Since its inception, CRM systems have become the fastest-growing segment of the enterprise software market. During the pandemic, the demand for CRM implementation has grown even more. Moreover, if five years ago they were used for the most part to work with clients, today they help to control all business processes of companies. This includes the process of recruitment and personnel management, for the automation of which specialized CRM systems are responsible.

If your recruiting process is still living without CRM, it’s probably time to take a closer look at it – it hit the trends for a reason. Recruiting automation software allows you to organize and optimize the hiring process, increase the speed and efficiency of recruitment while saving time and company money.

4 Common Problems Faced By Recruiters

Search and selection processes of candidates are the main tasks of modern recruitment managers, but this process is very rarely automated.

1. A long search for employees

The process of recruiting one employee can take several weeks or more, and during this time the tasks to be performed by this employee are paused. Because of this, the company not only loses a lot of time but also profits.

2. A large number of routine activities

A recruitment manager look through hundreds of resumes every day maintains correspondence with applicants and presents the candidate to the customer. A lot of time is spent on the same routine actions, as a result of which the process of finding the right candidate is delayed.

3. Low flow of applications for vacancies

Vacancies can be very highly specialized, it is difficult to find specialists and passive waiting for responses is not enough.

4. Lack of analytics

Managers do not receive timely and accurate reports on the work of their recruiters, cannot control their work, and make the necessary adjustments in time.

Digital recruitment tools: from simple to convenient

More recently, online recruitment was reduced to the use of several well-known job sites. Now companies are connecting many additional channels for attracting job seekers: context, targeting, social networks. The resulting stream of candidates must be systematized. What are the options for this?

Excel (usually in the form of Google Sheets)

Excel is a traditional organizing tool. You can build a process, lead a funnel, draw dashboards, additionally configure macros, autocomplete, and even load analytics. However, all these procedures are extremely labor-intensive, and besides, not every manager is familiar with the functionality of tables at this level.

Using simple web services

Sometimes recruiters adapt other services for their tasks. For example, some task services can be used not only for setting tasks but also for recruiting personnel by setting up a funnel. Of course, it does not provide analytics, but it allows you to organize the selection stages and not lose a candidate, as well as communicate with the customer within the company.

Developing your own CRM

The ability to develop a system for yourself attracts, but in modern realities, it pays for itself less and less. Ultimately, the development costs many times more expensive and longer than buying a ready-made solution, despite the fact that the offer on the market covers almost any need. This approach can be justified when there is a very small set of tasks for which large systems are redundant or the specifics that out-of-the-box services do not meet. It simplifies the implementation of its own development department and a large amount of time.

Cloud CRM Implementation

In most cases, off-the-shelf services benefit from a variety of benefits. You can choose a solution and implement it in just a couple of days. Leading systems are constantly evolving, developers collect feedback and quickly fix bugs, add new features. It is important that the products are becoming more and more flexible: there is the possibility of choosing packages with a narrower or wider range of options (and, accordingly, the price) – this allows you to recruit functionality according to the needs and scale of the company.

Does your company need a recruitment CRM?

To define a certain “entry threshold”, one must not even proceed from the size of the company, as it seems at first glance. The main criterion is the amount of selection. If the company has a stable staff and hiring is limited to a couple of vacancies per month, the recruiter may well manage with Excel or the same task tracker. But it is definitely worth connecting CRM from 6-7 vacancies per month.

Automation will simplify the work of recruiters, allow you to perform routine operations in one click, save you from long searches for data in tables and correspondence. All this is a real saving of time for specialists, which can be measured in hours, and therefore in money. If a recruiter spends 30-50% of his working time on non- automized work, CRM will pay for itself in six months. If we are talking about mass selection, then even the most expensive system will “beat off”.

At the same time, both the payback period and the return on implementation in terms of efficiency are affected by the adequacy of the choice of the system: on the one hand, CRM should cover the main processes of the company, on the other, it should not be redundant so as not to overpay for unnecessary options.

What criteria should be considered when choosing the right CRM?

The variety of offers on the CRM market allows you to choose the optimal package for your needs. Some systems are made for a deep study of each candidate, others for a massive in-line selection. Some cover only recruiting tasks, others include options for onboarding and other internal work with personnel. How to choose a system that will make your recruiting process more effective. Some of the main factors to consider are the scale of the company; a set of processes that are supposed to be automated; the implementation budget.

Why didn’t we put the budget first? First, it doesn’t limit the choice too much: there are several options in each category. And secondly, many cloud services are available with different packages of options, so the CRM for HR and recruitment departments of your company can in most cases be within the planned budget.

It is clear that a retail giant or a small IT company has different needs, they need different solutions. However, the key factor, in our opinion, is the volume and organization of the selection. If we are talking about a constant flow of applicants for mass positions, convenient maintenance of the funnel and high-quality analytics come to the fore.

On the other hand, in the case of a piece selection of qualified specialists, decisions are important for leading a candidate from the application stage to sending an offer, opportunities for creating a base of potential candidates, and adaptation of new employees.

Also among the significant factors of choice is the system interface. It should be intuitive and user-friendly. If it is long and difficult to understand, and the necessary options are buried too deeply, this will reduce the efficiency of implementation. In the worst case, there is a risk that the processes will smoothly return to the usual Excel, or you will have to find and re-implement another service.

If at the start you clearly define the needs of the company, understand what principles work with candidates and employees is based on and how the organization will scale, – with these initial data you can approach different systems and compare them with each other. And make a choice based on the tasks that are important for your company.

And now we will try to look at the issue from a practical point of view and show how specific CRM systems perform the task of recruiting automation in different ways.

Top CRMs for recruitment

Bitrix24

CRM for recruitment is a service for automating company projects and managing internal communication between employees. It is a tool for improving relationships between staff members, creating favorable conditions and a positive atmosphere for productive work. With the help of the platform, it is possible to organize operational training and adaptation of new team members, as well as to maintain the loyalty of other employees.

Electronic applications. The internal applications service speeds up their processing, avoiding inefficient time. It gives the chance quickly and easily to issue the pass, a business card, office supplies, and other things necessary for work.

Reminder. Managers of recruitment companies can use all channels of communication – from phone calls to messages in messengers or social networks. Newsletters with reminders of important events and news of the company and other useful information allow you to optimize the working hours of specialists. CRM system for recruitment – a reliable assistant to recruitment and human resources managers in building a corporate culture, organizing an effective workflow, involving employees in interaction.

Testing and training of employees. The system allows you to implement new training courses online. You can check the acquired knowledge with the help of tests.

On the Bitrix24 platform, you can publish open vacancies of the company to motivate employees for professional growth. Thus, the firm selects already loyal employees for candidate positions. They do not require adaptation and study of the company’s corporate values.

You can also upload information about the absence of staff members to the portal. In the program, employees can request payment slips and find out about the rest of the vacation. Information is available at any time.

In the system, you can collect and discuss ideas for the development of the company. Each employee has the right to evaluate them and vote for or against their implementation. On the electronic workplace bulletin board, employees will leave personal announcements about renting / buying / selling real estate, equipment, cars, etc. This feature saves time on issues not related to work and directs it to solve production problems.

It has everything you need to organize the work of recruitment and human resources departments of the company. The tools are closely interconnected, which means you don’t have to switch between different services. You can start working immediately after registration.

JobAdder

JobAdder is a recruiting platform built for the recruiting agency and in-house recruiters. Used by many people every day, JobAdder creates a huge competitive advantage for recruiters by allowing them to spend less time using technology and more time building personal relationships. Designed for the recruiting agency and internal corporate recruiters – all jobs, candidates, communication, and tasks are streamlined with an easy-to-use, customizable JobAdder dashboard.

A completely cloud-based system, the modern user has complete flexibility to dial on the go from any mobile device. JobAdder’s versatile job posting features allow a recruiter to post job advertisements on over 200 job boards and social media platforms, while customer service pirates are available 24/7 to answer any questions by phone, email, and live chat.

Manatal

Manatal is a cloud-based software that is transforming the way of recruiting. Its new and unique features represent an innovative breakthrough in the market. It covers the core functionality of any traditional recruiting software and beyond. Add candidates in a variety of ways (from LinkedIn, analyzing resumes, or filling out a form), manage their journey through the assembly line, and generate reports on what you and your team have accomplished so far.

The advantage of Manatal lies in its simplicity and ease of use: within 15 minutes, your entire team can be ready for the software to work correctly. If you have any questions, you can easily contact the Manatal team through the support team. Moreover, Manatal helps you to objectively compare your candidates with each other. Its recommendation function evaluates which candidate is best suited for each job, evaluating each profile based on their skills and experience.

Talentlyft

Talelentft is an entry-level recruiting CRM that allows recruiters to post new vacancies on multiple job boards, both free and premium, with one click. It also includes simple social media integration. The CRM  makes it simple and easy to keep in touch with and manage candidates through timely contact, keeping track of touchpoints and interactions.

It also offers great analytics to create easy-to-read insights and reports so the recruiting team and the company can understand how each candidate is progressing and what recruiting methods are working. This service is good for small businesses because recruiters can check candidates’ eligibility at a glance using the “virtual scorecard,” which evaluates skills and qualifications.

Zoho Recruit

Zoho Recruit is a one-stop recruiting software for managing all of a recruiting agency’s tasks from applying for recruiting to scheduling interviews and evaluating suitable candidates. Zoho Recruit from Zoho Corporation is designed to recruit talent for companies, allowing you to solve many of the problems that recruiters face. Offering comprehensive solutions for both internal recruiting services and recruiting agencies.

The platform helps companies around the world find, track and hire the best candidates without having to maneuver between different recruitment channels. Zoho Recruit’s cloud-based system allows you to customize many aspects of a recruiter’s workday and automate tasks such as sending emails, updating interview status, and more. The online service provides quick access to reports and analytics at your fingertips and helps you plan the best hiring strategies.

How to avoid mistakes when choosing a CRM?

First and foremost, start from your own need, not someone else’s experience. It’s worth taking the time to check out demos of several CRMs. For some systems, trial packages with limited functionality are available for a short period of time, which makes it possible to evaluate them in action.

And make the final choice based on the capabilities of specific systems applied to the tasks and processes of your company. With this approach, the CRM system will reveal its full potential and make your recruiting processes many times more effective.

In conclusion

An effective recruitment CRM can be a key element at the center of any well-thought-out recruiting strategy. It is capable of managing massive amounts of data. Such a CRM can provide all the functionality your team needs to improve the efficiency of a company’s recruitment process. Recruiting software products have proven their worth, and more companies are beginning to see the benefits of implementing them.