Written by
Lauren Hansen, Staff Writer
Read more by Lauren →

Reviewed by
Kaiti Norton, Managing Editor
Read more HR content →

Written by
Lauren Hansen, Staff Writer
Read more by Lauren →

Reviewed by
Kaiti Norton, Managing Editor
Read more HR content →

What is recruitment software?

Recruiting software encompasses tools for the entire hiring process, from sourcing and screening to interviewing and onboarding. Many full-service recruitment suites offer all of these capabilities in one place to streamline information. Standalone recruitment software may offer a smaller set of native features and integrate with larger platforms to enhance their functionality.

Recruitment software helps hiring teams optimize their processes through automated workflows, real-time collaboration, data analytics, and other advanced features. They also help candidates by simplifying the job application process and facilitating clear communication with the hiring team.

We reviewed more than 14 top recruitment solutions and narrowed it down to the best of the best:

• Breezy HR is best for candidate evaluation.
• iCIMS is best for candidate communication.
• JazzHR is best for small, collaborative hiring teams.
• Jobvite is best for a hybrid recruiting approach.
• Manatal is best for social recruiting.
• Workable is best for sourcing talent.
• Zoho Recruit is best for predictive analytics.

What is the best recruiting software?

Breezy HR: Best recruiting software for candidate evaluation

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Pros

• DEI-conscious hiring features.
• Built-in candidate communication.
• Customizable templates and workflows.
• Resume parsing in more than 20 languages.
• Free version.

Cons

• May be too expensive for small businesses.
• Some users report frequent technical errors and outages.
• Advanced features come with a bigger learning curve.

about BreezyHR

Breezy HR is a recruiting platform designed to help small businesses attract, qualify, and hire top talent. Breezy offers a wide range of tools to help recruiting teams make the best hiring decisions as quickly as possible. These include:

• Automatic job post distribution to 50+ job sites.
• Integration with premium, niche, and DEI-focused job boards.
• Anonymized application screening.
• Custom career sites and job opening widget for existing career pages.
• Employee referrals.
• Drag-and-drop candidate pipelines.
• Centralized candidate profiles with social links, notes, and assessments.
• Integrated email and SMS.
• Automated workflows.
• AI-powered screening and assessments.

Key Features

AI-powered decision support

As applications roll in, Breezy HR leverages artificial intelligence to eliminate some of the manual effort involved with screening and interviewing.

First, AI helps Breezy HR users determine which candidates are the best fit for an open role. In some workflows, Breezy HR automatically grades skills assessments and advances or disqualifies candidates based on their results.

Learn more about Breezy’s candidate scoring feature:

Video interviews

In addition to traditional video conference-style interviews, one-way video responses provide candidates another way to introduce themselves and answer screening questions.

The remarkable feature of Breezy HR’s native video interview tool is that it displays all candidate info on the screen. This eliminates the need to find tabs and switch screens in the middle of an interview with a candidate.

Also noteworthy are the real-time interview notes and interview recordings that automatically save to the candidate profile. Users can also opt to integrate with Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, or Zoom instead if they prefer.

Breezy HR pricing

Breezy HR offers three pricing tiers and a forever free edition for smaller-scale recruiting needs. The company offers discounted pricing and two free months with an annual contract.

Bootstrap: Free

• Unlimited users.
• Unlimited access to candidates added within the last 30 days.
• Branded career site.
• Job board distribution.
• Multi-language support.
• Resume parsing.

Startup: $157/mo.

• Unlimited users.
• Unlimited candidates.
• Unlimited positions.
• Unlimited candidate pools.
• Integration with background screening services, calendar and email apps, and Slack.
• Candidate management features, including automation, pipeline customizations, and self-scheduling.
• Real-time analytics and reporting.

Growth: $273/mo.

• Unlimited users.
• Unlimited candidates.
• Unlimited positions.
• Unlimited candidate pools.
• Automated reference checks.
• Customizable interview tools.
• Employee referrals.
• Multiple recruiting pipelines.

Business: $439/mo.

• Unlimited users.
• Unlimited candidates.
• Unlimited positions.
• Unlimited candidate pools.
• Priority support.
• Advanced customizations and integrations.
• Approval workflows and custom roles.

Some capabilities are only available as add-ons starting at $165/mo. each:

• SMS/text messaging.
• Candidate Matching Score.
• Incognito Apply.

iCIMS: Best recruiting software for candidate communication

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Pros

• Marketing automation to target recruiting efforts.
• Personalized candidate relationship management.
• Most varied candidate communication methods.
• Talent re-discovery to reach out to previous, already-vetted candidates.
• Video option for career sites.
• Built-in video interviewing.
• Native scheduling tool.

Cons

• Gaps in hiring and recruiting tools.
• Lack of info about syndicated job postings and job boards.
• Lack of collaborative evaluation tools for hiring team.
• No anonymized candidate screening.

about iCIMS

iCIMS’ all-in-one hiring platform does everything from social recruiting and applicant tracking to talent pipelining and onboarding to support aggressive recruiting strategies.

iCIMS’ account-based marketing approach to its marketing automation tools nurtures candidates who are most likely to consider or take a job. iCIMS’ Candidate Relationship Management tool identifies applicants who have engaged with the job ad, career site, or another aspect of the company’s externally facing recruiting efforts.

Based on engagement scores, the iCIMS platform sends personalized, automated messages to those candidates to encourage them to apply. The messages are tailored to their preferred mode of communication and the type of content they’ve been accessing. This helps companies better communicate with candidates throughout the recruitment process to keep them more engaged and hire for roles faster.

Also read: 3 of the Most Important Applicant Tracking Automations

iCMS also helps hiring teams tap into often overlooked talent pools. Its platform leverages rediscovery recruiting, meaning it re-engages candidates who have previously applied, even silver-medal candidates who made the shortlist but ultimately didn’t get an offer previously. It even helps manage communication with previous employees to either re-employ them or to continue tapping into their network for referrals.

Customers don’t necessarily need to commit to iCIMS’ comprehensive solution from the start. Instead, they may opt for just iCIMS’ applicant tracking system without also buying iCIMS’ onboarding tool. iCIMS offers add-on services as well, like the Applicant Tracking System, which can be purchased as a part of the iCIMS Talent Cloud to improve onboarding efficiency.

iCIMS tools integrate into a company’s existing tech stack. For instance, it integrates with other popular HR solutions like Namely, Peoplesoft, and ADP Workforce Now.

Key Features

• Candidate contact via AI chatbot, SMS, or email
• Video on career sites and in job descriptions
• Virtual career fairs

JazzHR: Best recruiting software for small, collaborative hiring teams

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Pros

• AI for customizable, automated workflows.
• Free and premium job board postings.
• Social recruiting and communication.
• Collaborative approach to candidate evaluation and hiring.
• Document templates, storage, and version control.
• Anonymized candidate screening via integration.

Cons

• Candidate communication via email only.
• Manual evaluation and advancement of candidates through the process means more time and effort.
• No onboarding.
• Limited AI capabilities.
• Collaborative approach to candidate selection may introduce bias into the recruitment process.

about JazzHR

JazzHR is a recruiting software solution that assists with candidate sourcing, tracking, and evaluation. It publishes job posts to free and paid job boards as well as popular social media channels, such as LinkedIn. It has just the right amount of functionality for small businesses, but its top tier delivers enhanced features as a company grows.

JazzHR approaches hiring in a highly collaborative manner. JazzHR’s platform also allows HR to customize individual hiring teams based on the job opening. For example, a sales role would include mostly or entirely sales employees.

Team members collaborate directly within the platform to give feedback on candidates and record notes in real time during the interview. Interview notes get stored in the candidate’s profile for later review.

While Breezy HR and iCIMS deploy AI to score candidates, JazzHR requires hiring team members to cast votes to advance qualified candidates and reject unqualified candidates. Since JazzHR’s candidate evaluation process is collaborative, it won’t be a good fit for high-volume hiring situations. Plus, this collaborative decision-making about who advances could undermine efforts to avoid unconscious bias.

Key Features

• Collaborative candidate evaluation
• Document management and storage

Jobvite: Best recruiting software for balancing digital and in-person recruiting

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Pros

• Tools for in-person and digital recruiting.
• Social recruiting to reach prospective candidates where they are.
• Candidate evaluation via mobile app is great for on-the-go, in-person recruiters.
• Tool for internal mobility and recruiting.
• Native onboarding or integration with own onboarding tools.
• Anonymized candidate screening to mitigate unconscious bias.

Cons

• Candidate evaluation is decided by team members which can introduce bias to the recruitment process.

about Jobvite

Jobvite is a feature-rich talent acquisition suite that includes an ATS, built-in video capabilities, and more. Jobvite’s platform enables companies to create branded career sites, manage applicants, and re-engage passive candidates for hard-to-fill positions. Given its AI-powered recruitment marketing tools, Jobvite is comparable to iCIMS. However, Jobvite stands out for its tools that support a hybrid approach to recruiting online as well as in person.

Jobvite enables recruiters to collect contact information and resumes digitally or in person. Jobvite is not transparent in terms of how it’s able to automate the digital collection of contact information and resumes during an in-person event in particular; its tools therefore still lean heavily on the digital side of recruiting. It also helps recruiters stay proactive and organized via immediate follow-up contact with attendees.

Jobvite dedicates particular attention to recent college graduates and how its tools can help companies attract and engage Gen Z applicants. However, the features to support this approach are rolled into its main recruiting tools.

Jobvite is attuned to the needs of Gen Z applicants by emphasizing the timely, targeted, and digital aspects of recruiting. For instance, in advance of an event, Jobvite allows recruiters to reach out to registered attendees and gather more contextual information about them and inform interactions at the upcoming event.

Candidate evaluation and feedback in Jobvite goes through its app, which can be accessed via web browser or a mobile device. Here, hiring team members can submit candidate feedback and evaluation forms and message other team members. As such, Jobvite accommodates hiring teams working on the go or in the office.

Key Features

• On-the-go recruiting, digital file tracking for in-person and remote events
• Social recruiting
• Candidate evaluation via web browser or mobile app

Manatal: Best recruiting software for social recruiting

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Pros

• Collaborative hiring portal for companies using recruitment agencies and headhunters.
• Native onboarding.
• Social recruiting tools.
• Basic and premium features included in all plans.

Cons

• Limited video capabilities.
• No SMS as contact method.
• No background check integration.
• No e-signature integration.
• No anonymized candidate screening.
• No anonymized candidate screening.

about Manatal

Manatal is a recruiting software that meets the needs of a company’s HR and recruiting teams but also external hiring partners it may work with.

Manatal’s Vendor Management System facilitates collaboration among a company’s internal recruiters or with a company’s recruiting agency. As such, not only does it target company’s HR teams, but it also addresses recruiting agencies that use Manatal to share recruiting information with their clients.

Manatal helps companies expand their reach and boost visibility to job seekers. Users can share job postings directly from the Manatal-hosted career page to popular social media networks, including Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, and LinkedIn.

Manatal’s integration with social recruiting automatically enriches candidates’ profiles within its system. It scans for publicly available information on social media networks and inserts it into the profile. Manatal even imports a candidate’s LinkedIn profile into the candidate’s profile in Manatal’s database. Both candidate enrichment and the LinkedIn Sourcing Extension are available in all plans.

Overall Manatal’s recruiting software offers the most value for the money, as many basic and advanced features are included in all plans.

Key Features

• Collaborative hiring portal for companies and their recruiters whether internal or external
• Social recruiting
• Candidate profile enrichment via social media networks

Workable: Best recruiting software for sourcing talent

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Pros

• AI-powered candidate matching.
• Talent rediscovery.
• Social recruiting.
• Gamified employee referral program.
• Video interviewing.
• Anonymized candidate screening to mitigate unconscious bias.
• Tool for internal mobility and recruiting.
• Two-way email integration.
• Anonymized assessments to mitigate bias in hiring.

Cons

• Hiring team must assess candidate fit.

about Workable

Workable utilizes AI to identify, collect, and organize applicants in the pipeline. As with iCIMS, Workable also taps into previous applicants who almost got hired in the past. However, it’s on the hiring team to review candidates, assess their fit for the role, and move them forward in the process when using Workable.

Like Manatal, Workable also pulls information from social media to enrich candidate profiles, but it works through a Chrome extension, which still requires the user to find the information in the first place.

After sourcing and evaluating candidates, Workable facilitates ongoing communication with candidates via two-way email. With this feature, email correspondence with the candidate are all tracked in Workday and saved to the candidate’s profile. Text communication is available as a premium add-on for an additional way to keep candidates engaged.

Workable’s call-out feature is its user-friendly employee referral portal. Referred candidates cost the company less money, they also speed up the process because they’ve been vetted by current employees, and they’re more likely to stay on board with the company for a longer period than those hired from a job board.

The employee referral tool is user-friendly for both hiring managers and current employees. The hiring manager just has to send employees the link to the organization’s referrals platform, and Workable takes care of the rest. Employees don’t need special access or to take additional steps. Workable actively includes current employees in the recruiting process by supplying them with easy-to-share, ready-made posts for their professional networks.

The ability to customize performance rewards in Workable’s referral system gamifies the referral process and incentivizes employee participation in the recruiting process. Employees can track not only their referrals but also monitor and redeem the rewards they accumulate over time, such as money, gift cards, or company swag.

All other solutions enable some kind of employee referral system with varying degrees of analytical oversight. However, they lack the rewards and gamification aspects of Workable’s referral system.

Key Features

• Referral management
• AI-powered candidate matching and sourcing
• Talent rediscovery
• Social recruiting
• Internal mobility

Zoho Recruit: Best recruiting software for analytics

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Pros

• Recruitment forecasts.
• AI-powered features.
• Social recruiting.
• Document management.
• Built-in SMS and calling.
• Includes all compared features.
• Free version.

Cons

• AI features are only accessible in the top two price tiers.
• Advanced analytics are included in the top two price tiers only.

about Zoho Recruit

Zoho Recruit is a recruitment software solution and all-in-one applicant tracking system (ATS) for reaching, assessing, and hiring qualified applicants. Like Manatal, Zoho Recruiting also addresses the participation of outside vendors like staffing agencies in a company’s hiring process.

Whether hiring with an internal team or with third-party recruiters, hiring managers using Zoho Recruit connect with qualified applicants. Zoho Recruit’s resume parsing and other AI-powered features helps recruiters identify good-fit applicants and assign them a score.

Like all other solutions, Zoho Recruit also features reporting and analytics capabilities. However, it stands out with its recruitment forecasts that generate predictive insights based on factors like:

• Past forecast data
• Recruitment ROI
• Competitive analysis
• Economic climate
• Industry trends
• Team performance

Using this information, organizations can plan ahead for their workforce needs against the backdrop of broader economic and industry trends.

Across all compared features, Zoho Recruit is the only one that checks all the boxes. Besides Breezy HR, Zoho Recruit is the only other vendor to offer a free version with basic features like interview scheduling and candidate management. However, if you want employee referrals, social recruiting, and AI candidate matching, you’ll need to upgrade to a paid plan. Zoho Recruit works best when paired with other Zoho products, but it can sync with third-party software.

Key Features

• Recruitment forecasts
• Advanced analytics

What are the benefits of recruitment software?

Increases efficiency

Managers and HR professionals can complete more work faster with recruiting software. These solutions accelerate organizing, parsing, and compiling résumés through automation. Additionally, automation can handle other tasks, like following up and moving candidates to another stage in the pipeline. Many recruitment tools also come with mobile applications, so recruiters can work from anywhere and connect with candidates on the go.

Finds qualified candidates faster

Recruitment software enables organizations to find better-suited candidates and not waste time or resources on applicants who are not qualified for the job. Hiring teams can configure recruitment searches to find exactly the type of candidate they need. Moreover, the software speeds up talent sourcing by letting recruiters create, publish, and manage listings across multiple job boards from a single centralized platform.

Improves team collaboration

Recruitment software provides clarity, as recruitment staff and stakeholders can access the system to check pending tasks and updates. It streamlines discussions on hiring decisions and eliminates long email threads. It supports collaboration during candidate interviews, minimizing incomplete or incorrect information and feedback.

Centralizes records

The software unifies records, ensuring a single source of truth that recruitment teams can use to collect important candidate data to refine their hiring process. Furthermore, recruiters can add candidates to a talent pool to save costs on recruitment marketing for future roles, enhancing hiring efforts overall.

Improves candidate experience

Positive candidate experience is crucial to any company, as it presents applicants with an overview of what it’s like to work at the organization. Recruitment software allows employers to build a pleasant candidate experience that attracts qualified applicants. It equips hiring teams with tools to make job applications, interview scheduling, and communication more convenient for candidates.

What are the types of recruitment software?

What is the business impact of recruitment software?

Recruitment software can drastically improve the process of finding top candidates. They give recruiters the tools to find qualified individuals faster. They also expand the reach of recruitment professionals through automation and hiring tools that standardize processes.

Companies that are reluctant to invest in recruiting software are at risk of missing out on top industry talent. With recruitment software, hiring professionals can move away from tedious tasks and focus on value-adding, strategic actions. Organizations can also monitor recruitment data, determine areas of improvement for hiring activities, and adjust future strategies with in-depth reports and analytics.

Recruiting high-quality talent is critical to the success of any business, and reliable recruiting platforms can amplify the capabilities of the HR team. From the hiring team’s perspective, the HR software can make the entire recruiting process more efficient. On top of that, it simplifies the application process for candidates, contributing to a positive experience and boosting the company’s reputation.

• • Which recruitment software is right for your business?
  • Find out now

More recruitment resources

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