HR now has information to back what they've been saying about how complicated it is to hire developers in today's technical sector.
HR continues to evaluate candidates without clear procedures or information to help them pass a developer's interview. Developers are rarely marketed to by this type of hiring system when it comes to communicating and scheduling pipeline interviews.
We have also looked into how our competitors and other software companies track applicants using cloud technology to streamline their hiring processes. This guide contains the entire breakdown of the talent acquisition systems that will be useful for all internal teams working with staffing agencies.
Why Most Hiring Systems Fail
For example, your development leads keep a record of their senior developer candidates in shared spreadsheets, while your HR team is being overwhelmed trying to coordinate the scheduling of panel interviews for candidates located in three different time zones. We've taken the time to review the top 10 SaaS recruitment software used for hiring to ensure you stop guessing which one is best for your company's internal process and start positioning yourselves to standardize your hiring practice.
It's easy for employers to get lost in all the marketing hype disclosed within the ranking lists provided to them by suppliers. Let's face it, a fast-growing software startup will require technology capabilities that differ from those required by a staffing agency managing multi-client job orders or a global company who tracks thousands of applicants daily.
There is no "one" winner.
How to Choose a Hiring Platform
In order to make a smart purchase decision, you must be able to differentiate your hiring platform from other agency or enterprise HR modules. You must understand that the price you'll actually pay for data migration, text messaging, and premium support is a material factor when deciding which system to choose.
You should focus on your actual hiring structure, not just the list of cool features listed in the system's market research.
What Is SaaS Recruitment Software?
Cloud-based SaaS recruitment software enables you to do much more than just store and organize candidate resumes. For example, while looking for a new employer, a candidate can use an applicant tracking system (ATS), a recruiting customer relationship management system (CRM), preconfigured interview scorecards, and extensive connections to HR tools and calendars to populate their pipeline of applicants with qualified talent.
Unfortunately, many individuals looking for hiring tools for their companies believe they need software solely created for software companies; however, there are many different ways in which technology can work for almost any type of organization or business.
An effective solution for sourcing a candidate's job vacancies would include everything from sourcing to hiring. Top-rated sourcing providers have been shown to focus heavily on removing repetitive administrative tasks from the recruiting process through automation of the interview process through the use of technology.
10 Best SaaS Recruitment Software Platforms
The following provides brief information about the 10 companies who are considered industry experts in providing the best sourcing platforms.
1. Greenhouse
Greenhouse provides mid-sized and large organizations with a sourcing platform designed for complete control throughout the hiring process.
The sourcing platform ensures that all candidates are assessed against a standardized scorecard, thereby limiting the opportunity for individual bias in decision-making during the evaluation of candidates.
A commissioned study by Greenhouse established a 589% return on investment over 3 years from the use of their services. Due to the vendor sponsoring the commissioned study, you should be aware that all financial data is vendor-supplied. In addition to the commissioned study data, the pricing model is completely custom for Core, Plus, and Pro plans and therefore does not have a standard pricing card available.
Many small organizations who purchased Greenhouse's sourcing platforms indicated they have a minimum starting cost of about $6,000-$10,000 per annum for the lowest-tier priced plan. To determine how much money you may be required to spend on a Greenhouse platform will depend upon a customer-specific quote.
2. Lever
Lever combines a traditional applicant tracking system (ATS) with a recruiter customer relationship management (CRM) system.
The combination of leveraging both ATS and CRM capabilities makes Lever unique for companies in their growth phase. It provides users with the ability to develop a pool of qualified candidates prior to a job opening existing.
Lever cites case studies of customers like Autify filling job positions twice as quickly as before. Samba TV was able to achieve an 80% faster time for posting jobs to hire a candidate than before due to the use of Lever. This ability to develop long-term relationships through nurturing campaigns is one of the best features of Lever.
All plans contain the basic features of the core recruitment pipeline and associated analysis tools for leveraging the results from recruiting activities. Pricing for the tool is not available, as most tools will provide you an estimated rate only if you provide them with your hiring needs and how many people you will be hiring.
But, if you want to see exactly where your best talent originates from, their reporting tools allow you to do that without exporting data into a spreadsheet.
3. SmartRecruiters
SmartRecruiters is a talent suite designed to manage complex global hiring operations.
SmartRecruiters provides an extensive marketplace of integrations and provides many functions in addition to what other recruiting services provide, such as recruitment marketing, talent development and engagement, and applicant tracking.
One of SmartRecruiters' clients (Catholic Healthcare) processed over 100,000 applicants using SmartRecruiters in less than 9 days. Industry estimates of the basic monthly fee for SmartRecruiters are approximately $1,250.
SmartRecruiters is designed specifically for businesses that are hiring employees in many countries, and they have developed a great deal of infrastructure to support that effort. The platform is capable of supporting massive scale, but the initial setup is complex and time-consuming.
4. Workable
Workable is focused specifically on the smaller business segment and mid-markets, so you can begin hiring quickly if you utilize this solution.
The Workable tool includes many aspects that allow for efficient and easy management of candidates and hiring. They provide users with a streamlined job distribution process, built-in video interviews, as well as providing a very straightforward method of managing your candidates' application information.
You do not need to have an extensive IT department to make this work for you, and they have produced clear price tiers for businesses that are very small. The Standard plan, designed for teams with under 20 employees, costs $299 a month.
Reports produced by vendors indicate significant success with multiple users of Workable reducing their time to hire by a minimum of 15%, while other companies such as Elite Construction reduced their cost per hire by more than 41%. It is a very user-friendly option for companies spread across multiple locations.
5. Breezy HR
In a visual and simple process pipeline, Breezy HR has been a favorite of startups and small businesses.
Along with providing unlimited users, this software also maintains a flat-rate model; both are uncommon among their competitors. In fact, they have even launched a free plan for those users with an open position and only one job. As a result, they have no risk for very small teams.
The other plans can go from approximately $157 to $439 per month if billed annually.
Breezy HR has shown in many case studies to reduce the time that it takes to fill a position, with DP Logistics achieving their greatest success by completing their recruitment process in ten days, making this platform user-friendly for teams without internal recruiters.
6. Bullhorn
At number six on this list is Bullhorn, which provides a more specialized product than the other items mentioned.
Intended for use by staffing agencies, Bullhorn is not built for internal corporate teams; because of this, this software should not be used by those teams. However, for staffing agencies, Bullhorn is an essential tool that provides automated processes, manages client relationships, and organizes job orders.
Although a vendor claims a 24% increase in placement per recruiter, please note that this data came from a vendor report. The pricing for Bullhorn depends on each customer's needs and is not disclosed publicly; however, reports suggest the average price per user per month is from approximately $99 to $129.
7. iCIMS
A giant in the enterprise world, iCIMS focuses on large quantities of employment candidates. iCIMS excels at marketing and recruiting at a large scale.
According to their case studies, users of iCIMS reduced their average time to fill a position by 50%, and they saved millions of dollars on marketing costs. Pricing for iCIMS is not publicly available.
The company created a report that shows that the average time it takes for an employer in their system to hire someone is 18 days. This is a resource developed specifically for enterprises that are very large and established.
8. Workday Recruiting
If your organization currently uses Workday for human resources or finance, this module would make sense for your organization.
It has been specifically designed for very large organizations that require everything to be connected to one large system. Vendor case studies have demonstrated incredible results, such as ISS North America being able to decrease the time it takes to hire from 65 days to under 10 days.
It is based on entirely customized contracts for each enterprise.
The system integrates very deeply with corporate workforce planning and will support very high-volume hiring processes. Companies such as JLL process millions of applications through this system every year, indicating that it can support a substantially large volume.
9. Ashby
Ashby is a modern and simply a highly data-driven solution for fast-growing software companies.
Their greatest strength is that they provide self-service analytics and extremely configurable reporting. Instead of struggling with exporting raw data, talent leaders can effortlessly track their exact conversion rates broken down by role, sourcing method, and individual hiring manager.
Third-party reports indicate that a company with 100 employees should expect to pay between $600-$900/month.
The vendor data shows significant increases in recruiter productivity and a significant decrease in the number of hours hiring managers will need to spend interviewing candidates. It is an ideal option for teams that need to have complete performance metrics.
10. JazzHR
JazzHR is marketed as a more accessible alternative for smaller businesses when it comes to very large enterprise systems.
It is designed specifically around the workflow needs of small businesses needing to have clean workflows.
The platform puts an emphasis on straightforward automation processes, effective interview management, and simple job postings to any job board.
The public price estimates for the Plus plan is around $3,480 per year, which is extremely inexpensive.
Startups and volunteer teams are using the product to quickly grow their business without the costs associated with using an expensive automation tool or a complicated setup.
The product eliminates administrative headaches without the need to navigate a long and complicated setup procedure.
Matching the System to Your Needs
You could have all the features of a tool, but if you don't align it with how you do business daily, the tool's features will not help you.
Make your tool selection based on the number of people you are hiring, your company's internal structure, as well as the specific individuals using the software. A system designed for a five-person startup may work well, but it would not work in a global organization.
Fast-Growing Startups
For the startup that has significant growth acceleration, you need a software program that can help you as you hire engineers and sales reps.
The hiring chaos that you will experience will require a tool like Ashby, Lever, or Greenhouse to manage this chaos. These products allow you to build talent pools and identify which of your sources produce your best applicants before you run out of funds. This stage of growth is dependent on having precise pipeline information.
Small Teams and HR
The use of a visual pipeline is a great way to streamline your workflow, and this is especially true when it comes to HR and JazzHR.
The systems provide instant access to schedule interviews, eliminating the need for dedicated IT support. Managers can learn how to use the system in about ten minutes.
Enterprise Talent Teams
For large organizations, strict compliance with security regulations, detailed reporting, and maintaining secure correspondence between departments are critical.
These organizations can use SmartRecruiters, iCIMS, Workday, and Greenhouse to set up systems that comply with local and international privacy requirements, have adequate controls over GDPR compliance, and meet other regulatory requirements. They are able to comply with privacy legislation, maintain data residency on behalf of their clients, and ensure their systems remain compliant.
Staffing Agencies
Any ATS designed for a corporation will not work for a staffing agency. An ATS does not track the relationships a staffing agency has with its clients.
If you are an external search firm, you will need to purchase a specialized agency-specific ATS. The typical internal ATS does not track the client relationship or job orders from clients. Bullhorn has been designed specifically for the agency workflow and manages candidates, placements, and billing to clients within one platform.
The Hidden Costs of Recruitment Software
You should carefully review your agreement with a SaaS recruitment software vendor before you purchase a system. The bold headline price on a vendor's website is generally not what you will ultimately pay.
Typically, it is only after the final bill arrives that many people realize that they did not ask intrusive questions about how the pricing model is structured. When considering how much you’re going to be charged based on total headcount, it’s important to consider whether you’re being charged based on # of recruiter seats or total # of active job postings.
It’s always important to do the TCO first before committing to anything.
Often, vendors impose hidden and additional fees associated with migrating data from previous ATS systems, using both video and text interview technologies, and having access to higher levels of customer support for expensive software. Be sure to have a complete breakdown of implementation costs and any renewal rates before signing on with any vendor.
What Vendor Websites Want to Keep From You
Most software review sites and vendors only post the same marketing rhetoric which is regurgitated multiple times without any form of evidence to back them up.
The majority of vendor sites also fail to articulate the challenges associated with migrating your data from legacy systems into their platforms. Typically, migrating data from either a spreadsheet or a legacy system can take weeks and would require technical attention to clean up any broken data connections in your new analytics dashboards.
The vast majority of vendors never address the problem of people adopting the systems internally.
If systems are too complicated for hiring managers to use built-in scorecards, those scorecards will not be utilized, which means your data will be incomplete. Furthermore, while vendors excel at creating hype for so-called artificial intelligence matching technology, they do not address the real challenges associated with these products; namely constant monitoring for bias, false positives, and the need for ongoing human review.
Final Thoughts on SaaS Recruitment Software
If you purchase the wrong recruitment system, it will result in the slowing of your business and frustration for your best candidates.
The reality is that one size does not fit all; all tools are only right for an organization’s size, budget and hiring volume. An enormous enterprise suite offered to a new startup with only 10 employees will fail just as badly as a low-quality product offered to an organization with hundreds of employees around the world.
Stop relying upon generic “Top 10” lists that claim to have only one superior product.
Carefully assess what your current internal processes are for recruiting. Determine exactly what data you need to have access to weekly. Require the various software vendors to validate that they can provide you with that information.
Make sure your final decision is based upon demonstrable outcomes to your business, independent verification of the vendor’s pricing, and how well the vendor’s SaaS recruitment software fits into your organization’s operational requirements.
