Online Recruitment Software for Small Business & Startup Guide 2021

Online Recruiting software is a software that helps to hire professionals and manage the entire hiring process along with building a relationship with the candidates. Online Recruitment software makes the hiring process easier and faster. Choosing the right recruiting software should not be guesswork so in this Online Recruitment software guide of 2021, we try to cover everything you need to know about online recruitment software for startup and small businesses.

What is an online recruitment software?

Recruitment Software is a tool used by hiring agencies, recruiters, hiring managers, and talent acquisition professionals which manage and efficiently sorts the workflow of the hiring process. It simplifies functions like selecting applicants, resumes screening, interviewing candidates, shortlisting the candidates, maintaining smooth communication, and much more.

How is recruitment software different from ATS?

During the hiring process, you may wonder what is the difference between the ATS or Application Tracking System and online recruitment software? Well, ATS mainly focuses on tracking applications and an Online Recruitment Software that works on lead management and building client & candidate relations along with tracking applications. In a way, ATS is one of the key modules in the online recruitment software.

ATS is generally used by HR managers of corporations and startup companies whereas Recruitment Software is used by hiring agencies and talent acquisition professionals.  

What are the basic and advanced features of the recruitment software?

A good online recruitment software supports many diverse features to give the best results. Here are a few of the basic features supported by Online Recruitment Software:

Recruitment Marketing

• Promote your jobs on social media
• Mobile recruiting
• Promote your jobs on job boards
• Analytics of your sourcing channels
• Integrate your career page with the systems

 Applicant Tracking

• Complete job order management
• Interview tracking and feedback management
• Pre-screening of the candidate with a questionnaire and knockout questions
• Build your own talent pool and advanced candidate search options from the talent pool
• Sourcing extension to make your work easy

Team Collaboration

• Task management
• Calendar to manage your activity and schedule
• Automated reminders
• Activity stream to show all collaborative efforts
• Two-way email synchronization
• VOIP calls, SMS, chat to keep you sync all the time

Reporting & Compliance

• GDPR compliance
• Team reports
• Client reports 

Recruiting CRM

• Candidate relationship management
• Client relationship management
• Recruitment vendor management
• Lead management

Self Service Portal

• Candidate self-service portal
• Client self-service portal

AI & Automation

• Suggest the best candidate for the job
• Suggest the best job for the candidate
• Advanced resume parsing
• Automated screening of the candidates

What are the benefits of recruitment software?

Online recruiting software is on top of the list in the hiring process and it has rightly earned this posting. It provides recruiters with tons of benefits as follows: 

• Saves time and money

• Improves communication & transparency

• Streamlines collected data

• Provides automation

• Finds the best of the candidates

• Improves business sourcing strategies

• Creates engaging job postings

• Attracts more and better applicants

• Increases Social reach

• Improves productivity

• Tracks job applications

• Extend the best service to your clients

• Extend the best experience to your candidates

• Keeps the data secure

• Reduces administration work

• Available 24x7

What are the important aspects of recruitment software?

When you select an online recruitment software, it is important to check a few of its aspects to get the best possible online recruiting software:

• Features of the software

• Pricing Model of the software

• Software consents to the laws applicable in your region

• Potential vendors in the market

• Onboarding 

• Data migration 

What are the best recruitment software available in the market?

It is important to choose the correct software from the market which is as wide as the ocean. So, here is a list of software that is top of the market:

• iSmartRecruit

• Zoho Recruit

• Recruiterflow

• iCIMS

• Vincere

• Team tailor

 

What are the key questions to be asked to the recruitment software vendor?

If you are updating your recruiting software or getting a new one, here are a few questions that you should ask your vendor:

  Vendor Profile

• How does the support work?

• How many clients are using the system?

• Are most of the clients big or small?

• How are they different from their competitors?

• How often are new functionality or features launched?

• Has the recruiting software won any international awards?

• What security measures does the vendor provide?

• How and where is all the data stored?

• Does the vendor offer an on-premise or cloud-based option?

• Does the vendor provide a data migration service?

  Pricing

• What is the pricing model?

• Are there any setup fees?

• How many users can use the software?

• What is the cost of a new user?

• Do you offer any enterprise plan?

• Is there any discount targeted towards startup and small companies?

• Are there any hidden charges?

• What is the cost of data migration?

  Support

• How does the support works?

• Is 24x7 support available?

• What are the different support channels provided?

• Is there a ticketing system to track the issues & suggestions?

  User Experience

• Is login allowed using any browser and computer?

• Does it have a mobile application for Android and iOS?

• Does the system maintain an audit trail?

• What AI-based features does it support?

• What are the criteria for communication with candidates and clients through the system?

• Can the email be synchronized with the system?

• Will there be a demonstration?

• Are VOIP calls available from the system?

• Does the system automatically track email communication?

• Can the resume be imported to Gmail or Outlook mailbox?

• Are there APIs available?

• Are there any out of the box integration with any other partners provided?

• Is background check service available?

• Is there candidate on-boarding available?

• Is it possible to customize fields and workflows?

• Is the system GDPR compliant?

• Is the video interviewing feature available?

  User Onboarding

• Is the system customizable?

• What is the onboard time?

• Is training available when the user goes through the onboarding process?

• Are there any free tutorials and videos for self-learning?

What kind of integration features can be available with recruitment software?

Recruiting software can be integrated with one or more features which enhances its performance. This integration is especially useful for big organizations.

• HRMS

• ERP

• Career Page / Website

• Background Check Service

• Online Test/Exam Platform

• eSignature Platform

• Candidate Onboarding Platform

• LinkedIn Recruiter

• Email Campaign

• Mass Emailing

• SMS Service

• VOIP Service

• Web Analytics

Who can use online recruitment software?

Typically Online Recruitment Software can be useful by the following types of companies.

• Staffing companies

• Recruiting companies

• Headhunting companies

• Executive search companies

• HR consulting companies

• Freelance Recruiter

• Startup companies

 All the corporate companies also may use recruiting software as ATS is one of the key modules bundled with the recruiting software which is very important for corporate companies.

What are the best steps to implement recruitment software?

When you make up your mind about using recruitment software, you should, first of all, make sure that your software integrates with all your current tools and check information like:

• Features like email integration, workflow customization, etc are a must.

• Video interviewing, knockout screening questions, etc. are beneficial.

• List of vendor-related criteria like support hours, office location, etc.

• Budget

• No of users 

• Plan the date to start with the system.

• Create a list and shortlist vendors

• Perform a search on Google with relevant keywords.

• Visit review platforms like Capterra, G2 Crowd, GetApp, etc.

• Take reference from your network who have been using a similar system

• Post advertisement on social media saying you are looking for an ATS option

• Take a trial to select the best system suited to you.

• Get a demo for a better understanding of all the functions and features of the system.

• A final discussion with the finalized vendor.

• Get answers to all your queries and questions.

• Price negotiation in case price is not in the budget

• Confirm order, sign contract, and get access to the system

• User onboarding and team training

What are the problems you may face while beginning with recruitment software?

When you start using executive recruitment software, you face minor problems during the first few days but don't get bogged down by them as the process might seem tough till you get the hang of it. After that, it will make your work seem like walking on a cake.

• The system is not user-friendly.

• The system is unavailable.

• Certain features or functionality may not work as explained during the demonstration

• Hidden charges

• Vendor may raise the price

• Support doesn't respond on time or unavailable

• The training was not sufficient and up to your business requirements

• Make recruiting more challenging and slows down the business

• Negative effect on the team members

• Poor candidate experience

• Loss of applications

• Conflict of schedule and dispute

What are the myths of online recruitment software?

Like most things, Recruitment Softwares also come with their set of myths. So, don't miss upon a great thing that makes your work easy because of the following myths:

• Recruitment Softwares are costly

• They are time-consuming

• They are difficult to use

• All information is not accessible in recruitment software.

• Confusion between recruiting software and job boards

• Can use Excel instead.

• Publishing jobs on the website and getting CV in an email is the complete online solution

Where can I find the most accurate reviews of recruitment software?

The following are some of the most widely used review platforms where you can check reviews about different recruitment software:

• Capterra

• Software Advice

• GetApp

• Trustradius

• g2Crowd

Which option is better: Cloud or On-premise?

Cloud-based software is hosted on the server of the vendor and accessed through a web browser. On-premise software is a good old method that is installed locally, on a company's computers and servers.

These days, the cloud is the more preferred option but we will present you with the pros and cons of both cloud and On-Premise and let you decide what suits you the best!

Cloud Option - Pros

• Zero hardware investment

• Zero setups required

• Easy to use

• Predictable subscription cost

• Quick updates

• More stable

Cloud Option - Cons

• Could turn out to be costly in the long run.

• Limited customization options

• Unpredictable price changes

On-premise Option - Pros

• Less expensive in the long run

• Complete data security

• Complete flexibility in customization

• Complete control over the application

On-premise Option - Cons

• High upfront investment

• Hardware and administrative expense

• High risk to meet future needs

Is GDPR important for recruitment software?

GDPR or General Data Protection Regulation is a set of rules governing the data privacy of people in the EU. It places the burden of ensuring consent on your entire organization, especially functions like recruiting which rely heavily on collecting candidates' data. So, GDPR is important for recruitment software, and here are the key features that recruitment software must have:

• Send consent request to candidates

• Consent history management

• Allow the candidate to download their information

• Allow the candidate to send the request for erasing

• Consent expiry tracking

• Show & agree to terms & conditions before application submission

Which are the excel limitations I can overcome if I go with recruitment software?

Recruiters often have a misbelief that they can manage the data related to the hiring process via Excel and that they won't need a recruitment software. Here are a few limitations of excel which can be overcome using recruitment software:

• Lost time

• Inaccuracies

• Lack of security

• Inefficient reporting

• Lack of a standard

• Can't scale with data

Please read our blog excel vs ATS for further information.

What is the typical pricing range of recruitment software?

Usually, Recruitment Software follows two payment models:

• Pay-Per-User

You pay a monthly fee based on the number of users you have on the software. You can include managers, recruiters, owners as a user.

Price Range: $50-$300 per user per month range

•  Pay-Per-Enterprise

If you are running with a big team, the enterprise plan is the best option to go with. Instead of paying for each user, you have to pay for your enterprise. It can be an economic option also compared to the per-user pricing option.

Price Range: $500-$3000 to per enterprise per month range

How data migration works in case I switch from an existing system or excel?

Migrating data from one system to another can be tiring and time-consuming. The following are the data sets that can be part of the migration process.

• Candidate

• Clients

• Jobs & submissions

• Leads

• Interviews

• Emails

• All activity logs of the user

What is Next?

I think it is worth to try Online Recruiting Software as you can't have centralized data management through excel anymore. Sooner or later you have to move forward with Online Recruiting Software technology. It's time to learn more about iSmartRecruit and learn if iSmartRecruit is a good fit for your organization. Click here to book a free personalized live demonstration.