A recruitment CRM is one of the most important pieces of software for those working in talent acquisition. In recruiting, CRM stands for 'candidate relationship management,' a term that clearly defines its purpose.
This essential component of your recruiting tech stack is known by various names:
But, no matter what you call it, recruitment CRM systems are not all made equal—the features you appreciate on one CRM may not be available on another. In this guide, we'll dive into everything you need to know about recruitment CRM.
A recruitment CRM is a centralized hub for managing the recruitment process and the recruiter's engagement with candidates. The “relationship” aspect highlights that recruiting is not merely about filling a position; it's about hiring candidates who align with the company's mission, values, and culture.
The most basic and essential function of a recruitment CRM is to manage the recruitment process. You can sync your ATS or upload applications to the CRM, where you can organize and take notes on candidates.Sourced candidates are also visible in the CRM. Each role you're hiring for is organized into its own project, so you can easily find what you're looking for. You can also communicate with candidates and applicants through the recruitment CRM and see your history of communication. Most CRMs sync with your career site and offer some kind of analytics.
Some people may wonder: If I have a highly searchable ATS, an email, and a spreadsheet, why do I need a CRM? The most basic answer is that this method of tracking recruitment processes does not scale over time or with the company's growth—and it certainly won't work for an enterprise organization or a recruiting agency.
Talent acquisition teams are rarely composed of just one person. A CRM allows all members of the TA team to see each other's up-to-date notes on talent and their movement through the pipeline. This saves your team from issues—such as a recruiter reviewing an applicant that someone on the team has already rejected or advanced, two recruiters reaching out to the same candidate and looking disorganized, or a hiring manager having to chase down notes on an applicant before being able to schedule an interview. This results in saved time and an improved experience for both the TA team and candidates.
Talent acquisition CRMs have been evolving for over 20 years, transforming significantly during that time. Nearly every CRM offers some form of automation (If yours doesn't, it's time to consider making a change.). How much automation is offered varies by CRM, but they should all offer one or more of these forms of automation:
Even if two recruitment CRMs offer the same type of automation, one CRM's version might be better optimized than the other, so it's essential to review your options carefully before choosing a talent acquisition CRM.
It's tough to let go of a great candidate, especially when there isn't a current opening for them.That's where talent pools come in. Talent pools let you hold onto and nurture great talent so that when you do have an opening they're perfect for, you do not have to reach out to them completely cold.
A good CRM is vital for building a healthy talent pool. First, it can remind you of talent already in your ATS when you're doing a new search for candidates. Second, it can automate nurturing campaigns and provide you with analytics on how much each candidate is engaging in those campaigns. Additionally, a top-tier recruitment CRM enriches applicant data by sourcing up-to-date information from the web.
You have your ATS, and then one or more additional platforms that you use for sourcing. Then you've got a recruiter email address, one for hiring managers, and one for nurturing campaigns. Plus, any number of additional software that you require for your recruitment workflow. On and on and on, you're logging into different systems, switching tabs, copying and pasting notes between systems.
Or you can step into the present era and integrate all of the recruiting software you use into your CRM and do it all from one place. Switch from ATS to ATS, hop between emails, view sourced candidates—even your analytics, which may have been generated using a few different software, can all be brought together into a single CRM.
Every candidate—whether they're a good fit for your current job opening or not—should get some indication that you've received their application and that you appreciate them taking the time to do so. The message can be automated, but if possible, modify it for each role to indicate how long it will take for the candidate to hear your response. Setting expectations is a great way to get your relationship with the candidate off to a good start.
Those applying to jobs are likely anxious to get a yes or no response. Additionally, they don't have the luxury of getting a peek into your company's recruitment process. If the process is taking a while for any reason, make sure to reach out to candidates still in the running to let them know they're still being considered. Additionally, if a candidate reaches out to you for an update, make sure to answer promptly—even if you don't have anything conclusive to tell them.
Nowadays, automation is a must in the recruiter's workflow to make things easier for them. However, it doesn't just benefit the recruiter; automation can make the candidate's experience much better as well. Automation reduces human error, makes communication with candidates faster, speeds up the recruitment process, reduces bias, and much more. A good candidate experience means that good-fit candidates are less likely to remove themselves from consideration, and other talent is more willing to consider job opportunities at your company in the future.
Although many job seekers accept that automation is a reality in the recruitment industry, many feel averse to replying to completely depersonalized, robotic messages. Specific automated messaging solutions (like those available through hireEZ) can auto-generate messages to candidates with a certain level of personalization. If you're not using such a tool, you may need to add personalization manually to increase the response rate of candidates.
Most candidates do not respond to a sourcer's first message. This doesn't mean they're not interested in the job—they may be on the fence, have missed the message, or simply be busy. Creating multiple-step outreach sequences is the best way to capture the attention of qualified candidates. It can be especially effective if you spread your contact out over multiple mediums, such as email, text messaging, and InMail. This can help ensure they actually see the message, and it may convince them that you're serious about recruiting them.
Your recruitment CRM should provide you with data and analytics—use them! They can tell you what kind of messaging candidates respond better to, a timeline to expect responses from candidates so you can plan when to follow up, and all sorts of other data that can improve your candidate management moving forward. If your CRM doesn't provide you with actionable data, then it may be time to consider switching. If it does provide this information and you're not using it, now's a great time to start!
The worst thing a recruiter can do is ghost a candidate, especially if the candidate has already been through at least one interview with the company. The least you can do if a candidate is no longer being considered for the role is to let them know.
Just because a candidate isn't right for this role doesn't mean they aren't a good candidate. Eventually, you may have the perfect role open up for them. You already know the candidate, and they're already familiar with your company, so if you've nurtured the candidate correctly, you might be able to fill that perfect role quickly when that perfect role opens for them.
Earlier, we discussed why a CRM complements an ATS. Now, let's explore the differences between the two in more depth.
A recruiting CRM system and an ATS serve distinct yet complementary purposes in the recruitment process. Here's a breakdown of their differences, roles, and benefits:
ATS: Focuses on managing active candidates and streamlining the hiring process for open positions. It's designed to handle applications, sort resumes, and track candidates through the hiring stages.
Recruiting CRM: Emphasizes building and nurturing relationships with potential candidates, even before they apply. It helps recruiters engage with passive talent and maintain a talent pool for future hiring needs.
ATS: The ATS's first purpose is to be a starting point for open requisitions, which you can then push forward to job posting sites/your career site and collect applications. You can then manually screen resumes and add candidates to a shortlist. You can see notes on the candidate, advance or reject them, see whether an interview has been scheduled and/or completed, and determine if the candidate has received, accepted, or rejected a job offer.
Recruiting CRM: While a job requisition will always begin and end in the ATS, the CRM is vital for managing the in-between steps efficiently. CRMs offer resume screening automation and hold notes to indicate if the candidate has applied to your company before. In addition, you can also manage your sourcing efforts, build and nurture talent pools, enrich candidate data, rediscover talent, and engage talent through personalized communication. Integrating a CRM with your ATS streamlines your recruiting efforts significantly.
There's a bit of confusion when discussing CRMs for recruitment agencies because most agencies utilize two different systems, both referred to as CRMs: a candidate relationship management system and a customer relationship management system. These separate systems manage different aspects of an agency's workflow.
We've already discussed a candidate relationship management system in depth. A recruitment agency's customer relationship management system is focused on the companies that hire them to recruit for open positions. These CRMs will include information about who is a client, how much they pay each month, whether they're up-to-date in payments, how they became a client, when it's time for them to renew their contract, and more.
Popular customer relationship management systems for agencies include:
In the next section, we'll discuss what a recruitment agency should look for in a candidate relationship management system.
At the base, every recruitment CRM does the same thing: manage candidates through the pipeline. However, certain aspects separate the basic CRMs and the genuinely great CRMs. Here's what you'll find in the best recruitment CRMs:
Nowadays, pretty much every recruitment CRM promises AI assistance. However, not every CRM has good AI. Some companies release their AI before it's “fully baked.” Others don't have an R&D team that's advanced enough to keep the AI improving consistently. If you check the reviews of a recruitment CRM and see any comments indicating that their AI “isn't ready yet,” it may be a sign to look elsewhere.
Is there such a thing as too much data? Is information about email open rates, response rates, and unsubscribe rates useful? What about the number of visits to your career site, and what percentage of visitors submitted an application? Could you use data about the percentage of qualified applicants and their conversion rates through the funnel? What about the best performers on your TA team, the job posting sites that provide you with the best applicants, diversity goal metrics, average time to hire, etc?
The best recruitment CRM will provide you with every piece of usable data, and then you can decide what and how to use it.
Talent market data is incredibly useful, but you often have to pay through the nose to get this valuable data from external sources. Thankfully, the best recruitment CRMs have started offering talent market data as part of their platform.
The parameters for “good user interface” are definitely a bit subjective. Every recruiter has their workflow and likely has their preferences regarding their CRM's user interface. However, reading reviews lets you understand how well a system's interface is designed. If you see the same UI issues mentioned repeatedly in user reviews, it might prompt you to look into a different recruitment CRM instead.
For a recruitment CRM, lag can be twofold. When you click on a different tab within the system, does it load fairly quickly, or do you frequently have to sit and wait for things to load? The other issue involves how the CRM communicates with your ATS. When a new application comes into your ATS, do you see it in your CRM within minutes, or does it take hours?
With a good CRM, you won't constantly have to wait minutes for pages to load or hours for systems to sync.
So, where should you look if you're an enterprise company or recruiting agency and you want a recruitment CRM with advanced AI, detailed analytics, talent market data, great UI, and a lack of lag? The answer is hireEZ. We didn't release our CRM to the masses until it was fully developed, and we're constantly improving our CRM based on evolving technology and customer comments. If you're intrigued, book a demo today to learn more.
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