Pros

  • Centralized system for talent acquisition to find the best candidate
  • Advanced hiring report to get one glance look at the system health
  • Features of bulk emailing to mass applicants with email tracking
  • “Fast Find” search bar equipped with Boolean search functionality
  • Option for a detailed keyword search for an easy resume analysis
  • No limitations in terms of data storage for choosing the best talents

Cons

  • The solution may seem costly to you if your recruitment agency is new in the market.
  • As a potential customer, you will not get any chance to explore it as it does not offer a free trial.

Pricing

Depending on user count and features, you can opt for any of the three pricing models of Bullhorn — Team, Corporate, and Enterprise. For pricing, you have to request a quote.

3. Workable

Features

  • Suitable for small business and companies who need occasional hiring
  • Quick hiring Process at a cost-effective price
  • SaaS-based application that works on mobile too
  • Mass resume parsing for automatic candidate profile creation

Pros

  • Customizable application with easy to use the navigation
  • Cutting-edge search tools for sourcing better candidates based on different criteria
  • 15-day free trial for all prospective clients
  • Single click job posting to over 180 job sites and boards
  • Training webinar facility for the new users/clients
  • Candidate database with applicant resumes, contact info, scorecards, and assessments

Cons

  • Integrations with Outlook and different job boards are problematic
  • Candidate referral and onboarding process are not up to the mark

Pricing

If you opt for the basic package of Workable, it will cost you $99/month for each job. You can also choose the Starter or Pro package, or get the customized solution. You have to contact Workable to know the pricing as per your opted features.

Wrapping Up

Recruitment software has become the need of time when automation has already taken over the mundane paperwork in every office. You do not have to be an enterprise owner to take the assistance of hiring software.

These days, even small and medium-sized businesses are opting for these applications on a smaller scale.

Even the recruitment agencies are using these applications to process the large sum of applicant data and multifaceted client requirements.

Before you choose a tool for your company, it is essential to explore and amalgamate your needs and priorities. Check out which application can provide the features you need most.

After getting the ideal software, let it take care of the hiring process while you invest in some other valuable tasks.

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Bipasha Nath
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A word-crafter who loves to ideate and express them in writing. Expert in technical, business, and creative writing.